Whether they meant to or not, the pitchers targeted during the Orioles' teardown trades last summer came from organizations that not only had embraced baseball's data revolution but had found ways to improve their players with the fruits of it.
Then, those pitchers were plucked from the best seasons of their young careers and placed into an organization that hadn't yet embraced those tools.
Pitching development has barreled forward in recent years, with the proliferation of data-tracking systems, speed cameras and reams of information helping teams refine and advance the arsenals of their young arms.
Nowhere was that more evident than in the Houston Astros system from which the Orioles plucked executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias, assistant general manager for analytics Sig Mejdal and minor league pitching coordinator Chris Holt.