[junebug41]

I am in my first league, a historical sim, and like many people, I am drawn to real-life WHIP as a first-glance method of evaluating how good pitchers will be. However, I'm not sure if this is leading me astray... since the three ratings, Stuff, Movement, and Control are only based on the real-life Strikeout, Home run, and Walk rates... Are these the only real-life stats that matter? Does the game have a way of "seeing" that even though two guys might have similar K, HR, and BB rates, Pitcher A only allowed opponents to hit .215, while Pitcher B was knocked around at a .280 clip?

I had assumed that the game had to have a way of making this distinction, since great pitchers usually allow a very low BA, while crappy ones allow a high one. However, conversations with other owners have got me a little worried.

Here's an example to help illustrate my question: Dennis Martinez (prime 9-year stretch) vs. Kevin Millwood.

- Millwood will have much better stuff, since he struck out a lot more batters
- Both men gave up fairly average homer totals, probably will have 15-ish movement
- Both men's walk rates were generally in the mid-2 range per 9 innings

So it seems reasonable to guess that Millwood might be around a 14-15-13 guy, while Martinez maybe a 9-15-14

Martinez during his good years usually allowed opponents to hit .210 - .245, while Millwood, with a couple of exceptions, allowed .245 - .275. Predictably, Martinez had consistently better ERA and WHIP numbers. Is the game going to "know" that Martinez was the much better pitcher, owing largely to the fact that he allowed far fewer hits?