Did the person that created "Moneyball" understand baseball? Would you expect someone to be able to leverage those concepts without understanding what they mean

Did the person that created "Moneyball" understand baseball? Would you expect someone to be able to leverage those concepts without understanding what they mean or the insight in how to interpret what they say about the player? This is a similar thing. If you have the ability to understand how to interpret the metrics, the metrics can be useful. If you can't interpret the metrics, you will use them poorly and the result will not be a better organization.