Does running speed affect batting average?
 

In real life, speed should allow you to reach base more often on an infield grounder. But changing speed in the editor shows no change in the expected number of hits for a player. Is it still reflected in the game even if it's not taken into account in the editor?

make sure to leave screen and come back to it... it may not update.. if still no change it likely does not specifically affect batting average (use "1" and "250" speed in case it's a small change as well as baserunning)

it will affect doubles/triples/singles ratio, i'd assume. it definitely matters when trying to advance runners -- not just when it pops up a window to ask, but because of that feedback we know it's part of the equation. pretty sure manual or forum post by ootp agent backs this up.

it doesn't affect defensive range / ability, as a side not of relevance

definitely affects stealing -- seems to affect quantity more than %Success, excluding clods. (latter part is from experience, not a reference / source.)

e.g. the lowest-ish speed with ~max/high stealing ability gets ~3SB maybe even 8-12SB with "1/3scale speed" a year and maintain a high % (equals > baseline average). a ~50speed guy can maintain that percentage and get quite a few more SB.

baseline steal % is one of those "averages' that actually means ~decent ability... in many aspects ~average = junk with baseball. think of the dynamics... who steals more? the guys with increased ability... significant larger quantity skews % high. if all players stole equally you'd see a much lower average-%.

every batter bats.. average = junk.

I tried leaving the screen and coming back, and checking the profile screen for changes. Speed (and baserunning/stealing) make no difference to other ratings like contact, nor to hits in the editor. Except for overall rating. Speed can make a big difference in overall rating if the player is already decent in other areas.

Speed does determine the ratio of triples versus doubles (as long as that ratio isn't hardcoded in the editor field just for that, as the game seems to do for existing players so that they maintain their real-life ratio despite their apparent speed not matching up). But speed doesn't change any singles to doubles. That seems to be entirely determined by Gap ability.

The percent of your doubles+triples that will be triples (according to the editor) is based on the following speed ratings on a 1 to 250 scale, where 100 is "average", and 200 shows up as a perfect max rating in the profile screen.

Speed = 1 = 3.85% triples instead of doubles
Speed = 50 = 6.73%
Speed = 100 = 12.50%
Speed = 150 = 14.42%
Speed = 200 = 19.23%
Speed = 225 = 26.92%
Speed = 250 = 47.12%

If a player is above 200 speed, you won't know it from the profile screen.

think that's one of the things you have to refresh screen to see.

the >max is a setting... you have it set to not show > max. if you want it, you can go to Global Settings and change it. (game settings in file menu at time?.. lots of ways to get there)

where you select scale resolution and stuff. players and facegen is one tab to the right.

that does sound about right. you'll have stadium factors that make it all weird, but great baseline info, thank you.

looks like you found an example of a gloss over... not criticism, there has to be some or it would cost a heck of a lot more than ~20 dollars and be used by all 30 clubs religiously.

speed should definitely affect doubles and infield hits etc - how could it not increase % success by giving a narrower window of time for the defense? but, based on how hits are "made" it's just part of the overall %'s. i.e. league totals and individual look "right" even though they get them very slightly differently. think of before personalities... all "100/200" in action before that.

So, just to confirm, was there an increase in batting average from speed? I get that it would slightly increase slugging, but what about those extra IF hits?

You can also request a new scouting report to see what changes the Speed rating had.


Also, you can't steal first base. A guy could have great speed but that will do him no good if he hits fly balls that stay in the park or strikes out too much.

Speed is no help if a batter hits the ball hard to the infield. Vernon Wells way back used to drive me crazy with 1-hop GB into DP.

I get the logic, but has anyone actually tested to see if speed, by itself, improves batting average?

I've never tested it, but I've had speedy players who couldn't hit a lick. Yes, all things being equal a faster player should have a higher batting average than a slow player, but that's not how baseball works. You can have all the speed in the world but if you, as has been noted, fly out too much, strike out too much, or generally lack hitting skills it won't matter. A speedy guy should be able to bunt for hits with great effectiveness, and if he doesn't have much power should be able to slap base hits to all fields and if the ball finds even a slight gap turn a single into a double or a double into a triple.



Speed is one skill among many. It takes a package of skills to make a fast guy an effective offensive weapon.

Dude, I am not asking if speed is all I need. I'm asking if it has ANY tangible effect on batting average. Will a player with the SAME BABIP, POWER, EYE, AVOID K but a higher speed have a higher batting average than the other, or is it a complete non-factor?

The title is does running speed affect batting average. If you don't know, that's fine. Obviously I don't either. But don't give a patronizing answer that fails to provide any actual information. I'm not an MLB GM looking for pointers on how to evaluate prospects. I'm asking about the mechanics of a simulation engine.

There is no evidence available to answer your question. Chill out.

Dude, I don’t know, but why don’t you start a quick League, as commish, not take control of any team, and edit a particular player to the highest speed.

Turn off storylines, trades, injuries, etc.

Do this and sim maybe 20 seasons real quickly. Then do four or five more. See what his BA is for his career.

Then do it without the edit a similar number of times.

Question answered.

the estimate in the editor will tell you in a second. it'll be relative to a 'modern day environment' as far as the results it displays, but it will change if speed affects BA and all other things remain the same.

make the differences large enough and it will exagerrate any effect in case it is small.. . ie "1" and "250" speed

In the mechanics of the game, speed has only an "indirect" effect on batting average. That's because the ratings for players is based off of publically available information, like zips and steamer projections. Each ab is modelled as a series of rolls that contrast a pitcher stat against the batter stat (using log5 equation), modified by league modifiers and stadium modifiers. So there is a roll to determine whether the batter gets hit, which is a competition between the pitcher's hb and the batter's hb rating. Then there is a roll to determine whether the batter a walks, which is a competition between the pitcher's control rating and the batter's eye rating. If the batter doesn't walk, then there is a competition for Home Runs (movement & power) and strike outs (stuff & avoid k). Finally, if none of those rolls succeed, there is a competition for ball-in-play (gb%+movement+stuff vs. babip) to see if the hit ball is an out or a hit. If it is a hit, then gap determines the likelihood that it will go for extra bases, and then the ratio of doubles to triples for batter is used (defaulting to speed-based) to determine whether it is a single, double, or triple. In none of those cases is speed used, because presumably speed has already been priced in to the other metrics.

I have been digging in to things, reading old posts, etc. because this is very interesting to me. One thing I still need to figure out is what is used on the pitcher's side to oppose the batter's BABIP rating on a ball in play. The one thing that is clear is that increases in gb% only increase BABIP enough to offset the loss in home runs (it is as if increasing gb% results is equivalent to turning some home runs into hits in the field of play).

But it makes sense that there is a derived BABIP rating for each pitcher, that is determined by all the main pitcher stats, even control (although control above 100 has minimal effect on it), to be used in opposition to batter's BABIP rating. If anybody has figured that relationship out, I would love to hear what it is.