Topps & Bloomberg Sports partner to bring analytics to cards

The use of analytics in professional sports is a growing field with more and more teams and leagues expanding their use of the advanced stats. Used first by internet bloggers and stat geeks, analytics is now going mainstream with teams hiring their own analytic experts to crunch the numbers.

Analytics is now starting to appear in trading cards thanks to a partnership between Topps and Bloomberg Sports. Topps first printed analytics on the 2014 Major League Soccer cards that were released earlier this year. The next series to receive this treatment will be 2014 Bowman Chrome Baseball, which releases this Friday (September 26).

Bloomberg Sports has created six analytical templates that will be used on the backs of Chrome cards. You will see spray charts that track the home runs of power hitters and the pitch selections of strikeout pitchers. Even prospects, like Byron Buxton and Kris Bryant, will have their stats ranked organizationally and compared to minor league averages.

With the popularity of fantasy sports and the notoriety of Moneyball look for information like this to start making more of a presence in the industry.