World Scouting Pays Off!!!

jbsnadb · 06-14-2006, 03:41 AM

One of my scouts found a decent 24 year-old shortstop in Cuba, that I decided to take a chance on with a minor league contract. In the ninth game of his professional career (with my AA affiliate) he hit for the freakin' CYCLE!!!!!!!!! I love this kid, and I'm excited to watch him rise through the ranks, especially since I have some issues at short. He's hitting .300, with 5 rund scored and 8 walks. I'll keep you posted.

DON'T IGNORE THE REST OF THE WORLD WHEN SCOUTING!!!!

It can be a life-saver!

bababui · 06-14-2006, 04:09 AM

This is definitly a winning feature of the new game. It will be interesting to see how it evolves through future editions.

joek1972 · 06-14-2006, 04:26 AM

I have discovered some excellent players through the international system. My top prospect, a slugging centerfielder, was signed from the Dominican at age 16. He played rookie ball at age 16, and made it to AA at 17. He played very well at AAA at 18 and got called up and put up an OPS of .800 in the big leagues in September. He will be my starting CF at age 19 next year. All my scouts have rated him through the roof. He is the #4 prospect in MLB, and honestly is a way better prospect than the guys ranked ahead of him.

Pretty much all of my top prospects have come from the international system. I found a great power-hitting 2B in the Bahamas, a multi-position power/speed infielder from Cuba and a sweet-swinging 1B from the Dominican.

turdfurgeson · 06-14-2006, 04:37 AM

Yeah, I love this new feature. It is a huge part of modern baseball. Look at all the players from around the world playing in the majors who were not eligible for the North American Draft.
Too bad I have not messed around enough with it yet to see what it really has to offer.

chrisbamb · 06-14-2006, 08:35 AM

Funnily enough, I to found a 24 y.o. Short stop in Cuba and he was good enough to go straight into the team and ended up with sparkling figures at the end of the 1st Season.

He's played regularly for me and is one of my favourite players in the team now!!

jbsnadb · 06-14-2006, 10:01 AM

My guy could be good enough, but I didn't feel like taking THAT big of a chance!

Giants44 · 06-14-2006, 01:06 PM

I think this is great, but I have a question.

I only play MLB with "normal" minors - can I still find these types of players, or does this only work if I have a leagues setup in "Ghana" in addition to my MLB leagues?

PS - the use of "Ghana" is not meant to be sarcastic, just it seems to have become the symbolic country when discussing all foreign leagues.

Nukester · 06-14-2006, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisbamb

Funnily enough, I to found a 24 y.o. Short stop in Cuba and he was good enough to go straight into the team and ended up with sparkling figures at the end of the 1st Season.

He's played regularly for me and is one of my favourite players in the team now!!

Thats because he is probably really 28 years old

Caporegime · 06-14-2006, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giants44

I think this is great, but I have a question.

I only play MLB with "normal" minors - can I still find these types of players, or does this only work if I have a leagues setup in "Ghana" in addition to my MLB leagues?

PS - the use of "Ghana" is not meant to be sarcastic, just it seems to have become the symbolic country when discussing all foreign leagues.

Actually, hidden players are disabled in countries that have leagues established in them. So as long as you don't have a league in Ghana, Gabon, Belize, Luxemburg et al, you may find a hidden gem tucked away in those countries. Just be sure to check a nation's baseball program level before you send a scout there. If it is listed as "non-existent", your scout will come back empty-handed.

Perched Raven · 06-14-2006, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caporegime

Actually, hidden players are disabled in countries that have leagues established in them. So as long as you don't have a league in Ghana, Gabon, Belize, Luxemburg et al, you may find a hidden gem tucked away in those countries. Just be sure to check a nation's baseball program level before you send a scout there. If it is listed as "non-existent", your scout will come back empty-handed.

Really? I did not know that having a league in the country disabled hidden players. Did I miss that in the game giude, or was that something someone has discovered?

Raidergoo · 06-14-2006, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caporegime

If it is listed as "non-existent", your scout will come back empty-handed.

Or maybe with a disease.

Giants44 · 06-14-2006, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caporegime

Actually, hidden players are disabled in countries that have leagues established in them. So as long as you don't have a league in Ghana, Gabon, Belize, Luxemburg et al, you may find a hidden gem tucked away in those countries. Just be sure to check a nation's baseball program level before you send a scout there. If it is listed as "non-existent", your scout will come back empty-handed.

great thanks for the info - I am off to scout "Ghana" and I am bound and determined to produce an allstar name Mobutu!!!

Riverdome · 06-14-2006, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caporegime

If it is listed as "non-existent", your scout will come back empty-handed.

Is this a hard coded fact or are players in these countries just really far and few between?

Riverdome · 06-14-2006, 02:12 PM

Also, is there competition for these hidden players in solo play? I sent my scouts to nations listed as "Good" in the hopes that other teams are off in the "Excellent" nations and I would be able to corner the market in these slightly lesser nations.

Caporegime · 06-14-2006, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riverdome

Is this a hard coded fact or are players in these countries just really far and few between?

I'm not sure. I've only tried scouting countries with non-existent baseball programs twice, and both times my scouts drew a blank. Maybe they will eventually find a grade-Z scrub or two in such nations. However, the question is this: Why waste your scouts' time romping around the deserts of Yemen looking for bums that will never amount to a hill of Burqas when you could send them to nations where they may find a real prospect?

Riverdome · 06-14-2006, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caporegime

both times my scouts drew a blank.

When you say this do you mean they eventually came back and said there weren't any quality ball players in that country?
I'm not expecting to find much in these countries but sending a scrub scout who you don't trust much anyway might not be a complete waste of time.

Caporegime · 06-14-2006, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riverdome

Also, is there competition for these hidden players in solo play? I sent my scouts to nations listed as "Good" in the hopes that other teams are off in the "Excellent" nations and I would be able to corner the market in these slightly lesser nations.

That's an excellent question, and one that I'd like to know the answer to as well. I would hope that's the case, but you never know. I'd hate to think that AI scouts would be that passive. If they are, then we can add that to the bug list, I suppose.

Caporegime · 06-14-2006, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riverdome

When you say this do you mean they eventually came back and said there weren't any quality ball players in that country?
I'm not expecting to find much in these countries but sending a scrub scout who you don't trust much anyway might not be a complete waste of time.

Yep, that's exactly what I meant. They came back empty-handed & reported as much. Admittedly, the scouts I used didn't have very high ratings, so perhaps that was the reason for their failure.

However, I didn't (and still don't) see the point in sending my top scout to a nation that probably has nothing to offer when there are plenty of nations that do. It's your choice: Would you rather have scrubs from Jamaica or stars from Puerto Rico (provided you don't already have a league in PR, of course)?

NYJuggalo45 · 06-14-2006, 03:57 PM

This might not be the greatest of questions, but forgive me as I don't use this feature in my historical/fictional league. I will however when I start one up using 2006 rosters, so I am interested in learning about it. But has anyone ever found a dominant pitcher in say Cuba or Japan or something? Seems like whenever a "hidden gem" is brought up, it's a hitter.

Raidergoo · 06-14-2006, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riverdome

Is this a hard coded fact or are players in these countries just really far and few between?

Don't scout non-existant rated nations. You will accomplish nothing.

I think they are there just in case you want to mod them into something special.

06-14-2006, 03:41 AM	#1
jbsnadb All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 1,098	World Scouting Pays Off!!! One of my scouts found a decent 24 year-old shortstop in Cuba, that I decided to take a chance on with a minor league contract. In the ninth game of his professional career (with my AA affiliate) he hit for the freakin' CYCLE!!!!!!!!! I love this kid, and I'm excited to watch him rise through the ranks, especially since I have some issues at short. He's hitting .300, with 5 rund scored and 8 walks. I'll keep you posted. DON'T IGNORE THE REST OF THE WORLD WHEN SCOUTING!!!! It can be a life-saver!

06-14-2006, 01:06 PM	#7
Giants44 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: San Francisco Bay Area Posts: 2,408	I think this is great, but I have a question. I only play MLB with "normal" minors - can I still find these types of players, or does this only work if I have a leagues setup in "Ghana" in addition to my MLB leagues? PS - the use of "Ghana" is not meant to be sarcastic, just it seems to have become the symbolic country when discussing all foreign leagues. __________________ "In a text sim - Immersion is everything" -Me "Judge a man not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character" -Martin Luther King "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." -Einstein "The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life." -Muhammad Ali "Baseball statistics are like a girl in a bikini. They show a lot, but not everything." -Toby Harrah

06-14-2006, 02:12 PM	#14
Riverdome All Star Reserve Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 964	Also, is there competition for these hidden players in solo play? I sent my scouts to nations listed as "Good" in the hopes that other teams are off in the "Excellent" nations and I would be able to corner the market in these slightly lesser nations. __________________ I was at the first OOTP Conference, where were you?..........

06-14-2006, 03:57 PM	#19
NYJuggalo45 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 2,045	This might not be the greatest of questions, but forgive me as I don't use this feature in my historical/fictional league. I will however when I start one up using 2006 rosters, so I am interested in learning about it. But has anyone ever found a dominant pitcher in say Cuba or Japan or something? Seems like whenever a "hidden gem" is brought up, it's a hitter. __________________ This space for rent

06-14-2006, 04:09 AM	#2
bababui Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 14,147 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	This is definitly a winning feature of the new game. It will be interesting to see how it evolves through future editions.

06-14-2006, 04:26 AM	#3
joek1972 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 45	I have discovered some excellent players through the international system. My top prospect, a slugging centerfielder, was signed from the Dominican at age 16. He played rookie ball at age 16, and made it to AA at 17. He played very well at AAA at 18 and got called up and put up an OPS of .800 in the big leagues in September. He will be my starting CF at age 19 next year. All my scouts have rated him through the roof. He is the #4 prospect in MLB, and honestly is a way better prospect than the guys ranked ahead of him. Pretty much all of my top prospects have come from the international system. I found a great power-hitting 2B in the Bahamas, a multi-position power/speed infielder from Cuba and a sweet-swinging 1B from the Dominican.

06-14-2006, 04:37 AM	#4
turdfurgeson Major Leagues Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 421	Yeah, I love this new feature. It is a huge part of modern baseball. Look at all the players from around the world playing in the majors who were not eligible for the North American Draft. Too bad I have not messed around enough with it yet to see what it really has to offer.

06-14-2006, 08:35 AM	#5
chrisbamb Bat Boy Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 4	Funnily enough, I to found a 24 y.o. Short stop in Cuba and he was good enough to go straight into the team and ended up with sparkling figures at the end of the 1st Season. He's played regularly for me and is one of my favourite players in the team now!!

06-14-2006, 10:01 AM	#6
jbsnadb All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 1,098	My guy could be good enough, but I didn't feel like taking THAT big of a chance!