Jeff Brover ‘24 recently landed a full-time role as a Data Strategist with the Seattle Mariners where he uses his baseball analytics skill set to maximize the team’s performance.
"As a data strategist, my job’s primary objective is to be responsible for providing insights that maximize the club’s win totals, particularly via pre-game and in-game strategies," Brover said. "This manifests itself in a variety of ways, including creating innovative metrics to guide in-game strategy decisions, designing impactful reports, constructing internal platforms for custom reports, and engineering data pipelines for pre-game preparations and post-game strategic debriefs."
Throughout his time at Rice, Brover gained valuable experience through internships and on-campus roles. He worked as an Event Operations Intern for the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, a Baseball Analytics Intern for the Normal CornBelters, and a Baseball Research & Development Intern for the Tampa Bay Rays in both 2023 and 2024. Additionally, he spent four years working with the Rice men’s basketball team as a team manager and as an analyst for Rice's baseball team.
"In eighth grade, I visited Rice University and told them I wanted to be a sport management major with their program so that I could one day work as a baseball analyst," Brover said. "Four years later, the department was shocked and excited to find out that I had applied and been accepted Early Decision, signifying my long-standing desire to work in the sports industry."
Brover ultimately double-majored in Sport Analytics and Statistics while also completing the Data Science minor. He also won three of the four awards given to the top students in Rice's Department of Sport Management.
"I completed four internships before landing a full-time role, each of which led me closer and closer to this position with the Mariners," Brover said. "In 2024, I focused on defensive evaluation, while in 2023, my primary project centered on in-game strategic decision-making, which in large part inspired me to want to work in a data strategy role."
For current Rice Sport Analytics students aspiring to work in the field, Brover emphasized the importance of initiative and skill-building outside the classroom.
"Take advantage of every opportunity you can and never be afraid to ask for help in finding them.” Brover said. “Always be proactive in these opportunities as well, never doing just the bare minimum, but looking to go above and beyond the expectations of the task."
He also stressed the importance of showcasing work and gaining proficiency in key technical skills.
"It is one thing to say on your resume that you know Python, R, SQL, etc., but it is another thing to show it, especially since this is what potential employers will be looking for in the interview process," Brover said. "For me, this saw me create a blog of my work for both personal projects and classwork."
Reflecting on his time at Rice, Brover credits the Sport Analytics program and its faculty for helping him reach this milestone.
"What will stick with me most about the Sport Analytics program is how helpful and supportive each of the professors were in achieving my dreams," Brover said. "Professor Stallings, Dr. Haptonstall, Professor Crossey, Professor Wilka, Dr. Gong, and Dr. Powers all played a part in helping me land where I am today. They all helped me not only develop my hard skills and soft skills, but also my confidence in those skills."
Sergio Rojas, a junior from Houston, Texas, is double-majoring in Business with a concentration in Finance and also Sport Management with a concentration in Leadership.