Atlanta United's analytics revolution has begun

While Atlanta United fans may understandably be eager for signings in the short-term, the club's long-term prospects are improving by the day. 

At Garth Lagerwey's introductory press conference, he specifically pointed to bolstering the club's analytics department as a necessary step for success. 

"We're going to be data-driven. One of the things we're going to look at is our analytic support. You know, I think, from what I understand again, I haven't even met with [data scientist] Arjun [Balaraman] yet, but everybody says he's phenomenal. But also he's one person," Lagerwey said. "I think if you look at the foundations of some other clubs around the world, maybe that's an area where can be a point of emphasis for us, maybe that's an area where there's an opportunity to build out. Again, probably premature to say that without, you know, having been there for more than one day, but that's definitely something we're gonna roll up our sleeves and get in and you know, certainly before we start spending vast amounts of money. I'd certainly want that to be supported by evidence and data and not just my opinion coming from the west coast."

Well, Lagerwey has officially been here longer than one day. And, unsurprisingly, Atlanta United is set to build on the analytical foundation already in place in a major way. 

Earlier this month, you might have noticed that a new job opened up at Atlanta United.

"Atlanta United Football Club is looking to add a detail-oriented, methodical, and collaborative Data Engineer to our growing team. As a Data Engineer, you will play a key role in the organization and management of information for our Club. This role will involve overseeing and building ETL pipelines to efficiently store internal and external data in an easily accessible fashion. The person in this role will also assist in the maintenance of the club’s current web applications and help build additional tools to assist members across the Technical Department. This position will engage in collaboration with the Analytics, Scouting, and Sports Science departments, alongside the First Team coaching staff."

That alone is a step in the right direction. But it was just a precursor to an all-out running leap for the better. On The AJC's "Southern Fried Soccer" podcast, Lagerwey snuck in a surprising and consequential piece of news.

"I think we have a really, really strong foundation. And then on top of that, we're looking at hiring a position, a data engineer position to add to that. A person that can do some coding, which will then free up Arjun to do more strategic stuff. And then I brought in, and I'll tell you this, we're working on an agreement with SRC FTBL. And that's the consulting company of Ravi Ramineni," Lagerwey said. "Ravi, you probably don't know here, but he was my analyst for eight years at the Sounders. So he left, he's got a start-up analytics company called SRC FTBL. We're in the process of doing a contract with them. And so he's going to be able to come in and help us with our analytics here and to mentor Arjun and hopefully help Arjun become the next Ravi. So we're really, really excited about that."

You might actually know Ramineni

Contrary to Lagerwey's belief, you might actually know Ramineni. Back in November, The Striker spoke to Ramineni about his time in Seattle, working with Lagerwey and how analytics helped shape the Sounders' run to the top of Concacaf. 

"In general, Garth loves analytics. He’ll put a lot of emphasis on it. He asks a lot of questions and asks, ‘What does this mean?’” Ramineni said. “For example, I would handle the salary cap as well for the team. And so I spent a lot of hours and hours of time with him and had a lot of conversations with him and we used to argue a lot. Not in negative ways but just trying to get to the truth of the matter and trying to go as far as you can with a certain piece of information and see what is missing.”

Lagerwey increasingly put more and more faith into Ramineni's process. By the time Ramineni left Seattle, he had earned the title "VP of Soccer Analytics and Research." Obviously, that worked out pretty well for MLS's most successful club of the past decade. 

In addition to Ramineni, SRC FTBL is led by Sarah Rudd, a soccer analytics legend and Ramineni's wife. After developing a highly influential method of evaluating players, Rudd worked with a startup called StatsDNA. Arsenal bought StatsDNA in 2013 and Rudd helped lead the club's analytics team until 2021.

'It's a really good fit'

Essentially, Atlanta United is on track to bring in an analytics super-duo to help shape the club's future. And by doing that, the club can truly optimize the resource advantages that it has over other clubs in MLS. Remember, in MLS, the salary cap means that true success isn't in how much you can pay for players, it's in how successfully you can find players worth paying. Bringing in Ramineni and Rudd puts Atlanta on track to have the kind of high hit rate on singings that have turned Philadelphia, Seattle LAFC and NYCFC into juggernauts. Among other things.

"Gonzalo knows Ravi very well from Seattle as well. So so it's, it's a really good fit, because culturally you don't have any resistance from the coaching staff. You have a young coach who's used to data. So it'll help with scouting opposition and it will help with self-scouting. Ravi's wife, Sarah is part of the team as well. And Sarah stood up the original analytics for Arsenal and did a bunch of stuff with the academy. So we think that it's gonna have a positive impact in terms of how we set up our player development," Lagerwey said. 

"And then you have kind of the last piece, which is Ravi and Sarah are literally pioneers in their fields. And to have Arjun as a young analyst, to have them as mentors, I think is going to be enormously powerful for his growth and development as well. So overall, I just think we're going to be very robust from an analytics and scouting standpoint. And linked up to these AMBSE resources with the Falcons. You know, I think there's there's just tremendous potential in that space in terms of how we sign players going forward in particular, but also how we develop players and how we assess ourselves and other teams."

And it's not just Atlanta United that SRC FTBL will be helping. On Thursday, Houston Dynamo FC announced that Ramineni and Rudd's company will be helping that franchise as well, with Ramineni characterizing the deal in the press release as "our first club partner in MLS ... to develop the club's analytics infrastructure and processes." 

This offseason, Atlanta United have sent out a number of players with few incoming players in return. However, other than bringing in Lagerwey, the transformation of Atlanta's analytics department is the single-most impactful move the Five Stripes could make this offseason. Atlanta is finally setting itself up for long-term success rather than short-term bursts of clout. It's exactly why Lagerwey signed on in the first place and another reminder that — this offseason especially — patience is a virtue.