ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Over the past decade, the Tampa Bay Rays have been one of the best organizations in Major League Baseball. The Rays' front off heavily utilizes analytics and the “science of baseball” to gain a competitive advantage.
For a fourth year, Rays baseball operations staff members are bringing the STEM curriculum to the classroom.
“We were teaching kids how math can apply to real life,” Isha Rahman, Rays’ coordinator of baseball operations, said. “We did that through baseball. I talked a little about how I use math in my job, and we went through some of the statistics in baseball and how to calculate them.”
Rahman and the Rays’ creative services team are making stops at Academy Prep campuses in Lakeland, St. Petersburg, and Tampa to teach students how math, science and engineering are applied to baseball.
For example, Rahman shows the kids how to calculate OPS by adding together OBP (on-base percentage) and slugging percentage.
“What I enjoyed the most was the math part,” seventh-grader Ari Edwards said. “I really like math a lot. Just being able to solve problems about how baseball works and not just like in a normal math class.”
“I love math and I like baseball, too,” seventh grader Malaysjia Cooper added. “I like how you have home runs. It reminds me of kickball, but you’re using a bat and a ball.”
Baseball is known for its reliance on statistics, perhaps more so than any other sport.
“How to calculate who to trade for, who to bring up to the Major Leagues in order to get the best advantage,” Rahman said. "All of that is math and science in a way. I think it’s important for kids to understand the background of that for any field they work in.”
“You are always looking for opportunities to show children how real-life experiences impact them when it comes to math and science,” Academy Prep teacher Gina Burkett said. “A lot of times, they don’t see that in the classroom. This opportunity the Rays have brought us has been fantastic.”
