Two teams of Rice Sport Analytics students were named winners of the 2026 Diamond Dollars Case Competition, held during the SABR Analytics Conference from February 27 to March 1 in Phoenix. Competing against undergraduates from around the country, Rice was one of only three universities to have a winning team, alongside Vanderbilt University and Texas A&M University.
The Diamond Dollars Case Competition is one of the premier undergraduate sport analytics competitions in the country. Teams of four to five students are tasked with evaluating and analyzing a baseball operations case—the type of decision a Major League Baseball (MLB) front office would face—and presenting recommendations to a panel of MLB executives. This year’s case focused on whether a group of hitters should alter their approach based on game situations.
The first Rice team, which was captained by junior Brady Detwiler and included Andersen Pickard, Brendan Lloyd, Mark Cohen, and Saylor Robinson, won their room and placed first overall. They were selected to deliver an encore presentation to the full conference.
Detwiler said that with the time constraint being the biggest challenge of the competition, his team focused on preparation to set the stage for their recommendations.
“The brainstorming phase is really important. If you aren’t able to build a good plan at the start, then you are setting yourself up for failure,” Detwiler said.
The recommendations themselves, he said, needed to be as practical as possible.
“We wanted to be able to give specific adjustments to the batter like move up in the box a few inches or open up your stance rather than giving generic advice,” Detwiler said. “Our driving goal was to make clear recommendations that a batter could implement.”
The second Rice team, which was captained by senior J. Dante Maurice and included Kenneth Soh, Chad Federico, Ethan Larimore, and Jacob Andreini, also won their room.
“It was incredible to see so many fellow students passionate about sport analytics,” Maurice said. “When I was applying to college, I didn’t even realize it was something you could study formally.”
The competition has acted as a direct pipeline into the industry—nearly 200 alumni of the Diamond Dollars Case Competition have gone on to secure internships or full-time roles within Major League Baseball. The most successful students aren't just providing smart analysis, but also networking with top industry execs and impressing judges with their recommendations.
“The presentation is just as important, if not more important, than the code,” Detwiler said. “And make sure to take advantage of the conference and meet people.”
Rice’s performance at this year’s competition reflects the continued growth of the Sport Analytics program and its focus on applying data-driven insights in real-world settings.
Sergio Rojas, a senior from Houston, Texas, is double-majoring in Business with a concentration in Finance and Sport Management with a concentration in Leadership.