The correct amateur draft pool at the correct time

[kriscolic]

Is there any way to faithfully reproduce the June amateur draft in a historical league?

The default is to hold (for example) the draft that in real life took place in June 1987 in the period in the game from the end of the 1986 World Series through 12/31/86. If you try to move that draft to the correct time (June 1987) the pool of players available for the draft are those players who (in real life) were drafted in June 1988. Holding the draft in the fall of 1986 leads to, among other issues, players making pro debuts in April 1987 who are 17 years old an who were (in real life) getting ready to graduate from high school.

I would like to have an historically accurate draft at the historically accurate time. Can this be done?

Moreover, is there any good reason why this is set up the way it is?

[Charlie Hough]

If you are importing real life rookies from the historical database, you don't want to hold your draft in June. Otherwise new rookies who played in MLB for that season won't be available for team rosters at the start of the season like they actually were. They won't be able to make their debuts until June at the earliest.

Historical league drafts are set up this way because the default OOTP database only includes players who actually made it to MLB, and the game imports them in their rookie year when they made their debut. In historical leagues, the draft is basically an MLB rookie draft. It's not a draft like it works in real life, when you're drafting 18 year-olds and college prospects.

It only makes sense to hold a June draft if you're running a fictional league, using fictional first-year players, or using an OOTP mod such as the database that includes minor league stats and imports players into your game when they first began their pro baseball careers in the minors. In that case, a June draft might make sense because you can actually draft players at the age of 18, when they began pro baseball. Otherwise, you should just use the default scheduling, although I usually schedule my draft after free agency, so teams have a chance to sort out their roster needs and signings before deciding which rookies to draft.

[kriscolic]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

It only makes sense to hold a June draft if you're running a fictional league, using fictional first-year players, or using an OOTP mod such as the database that includes minor league stats and imports players into your game when they first began their pro baseball careers in the minors. In that case, a June draft might make sense because you can actually draft players at the age of 18, when they began pro baseball. Otherwise, you should just use the default scheduling, although I usually schedule my draft after free agency, so teams have a chance to sort out their roster needs and signings before deciding which rookies to draft.

That's exactly what I'm doing.

I think I've figured out a work around. My next amateur draft is scheduled for December 5, 1989. This is the pool of players who, in real life, were drafted in June, 1990. I'm going to export the pool, reschedule the draft for June, then import the pool. Hopefully this works...

[Charlie Hough]

If you're using the database with minor league stats and earlier pro debuts, if you set your draft date to June when you create your league, I would think everything should work fine. Maybe the issue is that your draft date was originally set to December and you're trying to change things after the fact. If you continue to have problems, I would recommend posting in the historical simulations forum.

[kriscolic]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

If you're using the database with minor league stats and earlier pro debuts, if you set your draft date to June when you create your league, I would think everything should work fine. Maybe the issue is that your draft date was originally set to December and you're trying to change things after the fact. If you continue to have problems, I would recommend posting in the historical simulations forum.

Not sure if I did, but evidence would seem to suggest that I did not. If only there were a way to easily fix it post hoc. Lesson learned.

[ALB123]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

If you are importing real life rookies from the historical database, you don't want to hold your draft in June. Otherwise new rookies who played in MLB for that season won't be available for team rosters at the start of the season like they actually were. They won't be able to make their debuts until June at the earliest.

Historical league drafts are set up this way because the default OOTP database only includes players who actually made it to MLB, and the game imports them in their rookie year when they made their debut. In historical leagues, the draft is basically an MLB rookie draft. It's not a draft like it works in real life, when you're drafting 18 year-olds and college prospects.

It only makes sense to hold a June draft if you're running a fictional league, using fictional first-year players, or using an OOTP mod such as the database that includes minor league stats and imports players into your game when they first began their pro baseball careers in the minors. In that case, a June draft might make sense because you can actually draft players at the age of 18, when they began pro baseball. Otherwise, you should just use the default scheduling, although I usually schedule my draft after free agency, so teams have a chance to sort out their roster needs and signings before deciding which rookies to draft.

Hey Charlie Hough...I appreciate the knowledge you've been dropping around here lately. I've learned quite a few things from your posts...

This particular post, however, has my head spinning.

I'm playing a Historical setup with no modifications to anything database related. I started as the 1981 Yankees and Spring Training for 1995 is approaching fast. My draft is always held on December 15th and I most certainly draft 17 & 18-year-olds, in addition to 19, 20, 21 & 22-year-olds. Most are busts or minor league filler, but I have discovered some fantastic talent I picked in later rounds.

I must be missing something here, but I can't figure out what the heck it might be. Could you possibly explain what you mean by that, in a different way, so maybe I'll better understand it? I honestly have no idea of the heck is going on right now.