Owner
Interview with prahasmc
As we sit
down for another interview, today we will be speaking with prahasmc, owner of
the Santa Cruz Control. Prahasmc has
been playing HBD for 72 seasons, having reached the playoffs 43 times with 20
division championships culminating in 6 WS championships. Let’s see what we can learn from this successful
HBD owner:
“Thank you for allowing us
to get a peek under the hood of your HBD experience. What part of the country do you live in?”
“I live in Connecticut but commute to New York
City.”
“My dad commuted from Suffolk County on the Island
into Manhattan so I can only imagine how many hours you spend going back and
forth. What is your favorite team and
when did you start following baseball?”
“I grew up in New Hampshire in the ’90s, watching
bad Red Sox teams. But both of my
parents were huge fans, and the town was a big baseball town. There was something about the rhythm of
following the team day in and day out during the summer—it added structure and
excitement to small-town life. And the
star power of Clemens, and later Garciaparra and Pedro MartÃnez, didn’t hurt.”
“Did you have a favorite player growing up?”
“Roger Clemens. The 20-strikeout games were
mesmerizing.”
“And what is your favorite
baseball memory?”
“The 2004 World Series was special. But honestly, I think 2013 meant more. I was living in Boston at the time and had
friends running the marathon the year of the bombing. That team really galvanized the city in a way
that transcended the sport.
If I had to pin it down to one memory, it would be
Shane Victorino’s grand slam that broke Game 6 of the 2013 ALCS open. You can find the replay on YouTube—everything
from the crowd finishing the chorus of Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds during
his walk-up to the emotion on his face as the ball clears the fence still gives
me goosebumps.”
“How did you find HBD?”
“I was a bored grad student in 2008. Time flies!”
“How many teams are you comfortable running at one
time?”
“I have run as many as three at one time, but with
current responsibilities, one is enough. So, this world is it for me.”
“In that case I’m glad we were able to bring you
in before someone else was able to. How
do you like to build your teams?”
“There are a lot of ways to
approach team building, and I spend a fair amount of time reviewing team stats
at the end of each season. I’ve found
that defense is often undervalued, so I’m less inclined than most managers to
push players up the defensive spectrum.
I also think managers overlook how many runs they
give away on the basepaths—high caught stealing and GIDP rates can really hurt
run expectancy. That said, variance is
hard to control for—and ironically, my team gave away more runs on the
basepaths than anyone this year!”
“Do you have a favorite HBD team (past or present)?”
“Maybe it’s recency bias, but last year’s World
Series winner has to be up there. I thought it was a sneaky good team, but we
started terribly and had a huge hole to climb out of. Then, with about 30 games left in the regular
season, something clicked—and we improbably ran the table as a wild card,
including knocking off a dominant Montreal team.”
“What is your favorite aspect of HBD?”
“I think the game offers an incredible opportunity
for different approaches, strategies, and customizations. “I don’t play video
games, so maybe that experience exists elsewhere—but this lets me fully immerse
myself in the gameplay and stay engaged without committing an outsized amount
of time.”
“What would be the one thing you’d change about
the HBD?”
“Prospect trajectories are too linear and
predictable. While it’s better than it
used to be, top draft picks still pan out too often, and true diamonds in the
rough emerge too rarely. It incentivizes
tanking, and I’d like to see that addressed.”
“Thank you for taking the
time to answer my questions, and good luck in the coming season.”