Phillies and SEI Host Hackathon for Sports Analytics Students

This past Wednesday, students from Temple University and Villanova University were invited to compete in the first-ever SEI x Phillies Hackathon. The contest challenged students to develop a model to estimate the strike probability in baseball.

After weeks of work, the students presented their project live in front of an audience of their peers and a judging panel from the Phillies Baseball Operations department and SEI tech experts.

Five students from the Villanova Sports Analytics Club, led by the club’s president Michael Southwick, won the contest. Their winning submission included a mathematical model to predict whether a taken pitch will be called a ball or a strike, along with a website to visualize their model output alongside broadcast video of the pitch. Their work also has applications in evaluating umpire performance and catcher framing skill.

This event was part of the Phillies’ larger partnership with SEI and is a part of their shared commitment to fostering the next generation of leaders in baseball, tech and business.

Congratulations to the winners and to all involved for taking part in this excellent learning opportunity!