Stats Only - Ratings hybrid idea

[Baconi]

So, I like to play stats only because I find it to be the most realistic experience - the ratings in the game allow far more accurate evaluations of players than what you’d get in real life, even when adjusting the settings. However, I find I have to severely limit the amount of teams and draft rounds when I play stats-only, because it’s very difficult to keep track of so many young prospects without meaningful stats (I have to rely on the written scouting reports most of the time).

On Fangraphs, if you go to a player’s page, you’ll see they have ratings similar to OOTP describing their potential - the ratings shown reflect their potential FV when they made their debut. What if OOTP had something similar, where you could see a players potential ratings up until they had a certain amount of Major League service time? After that, you would have to judge based on their performance whether they will fulfill their potential or have hit a plateau. For veteran players, they should have enough stats to make an evaluation based on that rather than actual ratings. But if you wanted, you could always look at their potential ratings right before they “graduated” to the majors to decide if you think they still have untapped potential.

That means you could still evaluate prospects and young players based on their potential ratings, but would need to rely on their actual Major League performance beyond that. It would make it easier to deal with the draft, minor leaguers, etc. while still being more challenging than using 20-80 current and potential ratings. It would also mean you wouldn’t be able to see a veteran player’s decline before it happens - e.g. having a players ratings all drop by 20+ in the offseason before it’s actually reflected in their performance, which I think is more accurate to real life.

What do you think?

[Syd Thrift]

I basically turn on ratings for Draft Day and then turn them right back off. I like the idea of having potentials shown until a given date, although I'd kind of prefer that given date to be "draft day", as to me the second a guy enters the league I want to start relying on the numbers - there's still that chance that a guy like that's going to get a big old TCR boost (or hit) that the scout's going to know about before the stats reflect it.

But yean, that's an interesting start!

[Baconi]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

I basically turn on ratings for Draft Day and then turn them right back off. I like the idea of having potentials shown until a given date, although I'd kind of prefer that given date to be "draft day", as to me the second a guy enters the league I want to start relying on the numbers - there's still that chance that a guy like that's going to get a big old TCR boost (or hit) that the scout's going to know about before the stats reflect it.

But yean, that's an interesting start!

True - maybe there could be an option for when the cutoff date would be. My rationale is that you still have scouting sites like FanGraphs that give rating-like evaluations of younger players up until they debut, and often they do pick up on talent changes - although that usually comes after their stats improve, while the opposite is true in OOTP like you point out.

[Hrycaj]

Originally Posted by Baconi

So, I like to play stats only because I find it to be the most realistic experience - the ratings in the game allow far more accurate evaluations of players than what you’d get in real life, even when adjusting the settings. However, I find I have to severely limit the amount of teams and draft rounds when I play stats-only, because it’s very difficult to keep track of so many young prospects without meaningful stats (I have to rely on the written scouting reports most of the time).

On Fangraphs, if you go to a player’s page, you’ll see they have ratings similar to OOTP describing their potential - the ratings shown reflect their potential FV when they made their debut. What if OOTP had something similar, where you could see a players potential ratings up until they had a certain amount of Major League service time? After that, you would have to judge based on their performance whether they will fulfill their potential or have hit a plateau. For veteran players, they should have enough stats to make an evaluation based on that rather than actual ratings. But if you wanted, you could always look at their potential ratings right before they “graduated” to the majors to decide if you think they still have untapped potential.

That means you could still evaluate prospects and young players based on their potential ratings, but would need to rely on their actual Major League performance beyond that. It would make it easier to deal with the draft, minor leaguers, etc. while still being more challenging than using 20-80 current and potential ratings. It would also mean you wouldn’t be able to see a veteran player’s decline before it happens - e.g. having a players ratings all drop by 20+ in the offseason before it’s actually reflected in their performance, which I think is more accurate to real life.

What do you think?

I think it is something I have shared on the beta forum on more than one occasion. To me this idea makes all the sense in the world. I’m also a stats only player so maybe that is why this idea appeals to me as much as it does.

[OutS|der]

No thanks

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by Baconi

So, I like to play stats only because I find it to be the most realistic experience - the ratings in the game allow far more accurate evaluations of players than what you’d get in real life, even when adjusting the settings. However, I find I have to severely limit the amount of teams and draft rounds when I play stats-only, because it’s very difficult to keep track of so many young prospects without meaningful stats (I have to rely on the written scouting reports most of the time).

On Fangraphs, if you go to a player’s page, you’ll see they have ratings similar to OOTP describing their potential - the ratings shown reflect their potential FV when they made their debut. What if OOTP had something similar, where you could see a players potential ratings up until they had a certain amount of Major League service time? After that, you would have to judge based on their performance whether they will fulfill their potential or have hit a plateau. For veteran players, they should have enough stats to make an evaluation based on that rather than actual ratings. But if you wanted, you could always look at their potential ratings right before they “graduated” to the majors to decide if you think they still have untapped potential.

That means you could still evaluate prospects and young players based on their potential ratings, but would need to rely on their actual Major League performance beyond that. It would make it easier to deal with the draft, minor leaguers, etc. while still being more challenging than using 20-80 current and potential ratings. It would also mean you wouldn’t be able to see a veteran player’s decline before it happens - e.g. having a players ratings all drop by 20+ in the offseason before it’s actually reflected in their performance, which I think is more accurate to real life.

What do you think?

Like this idea a lot. Another Stats only player here. I like the idea of the potential FV.

What I'd really like is to be able to turn ratings on/off by level. If I could have potentials only on just for the minors and everything off for the Majors, that would be awesome.

I've played a bit using potentials only, it's kind of like the Scout telling me what he thinks the player is capable of, and the players stats telling me if he's failing, meeting, or exceeding that potential.

[MrDov]

If the goal is realism, MLB teams are certainly scouting active major leaguers, at least if they have any interest in acquiring them. Public scouting ratings only drop off once guys debut because readers of baseball publications care way more about scouting reports of prospects than guys who have exhausted rookie eligibility.

What would probably be most realistic is the ability to shift scouting priorities. It would be really cool if OOTP added a way to filter what players you want your scouting to look at. Like if you could say only look at guys < X years of MLB service, or under the age of X, or only look at major leaguers if they’re an impending free agent. Maybe some short term filtering too, send out your scout to look at MLB SPs for you to trade for before the deadline to beef your roster up for a playoff push.

I really like what Football Manager has done with their scouting system as far as ability to add multiple scouts with different areas/regions of knowledge, and the ability to create as many scouting assignments/filters as you want. It would take a real overhaul of what OOTP has current for scouting but I think it would provide much more realism and customization.

[Baconi]

Originally Posted by MrDov

If the goal is realism, MLB teams are certainly scouting active major leaguers, at least if they have any interest in acquiring them. Public scouting ratings only drop off once guys debut because readers of baseball publications care way more about scouting reports of prospects than guys who have exhausted rookie eligibility.

What would probably be most realistic is the ability to shift scouting priorities. It would be really cool if OOTP added a way to filter what players you want your scouting to look at. Like if you could say only look at guys < X years of MLB service, or under the age of X, or only look at major leaguers if they’re an impending free agent. Maybe some short term filtering too, send out your scout to look at MLB SPs for you to trade for before the deadline to beef your roster up for a playoff push.

I really like what Football Manager has done with their scouting system as far as ability to add multiple scouts with different areas/regions of knowledge, and the ability to create as many scouting assignments/filters as you want. It would take a real overhaul of what OOTP has current for scouting but I think it would provide much more realism and customization.

True - I think mainly the problem that I find is that OOTP ratings are too accurate and change easily, often before a player's decline. FWIW, you can change how you allocate your scouting budget between Major League, Minor League, Amateur, and International players, and also add more specific scouting priorities under the Scouting page, but you might already know that.

[ms2002]

As someone who enjoys Stats Only/minimal ratings, I'd love this idea as a setting.

[MrDov]

Originally Posted by Baconi

True - I think mainly the problem that I find is that OOTP ratings are too accurate and change easily, often before a player's decline. FWIW, you can change how you allocate your scouting budget between Major League, Minor League, Amateur, and International players, and also add more specific scouting priorities under the Scouting page, but you might already know that.

Ya know, I actually haven't played OOTP in a couple years but am getting back into it with 25. So my memory of some features is foggy so that's actually a good reminder, I forgot you could change scouting priorities in that regard

[Mr. Marlin]

I like it! I tried stats only a few versions back and got hooked. I've always wished we could customize the player interface but this is a nice idea too, I really like the level of homework required but also the way it keeps you from falling trap to "ratings bias".