Carson Harrington Cistulli | |
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| Born | December 23, 1979 |
| Era | 21st-century poetry |
| Region | Western Poetry, Postmodernism |
Carson Cistulli (born December 23, 1979) is an American poet, essayist and baseball analyst [1] for the Toronto Blue Jays. His works of poetry include Some Common Weaknesses Illustrated, Assorted Fictions, and A Century of Enthusiasm.
Carson Cistulli was born December 23, 1979, in Concord, New Hampshire, to Philip Cistulli Jr. and Holly Young. [2] Cistulli passed his early childhood in a middle class Italian-American household until his parents' divorce in 1994. [3] Cistulli attended boarding school at Milton Academy in Massachusetts. [3]
After graduating from Milton in 1998, [4] he attended Columbia University where he studied under poet Kenneth Koch of the New York School of poetry. After his studies under Koch, he moved to Seattle to write. [3] He would later receive a bachelor's degree in Classical Civilizations from the University of Montana in Missoula and a master's degree in Creative writing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. [2] [5]
In an essay about sports and aesthetics, "A Lengthy Meditation on Baseball and the Science of Happiness," Cistulli explained that part of his turn towards writing was a therapeutic response to anxiety attacks. Cistulli wrote that these attacks became so intense that he at times struggled to breathe: "During the fall of 2001, while living in Missoula, MT, I began experiencing some symptoms of generalized anxiety: occasional tightness or pain in the chest and limbs, invasive thoughts about death and illness [...] those symptoms persisted off and on into the next spring, at which time I developed a considerably less pleasant one (i.e., symptom): for long periods of time, and with no warning, I was unable to breathe involuntarily." [6]
Cistulli utilizes the notions of authorship, [7] [8] [9] poetic inspiration, [10] [11] and recontextualization. [12]
Lisa Baker writes that "In a day and age when we are quick to consume the rigid definitions of relationships fed to us by those who wield power, Cistulli tutors us in language's malleability; a new comparison, an unexpected verb in a familiar phrase can force an entirely new perspective—and perhaps one more curious and more generous." [13]
Cistulli's essays and journalism have appeared in The New York Times, [14] SBNation, [15] FanGraphs, [16] ESPN, [17] The Hardball Times, [18] The New Enthusiast, [19] RotoWire, [20] The Huffington Post, [21] The Classical [22] and The Portland Sportsman. [23] He won the FSWA 2011 basketball sports writer of the year award for his writing at Rotowire [24] [25] and was elected to the Baseball Writers' Association of America in 2012. [26]
Cistulli has written that his interest in sabermetrics is to explore "that place where quantitative analysis and aesthetics meet" [27] in practicing what he calls the art [28] of sabermetrical research. Within sabermetrics he is the creator of NERD, [29] [30] SCOUT [31] and historical GBz%. [32] [33] [34] [35] Cistulli has influenced many contemporary sports thinkers including Rob Neyer who, asked about the value of Cistulli's work within the sabermetric community, responded "there's value in just about everything that Cistulli does. He's got an original mind and we'll ignore him at our peril." [36]
Cistulli was previously the host of "Goal: The Soccer Show" (103.3 FM Northampton, MA) [37] and "The Shuttlecoque Sporting Hour" (1450 AM Portland, OR.) [38] He was formerly the host of FanGraphs Audio. [39]
On November 16, 2018, Cistulli announced that he had been hired by the Toronto Blue Jays. He left Fangraphs to work for the team. [40]
It was reported in 2019 that he worked alongside Jon Lalonde, Nick Manno, and Brent Urcheck to "curate running rankings of the players in each organization." [41] Cistulli's title as of the end of 2024 was Assistant Director, Player Personnel in the Blue Jays' pro scouting department. [42]
Cistulli and Kali Coles announced their engagement in May 2009 and married in August. [43] They have one son, Jackie. [44]
Sabermetrics is the original or blanket term for sports analytics, the empirical analysis of baseball, especially the development of advanced metrics based on baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. The term is derived from the movement's progenitors, members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), founded in 1971, and was coined by Bill James, who is one of its pioneers and considered its most prominent advocate and public face.
George William James is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books about baseball history and statistics. His approach, which he named sabermetrics after the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), scientifically analyzes and studies baseball, often through the use of statistical data, in an attempt to determine why teams win and lose.
David Andrew Stieb, nicknamed "Sir David", is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) starting pitcher who spent the majority of his career with the Toronto Blue Jays. A seven-time All-Star, he won The Sporting News' Pitcher of the Year Award in 1982. His 56.9 career wins above replacement are the highest of any Blue Jays player, and he also holds the franchise records for complete games (103), strikeouts (1,658), and innings pitched (2,873).
Adam Troy Dunn, nicknamed "Big Donkey", is an American former professional baseball left fielder and first baseman. He played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily for the Cincinnati Reds. A two-time MLB All-Star, Dunn was known for his prodigious power and his high propensity to strike out. He hit 38 or more home runs in seven straight seasons, tied with Babe Ruth for the second-longest such streak in MLB history, and was 11th all-time in at bats per home run at the time of his retirement. In addition, in 2004, he hit the fourth-longest home run in MLB history, a 535-foot blast that landed in a different state. However, he ranks third on the all-time strikeout list, with 2,379, and still holds the American League record for most strikeouts in a single season, with 222 in 2012.
Peter Brian Walker is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher and currently the pitching coach for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Francisco Liriano Casillas is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, and Detroit Tigers. Liriano was an MLB All-Star in 2006, and is a two-time winner of the MLB Comeback Player of the Year Award; he is the only player to win the award in both leagues.
Tom Tango and "TangoTiger" are aliases used online by a baseball sabermetrics and ice hockey statistics analyst. He runs the Tango on Baseball sabermetrics website and is also a contributor to ESPN's baseball blog TMI . Tango is currently the Senior Database Architect of Stats for MLB Advanced Media.
Dayn Perry is an author and baseball journalist. He was also a special consultant for the San Diego Padres from 2001–2003.
Juan Carlos Acevedo is a Mexican former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for eight teams, over eight seasons. He pitched in the Mexican League after his MLB retirement.
Keith Law is an American baseball writer for The Athletic. He previously wrote for ESPN.com and ESPN Scouts, Inc from 2006 – 2019. He was formerly a writer for Baseball Prospectus and worked in the front office for the Toronto Blue Jays. He is a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
FanGraphs.com is a website run by Fangraphs Inc., located in Arlington, Virginia, and created and owned by David Appelman that provides statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history.
In baseball, wOBA is a statistic, based on linear weights, designed to measure a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. It is formed from taking the observed run values of various offensive events, dividing by a player's plate appearances, and scaling the result to be on the same scale as on-base percentage. Unlike statistics like OPS, wOBA attempts to assign the proper value for each type of hitting event. It was created by Tom Tango and his coauthors for The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball.
Dave Cameron is a baseball analyst for the Seattle Mariners. He was formerly the managing editor and a senior writer for FanGraphs, an analyst for the San Diego Padres, and owner-operator of USS Mariner.
Wins above replacement or wins above replacement player, commonly abbreviated to WAR or WARP, is a non-standardized sabermetric baseball statistic developed to sum up "a player's total contributions to his team". A player's WAR value is claimed to be the number of additional wins his team has achieved above the number of expected team wins if that player were substituted with a replacement-level player: a player who may be added to the team for minimal cost and effort.
In baseball statistics, NERD is a quantitative measure of expected aesthetic value. NERD was originally created by Carson Cistulli and is part of his project of exploring the "art" of sabermetric research. The original NERD formula only took into account the pitcher's expected performance while a later model factors in the entire team's performance.
Out of zone plays made, known by the acronym OOZ, is a baseball statistic used to measure a baseball player's performance on defense.
Andrew Lee Dirks is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He attended Haven High School in Haven, Kansas, and was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 2008. Dirks made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut with the Tigers in 2011. He played all three outfield positions in his three seasons in the major leagues.
The New Enthusiast is a print and online magazine published by The Shuttlecoque Sporting Club. It was one of the first venues through which poet Carson Cistulli published his writings from November 2007 to March 2008.
The Jaffe Wins Above Replacement Score, commonly abbreviated JAWS, is a sabermetric baseball statistic developed to evaluate the strength of a player's career and merit for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Created by averaging a player's career WAR with their 7-year peak WAR, its "stated goal is to improve the Hall of Fame's standards, or at least to maintain them rather than erode them, by admitting players who are at least as good as the average Hall of Famer at the position, using a means via which longevity isn't the sole determinant of worthiness."
Santiago Roman Espinal is a Dominican professional baseball infielder for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Toronto Blue Jays. He was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 10th round of the 2016 MLB draft.
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