Sport Analytics · Player Development · Community
Cole Thomas

Sport Analytics · Syracuse University

Sport Analytics student with multi-sport experience across data analysis, player development, and community.

I am a Sport Analytics student at Syracuse University's Falk College of Sport and Human Performance, enrolled in Fall 2025 and aiming to graduate in December 2028. My work spans multiple sports and departments, including baseball analytics, European football scouting, and college football player development. My goal is to connect these experiences and understand sport as a science, a business, and a social institution.

I have worked with USA Baseball at the National Training Complex, completed data projects for the Hamptons Baseball League, analyzed transfer targets for Oldham Athletic AFC in the English Football League, and managed community service operations for 100+ Division I athletes at Syracuse Football.

As a high school journalist, I won the 2025 NCSMI Best Longform Program award as executive producer for my school's broadcast program, recognized for a report covering unionization in North Carolina. My interest in labor economics carries into my sport analytics work, reflected in research on MLB arbitration and player compensation. I plan to pursue a minor in Public Communications beginning my sophomore year. I am from Raleigh, NC, and everything I do is oriented toward work that matters in a place I care about.


Research Paper · 2025

Are MLB Players Losing Out by Avoiding Arbitration?

Do MLB players lose money by avoiding arbitration hearings? This regression analysis of 297 arbitration-eligible players since 2021 challenges the assumption that settling is always the safe financial choice. Using Spotrac data benchmarked against bWAR, the model finds no significant financial benefit to pursuing hearings, though arbitration level three players emerge as a potential exception worth further investigation.

Read Paper →
Interactive Tool · R Shiny

MLB Batter vs Pitcher xValue Calculator

Built in R Shiny using FanGraphs data, this interactive tool models the expected outcomes of individual MLB batter vs pitcher matchups. By combining historical batter and pitcher tendencies, the model predicts the probability of each plate appearance outcome including walk, strikeout, groundball, flyball, line drive, and home run, and calculates an xValue for the matchup. Users can select any batter and pitcher by season and adjust outcome weights to explore different run environment assumptions.

Launch App →

Statistician · SUNY ESF Basketball · October 2025–Present

Managed game-level statistical tracking and data validation, organizing structured datasets to support coaching staff review. Generated efficiency metrics and lineup performance summaries to assist post-game evaluation.

Statistics Intern · Raleigh RedOaks Baseball · June 2025–August 2025

Oversaw official game scoring and statistical reporting for a collegiate summer league team, ensuring data integrity and league compliance. Provided live statistical insights to coaching staff and broadcast team during competition.


Methodology

Archetype Framework

Categorized fullbacks and center backs into possession, defending, and attacking archetypes using possession-adjusted metrics benchmarked against existing Oldham squad averages. Attainability score incorporated contract status, market value, and level of play.

Key Metrics

Evaluation Criteria

Pass completion · Poss. adj. pressures/90 · Carries/90 · Duel win rate · Interceptions/90 · xA/90 · Regains · Progression metrics, all benchmarked against Oldham fullback and center back averages.


Develop and deliver data-driven match reports and performance analyses utilized by Oldham's coaching staff to support tactical preparation and player evaluation.

Analyze league-wide UK data to identify potential summer transfer targets for the scouting and recruitment team.

Collaborate directly with club staff to ensure analytical outputs align with roster strategy and organizational priorities.


Community Service

Managing community service operations for 100+ Division I athletes has shown me that the relationship between a sports organization and its city is not one sided. When athletes are genuinely embedded in the communities they represent, it builds real connection between the team and its fans. Organizations that invest in community presence see returns in fan loyalty, local support, and a sense of shared identity that goes beyond what marketing alone can build.

Organization

At Syracuse I have helped build the player development department from the ground up, creating systems to organize a large roster and coordinate interns. Through this work I have found that the more organized a sports organization is, the more clearly everyone can understand their common goal and work toward it together.

Player Relations

Through forging relationships with Division I football players, I have come to understand that trust is the foundation upon which development is built. Understanding the people you are impacting, their motivations, their backgrounds, and their goals, is what separates good organizations from great ones.


Support operational management of 100+ Division I student-athletes, serving as a liaison between players, coaching staff, and performance departments to reinforce accountability and professional standards.

Design and maintain scheduling and tracking systems in Excel and Google Sheets to streamline meeting logistics and staff coordination.

Assist strength and conditioning and nutrition staff with daily performance operations, including workout monitoring and compliance tracking.

Lead the program's Community Service initiative by establishing partnerships with 30+ local organizations and coordinating athlete participation in outreach events.


Analytics & Data
R SABR Case Competition · Arbitrage Research · Matchup Model
XGBoost Modeling SABR Case Competition
R Shiny MLB Batter vs Pitcher xValue Calculator
SQL Coursework
Linear Regression MLB Arbitration Research Paper
FanGraphs / Baseball Reference / Spotrac Research and Analytics Projects
Tools & Operations
TrackMan USA Baseball · National Training Complex
GameChanger USA Baseball · National Training Complex
Microsoft Office Suite Syracuse Football Player Development
Google Suite Syracuse Football Player Development
Adobe Premiere Eagle Production Studios · High School
Communication
Analytical Writing Arbitrage Research Paper · Oldham Scouting Reports
Broadcast Production Eagle Production Studios · NCSMI Award
Public Speaking & Presentation SABR Case Competition
Community Partnership Building Syracuse Football Player Development
Player Relations Syracuse Football Player Development

Full resume available for download.

Download Resume →

Broadcast · Eagle Production Studios · Raleigh, NC · 2025 NCSMI Best Longform Program Award

From the Lumber Mills to the Amazon Warehouse: Labor Organizing in North Carolina

A reported investigation into the rural culture, racial history, and restrictive legislation that has kept North Carolina workers from organizing for over a century.

Listen to Broadcast →

"A lot of the states still being rural small towns are often skeptical. They think unions are outsiders coming in, Yankees, communists, whatever."

— Dr. David Zonderman, Professor of Labor History, NC State University

Reported and produced independently. Primary sources include Amazon warehouse workers at RDU1 in Garner, a labor historian at NC State, and a public school teacher subject to North Carolina's unique ban on collective bargaining for public sector workers, the only such ban in the nation.


Open to opportunities that use sport to make an impact.