- A more realistic pool of pitchers in the amateur draft, which will be made up of close to 90% starters.
- Starters will generally start with established fastballs and breaking pitches and weak off-speed pitches.
- Starters who improve or develop their weak off-speed pitch will have a better chance at starting in the majors than those who don't, who will be more likely to fall to relief roles.
Regarding these, does anyone have a sense of how much of these specific points are intrinsic player changes, and how much is just reclassification?
Specifically, are there more pitchers showing up with that weak 3rd pitch rather than strictly fastball/curve, and are there any fewer that will start with 3+ (
or, seven)?
In our v11 FOBL drafts, there have been plenty of high stamina pitchers with two great pitches that are labeled as MR solely because they don't have a 3rd pitch, and if they magically gained one they would immediately be considered SP material (like
this guy, who WAS at one point labeled as a "marginal starter" - even with just those two pitches - or
this guy who was deemed "emergency worthy" when his FB/CB became high enough; both were MR in the draft pool).
Are pitchers actually showing up with different skills, or is it just easier to achieve that initial "SP" label?