[KingCrimson]

Originally Posted by Pelican

My experience is anecdotal only. Others may have tested this, in terms of what effect the drop in velocity has on overall effectiveness. I would be curious how the new mix of pitcher ratings would behave, if just velocity were reduced.

In my experience, this does start to happen around age 30. Certainly not to every SP or RP. And it can be accompanied by an increase in Movement or Control, which quite likely may compensate for the loss in velocity. We might call this the Jamie Moyer Effect.

Also, pitch velocity in scouting reports can be a product of the scout's observations (presumably with a radar gun) and reliability. A scout with low accuracy may actually be getting pitch velocity wrong - or maybe he saw the pitcher on an off day.

How do you play OOTP? I am learning there is a whole universe of different dynamics with fictional (AI created) players, that may or may not correspond to the historical seasons I typically play. I would not know what to expect with generated players as they age.

And, what you are seeing could be a direct result of the settings you are using. If you are playing historical with annual recalc, the game may well be reflecting the drop-off in velocity that real players experienced, in that point of their career.

If you play, as I do, with annual reclac off, development with high TCR, you would expect results to diverge from IRL stats and performance. Guys might age faster, or age slower, randomly.

One way to influence pitcher drop-off in performance would be to adjust the "Aging" factor for pitchers from the default 1.00 to something less, say experiment with .95 or even .75, and see if SP maintain velocity (and other ability) longer. I should note that I advance these factors to 1.15 for pitchers and hitters, so that my sample would age (and thus lose velocity) more quickly - at a younger age. Of course, I also use 1.15 for development, so that younger players develop somewhat more quickly. It's a trade-off I like; but you can do the opposite, to keep guys around longer.

I'm just playing your standard present day save. I haven't gotten into adjusting any advanced settings either. I could try messing with the aging setting, I suppose.