Does scouting budget and scout quality really matter?

[CanadaCajanek21]

I play as the Rays, and we have a LEGENDARY category scout when it comes to finding players. I also have a huge budget with a large amount dedicated to international/amateur scouting. However, when I get my emails from him telling me of new talents, they are never above 1.0 ML stars. I feel like it's a waste to have such a good amateur scout and such a large amount of money dedicated to the budget to find players that a rookie scout by himself could find!

[megamanmatt]

Originally Posted by CanadaCajanek21

I play as the Rays, and we have a LEGENDARY category scout when it comes to finding players. I also have a huge budget with a large amount dedicated to international/amateur scouting. However, when I get my emails from him telling me of new talents, they are never above 1.0 ML stars. I feel like it's a waste to have such a good amateur scout and such a large amount of money dedicated to the budget to find players that a rookie scout by himself could find!

Remember that your scout also scouts the amateur draft, major leagues, and minor leagues as well. It's not just finding international prospects.

[CanadaCajanek21]

Originally Posted by megamanmatt

Remember that your scout also scouts the amateur draft, major leagues, and minor leagues as well. It's not just finding international prospects.

Well I use 100% accuracy scouting so I mainly focus on the amateur and international. I don't need to know much about the MiLB and MLB players, since I can see. But when I spend $5,000,000 on international budgets, and get nothing but 0.5 and 1.0 star potential guys....lameee

[megamanmatt]

Originally Posted by CanadaCajanek21

Well I use 100% accuracy scouting so I mainly focus on the amateur and international. I don't need to know much about the MiLB and MLB players, since I can see. But when I spend $5,000,000 on international budgets, and get nothing but 0.5 and 1.0 star potential guys....lameee

Do you know how many players are signed internationally vs. how many ever become anything? The chances of anyone having the talent to play in the major leagues is incredibly rare in and of itself. Look at how many professional baseball players there are against almost any other sport besides hockey and soccer. Every player in the world is essentially competing for 750 jobs.

Now, aside from the whole reality of it all aspect there is also the fact international prospects do not accrue any professional experience as long as they are in the international complex, when they move to your lowest minor league team due to your own action or turning 20 then they start moving towards minor league free agency. So you've generally got 4-5 years of development and random stat boosts and those are what your hoping for out of those players. 1 or 2 who can improve.

Finally I would ask if you are using the relative rating system because that will alter their overall ratings somewhat. Additionally what are your AI eval settings because those can effect things as well.

[CanadaCajanek21]

Originally Posted by megamanmatt

Do you know how many players are signed internationally vs. how many ever become anything? The chances of anyone having the talent to play in the major leagues is incredibly rare in and of itself. Look at how many professional baseball players there are against almost any other sport besides hockey and soccer. Every player in the world is essentially competing for 750 jobs.

Now, aside from the whole reality of it all aspect there is also the fact international prospects do not accrue any professional experience as long as they are in the international complex, when they move to your lowest minor league team due to your own action or turning 20 then they start moving towards minor league free agency. So you've generally got 4-5 years of development and random stat boosts and those are what your hoping for out of those players. 1 or 2 who can improve.

Finally I would ask if you are using the relative rating system because that will alter their overall ratings somewhat. Additionally what are your AI eval settings because those can effect things as well.

I turned off the relative AI, since I manage multiple teams (ML, AAA, R) and it gets "stuck" sometimes and I'll look at a AAA guy and for some reason it shows R settings. A couple times I accidentally promoted a pretty cruddy guy before he was ready because I was looking at stats for a lower league. But this was also a problem last year, where there was no relative AI. They mostly started as 0.5 or 1.0 star, and after 3-4 years, most stayed the same. I played 9 seasons in my final play in OOTP14, and not one scouted player made the majors. I had a few that I spent bonuses on, but found players, not one. And that was with a budget larger than most other teams and R.J Anderson and his LEGENDARY ratings.

[SirMichaelJordan]

The IFA your scout find are not meant to be hot shot propects anymore. High scouting budget in this area in the past did turn up some good finds but since OOTP introduced IFA signing period, most of the good International propects are found there. That's not to say those 1 star guys wont never amount to anything though.

Think of the hidden finds as roster fillers or guys who a scout just happend to see while scouting that Dominican who wants a 3.7 mil signing bonus. Or perhaps guys who won a roster spot from winning a reality show...


Also playing with scouts is useless if you are playing 100% accurate ratings since not only a scout's ratings can have influence on how accurate ratings are but budget also matter in this case if Im correct.

So if a user is playing 100% accurate, use the new IFA and also have the new International leagues loaded which then means that your scout isnt turning up any Cubans or Asians anymore...So yea it's pretty much useless to you right now.

All in all, if it was up to me I would adopt FM scouting

Out of the Park Baseball Manual

[megamanmatt]

Originally Posted by CanadaCajanek21

I turned off the relative AI, since I manage multiple teams (ML, AAA, R) and it gets "stuck" sometimes and I'll look at a AAA guy and for some reason it shows R settings. A couple times I accidentally promoted a pretty cruddy guy before he was ready because I was looking at stats for a lower league. But this was also a problem last year, where there was no relative AI. They mostly started as 0.5 or 1.0 star, and after 3-4 years, most stayed the same. I played 9 seasons in my final play in OOTP14, and not one scouted player made the majors. I had a few that I spent bonuses on, but found players, not one. And that was with a budget larger than most other teams and R.J Anderson and his LEGENDARY ratings.

Since the implementation of the international prospect concept I've had less than 20 make it to the majors as regular players. With international amateur FAs that's gone up some since you can find and sign good players there, but it's less of a sure thing since you're competing with the other clubs.

As to the relative ratings if you switch it in a player's profile then it will stay switched until you switch it back. So if you look at a player and switch the ratings to relative for your AAA league and then go out and look at a ML player it will still show his ratings relative to AAA. You gotta switch it back to the ML's ratings.

[megamanmatt]

Originally Posted by SirMichaelJordan

The IFA your scout find are not meant to be hot shot propects anymore. High scouting budget in this area in the past did turn up some good finds but since OOTP introduced IFA signing period, most of the good International propects are found there. That's not to say those 1 star guys wont never amount to anything though.

Think of the hidden finds as roster fillers or guys who a scout just happend to see while scouting that Dominican who wants a 3.7 mil signing bonus. Or perhaps guys who won a roster spot from winning a reality show...


Also playing with scouts is useless if you are playing 100% accurate ratings since not only a scout's ratings can have influence on how accurate ratings are but budget also matter in this case if Im correct.

So if a user is playing 100% accurate, use the new IFA and also have the new International leagues loaded which then means that your scout isnt turning up any Cubans or Asians anymore...So yea it's pretty much useless to you right now.

All in all, if it was up to me I would adopt FM scouting

Out of the Park Baseball Manual

Could be worse. We could still have to assign individual scouts to scout stuff. Ugh was that a nightmare.

[HolyCow98]

That was my least favorite "feature" in the history of OOTP....luckily it was optional.

[HuachucaThunder]

While you have a "Legendary" scout, his "observations" are based on what he sees. In OOTP14, I have had a few players with 4 star potential who never did anything once they reached Double A. I have also had some who the scout rated as only a 1 star potentia (basically a filler)l make it to the bigs and have a pretty good career. I would post a screen shot of this, but I am now on a new computer after a fatal hdd crash.
Anyways, just because a Legendary rating is attached to a scout, that does not mean that he will always find the quality prospects or older players. Just like in real life, every international prospect or player is a "wish upon a star" deal. Just because the player, for example is 28 years old and played in the Mexican League and averaged say a .350 with 35+ hrs and 120+ rbis over a 5 or 6 year period, does not mean he could adjust to the grind of a longer schedule and playing against superior talent. So based on what the AI Scout sees, he may have a high potential but never reach it. Talent every year goes up and down.