Questions about the Minor League Report

[RandyTiger]

Frankly, I'm getting disgusted with the minor league report, and I have some questions I'd like answers to:

1) Who compiles the report?

2) Why are the listed ratings so far off the scouting report marks? For example, I have one 19-year-old 3B that has, according to the MLR, ratings in the 90's (which is ridiculous) while his scouting numbers are only around the 60's-70's. What gives, and why is this so misleading? Is it based on potential, or is this a deliberate herring?

3) What would the suggested ratings be for each level (0-100 scale)? I.E., 20's for short-season A, 25-30 for A's, and so on.

4) Any further ideas on what to do would be appreciated, because it's giving me fits and I'm having a rough time with my minor league system. Given the confusion with scouting ratings that's been reported elsewhere, I have no handle on what these players are capable of doing.

5) Do you let the computer handle demotions/promotions, or do you handle it yourself?

Any help would be highly appreciated.

[jasonn29tn14]

I can only really help you with #5. I personally never let the AI touch my minor leagues. I've found it's best to keep an eye on your top prospects yourself and promote them when they start dominating at a given level. As a matter of fact I do this with every player in my system - not just the top prospects.

[RandyTiger]

Originally Posted by jasonn29tn14

I can only really help you with #5. I personally never let the AI touch my minor leagues. I've found it's best to keep an eye on your top prospects yourself and promote them when they start dominating at a given level. As a matter of fact I do this with every player in my system - not just the top prospects.

Same. Problem with this season is that I waited until after the year turned over to promote/demote, and thus, no stats-at-a-glance on the report to work with. I may wind up going through each player and doing some readjustments.

Nice minor league system design. *grumble*

Thanks for your answer, Jason.

[marc420]

On the scout ratings, check the details of what ratings you are seeing. Generally, you have two sets available to you. One is the league wide scouting agency's, the other is your team's scout. Unfortunately, the game tends to jump back and forth between the two. And while every screen usually tells you somewhere what ratings you are looking at, unfortunately some of the reports like the minor league system report don't.

One nasty feature of the game is that it uncontrollably hops back and forth between scouts. You can be looking at your scout's ratings, but then on the next screen you are back to the service. It would be very nice if this 'scout source' was a global setting, thus I could be sure of looking at my scout's results everywhere. Instead, you really need to get in the habit of checking to see just what numbers the game is choosing to throw at you at any given time.

From checking the details on a player in my game, it appears that the ratings on the ML System report are the potential ratings from the league scouting agency. Which to me would be about the most useless choice available, as I like to stick with my scout. And since I'm evaluating the current progress of the player, I'm not terribly interested in some future ratings of what he might be someday when I'm looking at this report.

Says an awful lot about the game that no one lets the AI or their own coaching recommendations make the decisions. Especially when you remember that this is what all the AI teams are of course using.

I played one year as an unemployed manager who got a job managing in the rookie league. Do that, and you'll see what ridiculous decisions the AI makes. You tended to see a lot of quality AA and AAA players being sent down to the rookie league, staying there for a week or so, then being promoted back out again, but not back up to what seemed to be their proper level. Managing rookie league games was insane, because you'd see similar players on the other teams as well. So, it was your roster being shut down by some pitcher that ought to be in AAA, except for your own 'ringer' outfielder who also should have been in AAA, thus he was the only one who could hit him.

[marc420]

Ps ... sometimes the 'Roster' screen can be handy with these minor league decisions. The controls are a bit odd. There's a button up in the top right that can be used to set it to 'entire org'. Then there is a "Filter" control that lets you limit the shown players back to one particular league level. Next to that is a "Position" control that acts really like another filter. Next to that is a "Scope" control that looks similar but that does not act like a filter. Instead it controls which stats you are seeing for a player, so you can choose for instance to only see the A ball stats for the players that the Filter and Position controls have selected.

Unfortunately, this only shows the current year, so no chance of going back to last year's stats on this screen. But, if you have the game set to auto-produce an 'Almanac' every year, then there might be a set of web pages out there that still can tell you last year's stats.

[TribeFanInNC]

Alrighty, let's give these a whack:

Originally Posted by RandyTiger

Frankly, I'm getting disgusted with the minor league report, and I have some questions I'd like answers to:

1) Who compiles the report?

J.P. Riccardi and hamster named Mungo

No really, it is kind of a generic report that gives you some clue as to what should be happening in your minor leagues. That said, I don't find the comments to be terribly useful most of the time. Sometimes they do seem to be on the mark, but in some leagues they don't make much sense at all. You may be in the latter category.

Originally Posted by RandyTiger

2) Why are the listed ratings so far off the scouting report marks? For example, I have one 19-year-old 3B that has, according to the MLR, ratings in the 90's (which is ridiculous) while his scouting numbers are only around the 60's-70's. What gives, and why is this so misleading? Is it based on potential, or is this a deliberate herring?

I believe the ratings on the MLR are from the OSA scouting, which is VERY inaccurate. The html reports can't use your scout ratings, else everyone in say an online league could see what your scout says about your players. This report is more useful in a 'scouting off' setting.

Originally Posted by RandyTiger

3) What would the suggested ratings be for each level (0-100 scale)? I.E., 20's for short-season A, 25-30 for A's, and so on.

It's hard to give absolutes like that. It depends on your league. I mostly go by their statistical output - if they are succeeding at a level, you move them up. But in general, the red numbered guys should be in rookie and Short A leagues, orange numbered guys should be in A and maybe AA, then yellow numbered guys should be in AA and AAA. This is VERY rough and generic.

Originally Posted by RandyTiger

4) Any further ideas on what to do would be appreciated, because it's giving me fits and I'm having a rough time with my minor league system. Given the confusion with scouting ratings that's been reported elsewhere, I have no handle on what these players are capable of doing.

The first season, this can be tough. You just have to try some things and see what works. Once you get some background stats on what they can do, it gets easier. Also, don't over think it. Listen to the stats and your scout.

Originally Posted by RandyTiger

5) Do you let the computer handle demotions/promotions, or do you handle it yourself?

Any help would be highly appreciated.

Yourself. The AI is more like J.P. Riccardi and Mungo.

[RandyTiger]

Originally Posted by marc420

I played one year as an unemployed manager who got a job managing in the rookie league. Do that, and you'll see what ridiculous decisions the AI makes. You tended to see a lot of quality AA and AAA players being sent down to the rookie league, staying there for a week or so, then being promoted back out again, but not back up to what seemed to be their proper level. Managing rookie league games was insane, because you'd see similar players on the other teams as well. So, it was your roster being shut down by some pitcher that ought to be in AAA, except for your own 'ringer' outfielder who also should have been in AAA, thus he was the only one who could hit him.

I had the same experience while managing Short-Season A for the Tigers - and I decided to forget working my way up if things were going to be done in that fashion. Sucks that the AI is so weak, but I guess that's the limitation of current coding technology.

Your answers have certainly shed some light on the whole mess; thank you so much. I'm going to start a new game and go from there, just so I don't have to deal with this mess I've got right now.

[QUOTE=TribeFanInNC;2848243]
It's hard to give absolutes like that. It depends on your league. I mostly go by their statistical output - if they are succeeding at a level, you move them up. But in general, the red numbered guys should be in rookie and Short A leagues, orange numbered guys should be in A and maybe AA, then yellow numbered guys should be in AA and AAA. This is VERY rough and generic.[quote]

Rough guide indeed, but it's better than nothing when you're just starting out in a game. Thanks for the suggestion.

Originally Posted by TribeFanInNC

Yourself. The AI is more like J.P. Riccardi and Mungo.

Funny guy! Personally, I'll take Mungo any day. Hamsters seem more intelligent than some... people, if you care to call them that!

Thanks for the answers, Marc and Tribe. Most enlightening and helpful.

Here's hoping Markus and the gang retool the scouting system in version 11.