The Strikeout Kings and their inability to throw a ball over 90 mph

[Gastric ReFlux]

I've been watching a league now for its past 28 years, and these are my top 10 guys for strikeouts per 9 innings:

Rank	Player	K9	YEAR	Open Season Leaderboard
1	Nick Schaefer*	10.112	1957-1976	 
2	Orlando Aguayo#	9.551	1972-1977	 
3	Cruz Torres#	9.310	1968-1977	 
4	John Paine*	9.099	1962-1976	 
5	Sonny Moreton#	9.058	1967-1977	 
6	Ramón Villa#	8.977	1969-1977	 
7	Quirino Bernasconi#	8.956	1970-1977	 
8	Joe Henryson	8.940	1963-1976	 
9	Goran Crews#	8.930	1956-1977	 
10	Brant Peterson*	8.542	1954-1970

Only Goran Crews was ever capable of throwing a fastball over 90 mph, capable of touching the gun at 90 to 92 mph.

It's a bit annoying, and needs to be reworked in 2007, I hope.

[Gastric ReFlux]

Or if I check my K leaderboard for this season that just finished, 1977:

Strikeouts
O. Aguayo	BAL	343
B. Apperley	TEX	296
K. Hakugi	BSA	270
P. Peña	DET	259
R. Villa	BAL	249

Only Apperly can throw over 90, at 90-92 mph.

[theurbanshocker]

I believe strikeout ability is attached to the "Stuff" rating and not mph, so if your pitchers have high stuff ratings that may explain it. In the meantime, I just edit the mph.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by theurbanshocker

I believe strikeout ability is attached to the "Stuff" rating and not mph, so if your pitchers have high stuff ratings that may explain it. In the meantime, I just edit the mph.

This is true; however, it is kind of unrealistic that nobody in any fictional league, even the big-K guys, throws harder than around 92 mph. Actually I think I have a closer in my league who throws 98, but that's the *only* person who guns it that fast.

Velocity *does* have an effect on how well a player develops and ages. Perhaps this is why, originally, pitchers were having such a hard time keeping their starting jobs past the age of 31?

[Gastric ReFlux]

Originally Posted by theurbanshocker

I believe strikeout ability is attached to the "Stuff" rating and not mph, so if your pitchers have high stuff ratings that may explain it. In the meantime, I just edit the mph.

I wouldn't doubt that, but something needs to be adjusted, either making a guy who throws hard more likely to have a good stuff rating, or vice versa, that someone with a good stuff rating will be able to throw the ball hard.

Part of the reason I'm just watching this game unfold, with as little intervention as possible, is that I want to see history go by at a good pace. I'm not too keen on the idea of going in editing the mph for the strikeout kings.

[theurbanshocker]

Originally Posted by Gastric ReFlux

I wouldn't doubt that, but something needs to be adjusted, either making a guy who throws hard more likely to have a good stuff rating, or vice versa, that someone with a good stuff rating will be able to throw the ball hard.

Part of the reason I'm just watching this game unfold, with as little intervention as possible, is that I want to see history go by at a good pace. I'm not too keen on the idea of going in editing the mph for the strikeout kings.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I can't help but intervene. Things like this bother me too much. Anyway, hopefully OOTP2007 will address this. In the meantime, I just take advantage of the customization abilities of the game and enjoy all the positives I see.

[Markus Heinsohn]

The game does take the stuff rating into account when generating the velocity, so you might be just a bit unlucky. I just checked the strikeout leaders of my fictional league, and in the top 5 all but one throw 93+...

However, I did tweak the player development, so that when a pitcher gets a talent boost, his velocity may rise as well.

[Gastric ReFlux]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

The game does take the stuff rating into account when generating the velocity, so you might be just a bit unlucky. I just checked the strikeout leaders of my fictional league, and in the top 5 all but one throw 93+...

However, I did tweak the player development, so that when a pitcher gets a talent boost, his velocity may rise as well.

Hmm, I wonder then, when setting up the game I had raised the K numbers for the stats so as to depress the strikeouts in the league, which may have pushed down the stuff ratings of the pitchers.

I'll have to test another league then and see what happens if I don't touch the numbers of K's.