Matt Gelb:

Six adjustable desks are clustered near a flat-screen TV with a camera for long-distance video chats. Wooden slabs double as countertops at the nearby reading nook. Light enters from the windows that overlook the first-base gate. It resembles the modern offices found at ambitious tech companies, and that is because the man in charge of the room came from Google.

He oversees a five-person staff. One jumped from Northrop Grumman. Another spent a decade with Bank of America before joining Silicon Valley startups. One wrote for Baseball Prospectus. One played baseball for MIT, and another just graduated from college in Canada. Four interns arrive in the summer.

The Phillies, once dismissive of analytics, will spend a few million on it this season. Analytics drive more decisions inside Citizens Bank Park than before; they are a component that has gained footing with scouting and player development.

…

Both Rice and his boss, general manager Matt Klentak, are in their thirties. They were hired before the 2016 season to enact change in a rebuilding organization. They would have expanded what was a skeleton analytics operation. But the mandate for a larger investment originated with John Middleton, the most influential ownership presence.

MIDDLETON! If it were up to the anonymous also-rans who own the rest of the team, David Montgomery would still be hand selecting his favorite players based on intangibles and that time they made him laugh at the holiday party. But no longer. Billionaire Middletown, and his billionaire hair, are running the show. Need a few mil for nerds? Here’s a few mil for nerds. Stand desks? Here are your stand desks. Signing bonuses to compete with Silicon Valley cash? Here’s a lump of my tobacco money. Smoke on that.

The Phillies have entered the new millennium. Then again, so has every other team in baseball. But at least they’re no longer on the outside looking in, like they were under the chaotic stewardship of Ruben Amaro, whose idea of analytics was, literally, looking at the box score.

Consider me encouraged by this story. I assume the math guys are already looking into Aaron Nola’s concerning throwing motion.