[Jason Moyer]

Since OOTP6 has made large strides towards realism in terms of DIPS implementation and a much more refined player development and aging system, I'd like to propose an idea for pushing the defensive and baserunning systems up to the same level as the pitching and general offense.

This rating system would replace the current position ratings and steal ratings. These ratings would also remove the need for the "taking walks" and "avoiding K's" rating, and would make the game behave in a manner more consistent with real life. There would also be much more interaction between ratings, which would make the rating system for defensive and offensive players more dynamic, and again, more realistic.

1. New ratings
- Speed: How fast a player is. Would effect GIDP, SB%, and fielding range. Would peak when a player is drafted, and decline throughout his career due to aging and leg injuries with no possibility for improvement.
- Glove: Ability to cleanly field a batted ball. Would affect fielding errors and passed balls. Would improve/decline along a normal aging curve.
- Arm Accuracy: Ability to throw accurately. Would affect throwing errors. Again, a normal improvement/declining curve.
- Arm Strength: Would act similarly to current arm strength ratings. Would have a curve similar to speed - starting high and gradually declining through age and arm injuries.
- Patience: Would effect the number of pitches a player sees in a typical at bat. This would simulate the idea of "waiting for your pitch". This would increase strikeouts as well as walks, since the odds of either occurring increase as you get deeper into counts. This would also act as a modifier to a player's hitting, gap power, and power ratings, since the player would be less likely to swing at a bad pitch.
- Intelligence: Would work as a modifier for the patience, glove, and speed ratings. Part of that would be working with the speed rating to determine a player's fielding range - this simulates the idea of "positional range", anticipating a play before it happens. It would also modify the speed rating when determining SB% and GIDP - but not the ability to get a jump when stealing (that would be left strictly to speed). Finally, it would act as a modifier for the patience rating, and also would determine a player's K/BB ratio. This could also affect a catcher's ability to handle a pitching staff. Would tend to start out on the low side and increase as a player gains experience.

2. Positional Familiarity Ratings
- Players would have ratings for defensive familiarity at each position. These ratings would start low and increase as a player gained experience playing a position. These ratings would be the primary modifier for the speed/glove/arm accuracy/arm strength ratings when determining a player's fielding ability. These ratings would increase quickly as a player accumulated playing time at a position, and slowly decrease when a player did not play a position he was already familiar with.

This is quite a bit to munch on, and I'd appreciate feedback on what you guys think of it. The benefits to this would be vastly more realistic aging patterns and an implementation of the defensive spectrum. Imagine being able to have a defensive player switch from SS to 2B in mid career as his fielding ratings decline, and having him properly fit in as a quality second baseman after gaining some spring training and early season experience. Or moving a catcher with no speed but a great arm and glove to left field. Or having a player like Davey Lopez who loses his speed as he gets older and makes up for it on the basepaths by being incredibly intelligent. Or having a player like Mike Schmidt (or thousands of others) who walk 80 times and strikeout 170 times in their early 20's and end up walking 120 times and striking out 80 times at age 38.