Math students learn baseball analytics through Detroit Tigers internship
A pair of undergraduate students from the Department of Mathematics – Olivia Gwaltney and Kaiden Randol – received a unique experience during the summer of 2026. The duo spent their summer getting a behind the scenes look at Major League Baseball, serving as sports analytics interns with the Detroit Tigers.
While details of the internship could not be shared due to proprietary restrictions, Gwaltney and Randol worked with the Tigers on some of the club’s frontier research directions.
Andrew Thomas, vice president for baseball analytics with the Tigers, praised the pair, stating that “their work was highly valued and essential to the big picture we have been putting together.”
Both students are also professorial assistants for Albert Cohen, who is the director of MSU’s actuarial science and graduate certificate in sport analytics programs.
“Kaiden and Olivia represent the future of interdisciplinary research in mathematics, actuarial science, and data science,” Cohen said. “Whether it’s pouring over surgical outcomes for athletes, or the financial modeling inextricably linked to player performance, Kaiden and Olivia bring their best selves to every bit of data they analyze. I’m proud to serve as their professorial mentor, and thanks to the guidance they’ve received from the Tigers, the sky is the limit for them.“
Olivia Gwaltney
Gwaltney, an advanced mathematics and data science major from Elmhurst, Ill., is in her second year at MSU. She was grateful for the experience, which tied into what she has learned already in her studies.
“Working with the Tigers has been a great experience that I am so grateful to have had,” she said. “To have been able to get experience putting the skills I have learned through my classes and research toward work in sports is something that I am so glad to have been able to do so early in my MSU journey. I am so excited to continue with it in the coming years.”
Gwaltney said some of her regular responsibilities included data quality checks regarding video, game and player stats. She was able to utilize skills developed at MSU, such as data cleaning and organization, as well as coding through Python. She said she also was able to work on her problem-solving skills, especially regarding how to approach data that seems incorrect.
Landing an internship in the sports analytics field after her first year came faster than she expected.
“It has been really great to get experience in this field so early,” Gwaltney said. “I feel that it has helped me get on the road to really figuring out what I can and want to do with my skillset in the future faster than I expected when I first came to MSU.”
Gwaltney also said that exploring the different aspects of the internship was helpful in allowing her to understand the different parts of not only baseball analytics, but the data science field as a whole.
“Getting hands-on experience has really allowed me to understand how my skills can be applied in a field that I have been passionate about for a long time,” she said. “I am so grateful to be able to explore this field and learn more about what a career in baseball analytics could look like.”
Kaiden Randol
Randol, from Flint, Mich., is an actuarial science and history major also in his second year at MSU.
His responsibilities with the Tigers involved reviewing and validating data quality as well as collaborating with different areas of the organization to ensure that the data being used was viable.
“The internship helped grow my interest in sports analytics, especially in baseball,” he said. “The experience showed me how accurate data leads to quality decisions and strengthened my interest in applying math and analytics to solve real-world problems.”
Randol said he utilized skills developed at MSU, such as attention to detail while looking at large quantities of data. In addition, he further developed his sports analytics experience, building upon research he is conducting related to Tommy John surgery.
In addition to his internship with the Tigers, Randol doubled as an intern with Auto Owners Insurance in Lansing.
As part of that experience, he was responsible for reviewing and analyzing personal auto insurance policies, as well as assessing risk using underwriting guidelines and available data. He also communicated with other underwriters and insurance agents to ensure that policies were accurately written and profitable.
“The internship reinforced my interest in both the insurance and actuarial fields,” he said. “It showed me how mathematics and financial risk management drives profitability and business decisions as a whole.”
Randol said analytical thinking, attention to detail and communication were valuable skills that were built during his employment with Auto Owners.
- Categories: