Velocity decline

[tktkrtktkr]

This is more of a suggestion that I would like it to be fixed in OOTP 26 than a bug report, but I think it's right to post it here rather than a general discussion.

After last summer's patch, the speed drop was controlled through multiple patches, but I think it's just a change of "degree" and the underlying problem hasn't been solved.

What I'm talking about is a pitcher's velocity decline, a phenomenon that goes beyond injury, aging, and overall rating decline, that is, only a decline.

In OOTP now, high-speed pitchers (96-98 or higher) have a high probability of decline significantly in their mid-to-late 20s and after their 30s. As you can see from the graph, this is not my subjective opinion, but it is true. There are a total of two 'decline sections' in their mid-to-late 20s and 30s, where pitchers lose speeds of more than two miles in a short period of less than two years. This seems to be not a special case, but a general deceleration model of OOTP now, as there are far more players in this category than those who do not.

So, what's wrong with this? If you look at the aging curve of MLB pitchers, it is true that fast-paced pitchers actually slow down more quickly. However, this means that power pitchers decrease faster than other pitchers, not necessarily because pitchers generally suffer from a "fall" in speed. On average, pitchers whose average speed is 97 miles or higher lose 1 mile from their maximum speed is 31 years old. (The average pitcher is 34 years old), while OOTP, which turns off the injury setting, loses more than 1 mile at age 28, and nearly 2 miles at age 31. Considering that the injury has been put off, it is a big difference.

In the past, in OOTP, pitchers were the same monotonous model of maintaining a constant speed until a certain point in time and then experiencing a steep speed decline. I think maybe Devs changed the speed decline model along with the TCR modification to make a difference to this simple model. We always welcome change and improvement, but today's model has the problem of excessive speed reduction. In fact, pitchers who suffer from moderate aging and are not kicked out of the big leagues maintain their speed for a fairly long time after experiencing a slight speed reduction. (Robertson, Kenley Jansen, Chapman, etc. are typical examples.) However, in OOTP, most players have a significant speed drop for a short period of time in a certain age range. In other words, in OOTP, the age of decrease is larger than in reality, and the width is also large. In addition, it is common for pitchers to experience aging and decrease not only the speed but also the value of control and pitch type, but in OOTP, other abilities decrease significantly only the speed first without much change.

(In all these discussions, there is no reason to consider players whose speed has decreased significantly. Because they will lose their jobs both in reality and in OOTP. The pitchers in the discussion are still competitive pitchers, even though they lost speed at an early age.)

The problem with velocity decline is that it makes power pitchers less valuable. Power pitchers experience a decrease in their stuff due to velocity decline even before the end of their prime, which reduces their value relatively.


In summary, there is a problem with the current speed reduction model itself, and it has not been solved with small adjustments so far. The reduction point in the mid-20s should be removed and adjusted to undergo a gradual reduction from the late 20s. Considering that the speed of OOTP is expressed as an integer, the decrease in speed generally has to occur little by little every few years.

I hope that these parts will be improved in OOTP 26.