Quote:
Originally Posted by Syd Thrift
Cal Ripken's best seasons afield were essentially a dead heat between his age 24 season (as you'd expect) and his age 31 season (as you probably wouldn't). The latter was built primarily on his ability to avoid errors though.
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Wade Boggs also had his best defensive season at age 31. I'm not sure OOTP models how veterans deal with eroding skills to maintain their defense. I don't know if there is truth to it but I remember announcers back in the 70's & 80's talk about some veterans ability to make up for their diminishing range in the field with better positioning before the pitch and smarter decisions once the ball is put in play. Maybe OOTP needs to treat players with a high intelligence and work effort differently than say a player who tends to rely on his natural ability in how their defensive abilities evolve over their career.