About

Welcome to Roof and Panels Open!

Who are we?

Well, “we” might be a bit generous. It’s me, Joshua Inman, and I intend this site to be a sabermetrically-inclined blog about the D-backs. But relax, I’m not here to write only to the nerds like me who love statistical models, coding, and projection systems. I strongly believe that statistical baseball analysis can be enjoyed by everyone who enjoys watching and discussing baseball. If you’re here, I’m guessing you fall into that category. I make every effort to appeal to fans without technical statistical training. That includes explaining terms that may be unfamiliar (a glossary is on its way) and hiding the most technical details in the footnotes for those who are interested. For those of you who are math nerds, well, the footnotes are for you. For articles that include code, I plan on releasing it so that you can research more yourself if you so choose.

Who am I?

I have been covering this team since 2018. I started right here, but in 2019, I abandoned the site to write for the now-retired blog The Rattle. In 2021, I returned back here to continue doing what I do. I am an ASU Tempe student studying Statistics and Computer Science (shocking, I know), and I enjoy following ASU sports, playing strategy games, and hiking in my free time.

Why do we exist?

My love for baseball began as a young kid. I would race around the house celebrating when the D-backs hit a home run, and I would wear my full Little League uniform to games at Chase Field (just in case, ya know, the D-backs needed an extra player half way through the game). That passion quickly turned into a passion to learn about the game. I poured through box scores, watched MLB Now, and read the latest and greatest baseball analysis.

I envision Roof and Panels Open being a place that my younger self would love to visit—a place for people who desire to learn about the team and the game, whether you’re eight or eighty-eight. 

With that in mind, my goals for the site are five-fold:

  1. To provide high-quality sabermetrically-inclined analysis of the Arizona Diamondbacks and the broader game of baseball
  2. To promote the game of baseball and sabermetrics
  3. To highlight high-quality baseball in Arizona beyond the major-league level
  4. To continue learning and growing in my own baseball knowledge
  5. To keep the game in a proper perspective, behind the more important issues in life

While not all of these goals will be thoroughly covered on this site, my Twitter (@RoofNPanelsOpen) provides more opportunities for me to focus on these topics, so make sure to follow me there as well.

With these goals in mind, I’d like to quickly lay out the rules for this site. I encourage you to interact with me, both on here and other platforms, as I love dialoguing with you all. But I want this site to be a place where younger Joshua would have felt comfortable as well. So the rule is simple: Don’t post anything that my mom wouldn’t let me see when I was eight. I think you know what that entails.

With that, enjoy the site!