For Dodgers' Rob Segedin, tests come on and off the field

LOS ANGELES >> Dodgers infielder Rob Segedin had no more control over the date his Predictive Analytics project was due than the day he would return to the major leagues, but this was the life he chose.

As luck would have it, Segedin learned the Dodgers were bringing him up from Triple-A the day before the project was due. That made Aug. 17 an interesting day in the life of baseball’s most dedicated student-athlete. While Segedin was going 0 for 3 against the Chicago White Sox, two classmates at the Kelley School of Business were putting the finishing touches on their group project.

Their topic?

“We had to basically figure out whether or not fast food chains are doing some price discrimination based on the proportion of black populations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania,” Segedin said. “Just going through, analyzing data, running regressions, formulating a hypothesis, testing them, seeing if we can find anything – any correlation between the variables presented to us.

“It took three people and a couple weeks to do the project. It’s fun stuff.”

Everyone has a different definition of fun. Segedin said his pursuit of a Master’s degree in Business Administration, which began last year, remains on track to finish before spring training begins next year.

When he enrolled in the Kelley School’s online program, Segedin was a minor leaguer with plenty of long bus rides where he could kill time by studying. Now, he’ll have become a major leaguer and a dad before he becomes an MBA.

The Dodgers have long been aware of what Segedin does in his spare time. Some of his classmates are still finding out.

“His profile picture for the university is a little icon, it’s like a baseball player,” said Alex Willes, one of Segedin’s teammates on the price-discrimination project. “I thought he was a fan of somebody he threw in there. He had mentioned that he played, or had a game. I asked him what team. ... I said, ‘oh whoa, I didn’t know it was on that level.’”

Willes said the inconvenience of playing a game against the Chicago White Sox didn’t prevent their group from finishing their project on time.

“(Segedin) had already done so much, the rest of the group didn’t have much trouble getting the rest together,” he said. “Through this semester, he seemed like the one who got stuff done earlier. He wasn’t leaving everyone else in the lurch.”

The day after his group submitted its research, Segedin was optioned out to Triple-A. Two days after that, he had a final exam.

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When rosters expanded in September, Segedin returned to the majors. Entering Friday’s game against the Colorado Rockies, he was 2 for 14 with a double. He’s part of a large jumble of Dodgers reduced to aspirations of pinch-hitting appearances and spot starts, with little chance of appearing in the postseason. He is also collecting more major league service time than any MBA candidate in his class.

Also

Brandon McCarthy threw five innings in a minor league rehabilitation start for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga. He allowed seven hits, three runs, walked a batter and struck out four. McCarthy has made three minor league starts since developing a blister on his right middle finger. … Scott Kazmir will pitch three innings out of the bullpen for Rancho Cucamonga on Saturday in his next rehab appearance, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, but is not under consideration for the postseason roster. … Adam Liberatore (elbow) and Franklin Gutierrez (ankylosing spondylitis) will not play again this season, Roberts said. Neither had played a game in the second half of the season.