2026 Prospect Evaluation Board
A selected Top 100 from an original 160-player pool across all 30 MLB organizations, with organizational priority lists and an explicit evidence standard.
Working board · ranks 17–100 provisionalBaseball operations · Independent research
Noah Hempel
Player evaluation, organizational strategy, and the information behind baseball decisions.
Business Administration student at California Baptist University, Ninefold founder, and CBU Baseball volunteer. Building toward a career in MLB baseball operations and scouting.
Selected work / 01–04
Research & Projects
Four work samples spanning prospect evaluation, organizational analysis, baseball software and a proposed quantitative research framework.
Los Angeles Dodgers Organizational Philosophy Analysis
An examination of player acquisition, development, roster flexibility and depth under Andrew Friedman, including the costs and tradeoffs of sustaining contention.
Independent qualitative analysis
Ninefold Baseball: Product Development Case Study
A product and information-architecture case study connecting scattered JUCO information with discovery, comparison and evaluation workflows for college baseball staffs.
Working project · validation ongoing
Hitter Evaluation Research: Chase Rate × Whiff Rate
A two-axis framework separating swing-decision risk from contact risk, with hitter archetypes, scouting follow-up questions and a proposed quantitative validation design.
Conceptual · not statistically validated
The complete collection / 26 pages
Complete Baseball Research Portfolio
All four projects in one bookmarked document, preceded by a one-page project index. Read the complete collection or go directly to the work that interests you.
How I approach the work
Evidence first. Judgment with context.
The aim is to organize a baseball question well enough that an evaluator can act on it—and understand what still needs another look.
01 / UNDERLYING SKILLS
Look beneath the outcome
Consider swing decisions and contact ability for hitters; strike-throwing and usable pitch quality for pitchers. Walk and strikeout rates alone do not establish chase, contact quality or command.
02 / TRANSLATION & RISK
Keep the context attached
Age, competition level, role, availability and positional demands shape how a skill might translate. Separate observed performance from developmental projection.
03 / DECISION SUPPORT
Make uncertainty usable
Define the next question: compare candidates, review video, verify the source or revisit an assumption. Distinguish working evaluations from validated findings.
About / Experience
A baseball-first career direction.
My interests sit where scouting judgment, roster construction and baseball information systems meet.
- California Baptist University
- Business Administration · Expected graduation 2028
- Strategic Business Analysis and Insights concentration.
- Ninefold Baseball
- Founder & product developer
- Developing a baseball operations and JUCO recruiting platform, with a focus on data organization, player evaluation workflows and practical coach-facing decisions.
- CBU Baseball
- Volunteer baseball operations & analytics involvement
- Supporting baseball operations and analytics work while developing experience with staff evaluation questions and baseball information workflows.
- Independent baseball research
- Player evaluation, organizational analysis, roster construction and baseball information systems. Quantitative model development and validation remain areas for continued work.