Sean Kuehn ’26

Sean Kuehn ’26 (he/him) is the president of the Columbia University Society for Baseball Research. Now in its sixth year, the club recently entered a new phase of growth with a partnership between Lions baseball and the SABRLions, a subgroup of CUSBR that builds data analytics tools for the varsity team’s players and coaches. A political science major from Sand Springs, Okla., Kuehn is a New York Mets fan.

How does someone from Oklahoma become a diehard Met fan?

When he was growing up, my stepdad picked which baseball team he rooted for based on who was doing the worst at the time. So I’ve always been a Met fan just from my family. My first game was at the 2015 World Series in Kansas City. There aren’t many Met fans in Oklahoma, so getting to go to New York was a dream. I think for most of my first year I spent more time at Citi Field than I did in class because I was so excited to be close enough to go to games.

What are CUSBR meetings like?

We usually meet once a week. Each meeting looks a bit different, depending on whether we have a guest speaker or are watching a game. With each meeting, we’re either trying to grow our own research and analytics skills or bring in a professional to provide guidance on what a career in the sports industry looks like. But we still keep it very casual. I think what’s made it so special is that we have opportunities for people who want to spend all of their time on baseball analytics, but other opportunities for people who are more interested in baseball history. And we have a few members who just want to chat about what happened in a game that week, so we have opportunities for them, too. It’s been a really great community to build.

Tell me more about the SABRLions.

We’ve been developing a website that will have all of the baseball team’s analytics and be a home for all of its data. We haven’t had a centralized hub for all of it before now. There are tools that can evaluate strength, speed and other measurements for pitching and field alignment. We’re working on condensing those large datasets and getting it into the coaches’ and players’ hands.

What’s your favorite class?

“Weapons of Mass Destruction,” with Szabolcs Márka. It’s been a favorite because it was one of the most challenging. I came out of it with a new understanding of nuclear weapons. I now have background for my political science classes, which I can bring in whenever we’re talking about how nuclear development plays into interactions between countries. That opportunity to learn outside of the explicit domain of your declared major has been one of the coolest experiences at Columbia.

How are you taking advantage of being in NYC (aside from going to Met games)?

I love the arts. I love being here and getting to see shows and support my friends. I have some friends from Oklahoma who are at Juilliard, so getting to support them and go to their performances has been really special.