Player Development Tips?

[JCarter93]

I've looked through the forums and not found much in the way of a comprehensive guide to developing players through the minors, so I thought i would ask: does anyone have any good tips for this? Is it even possible to develop a one or two star prospect into a competent major league player, or even a superstar?

Some things I've noticed:

1. Changing a player's position can sometimes mess them up. I tried to move a couple of players and they went from four star prospects to washouts in a single season. Maybe they were unhappy with changing positions.

2. Conversely, changing a player's position can sometimes make them better. I was flush with catchers so I took one 4 star prospect and moved him to first, and he became an all star at that position. I've also had some luck converting starters to relievers and closers.

3. The A.I. tends to hold some players back. By and large the A I is very conservative about moving players up. This does not do them any real harm for the most part, but there are always a couple of prospects that you can move up the ladder even if the A.I wants to keep them down.

Does anyone have any other observations or tips on the subject?

[TGH-Adfabre]

1) I have not noticed negative results from changing positions. The only thing I would check is their mood in the player profile. Although Marcus, through Lucasbuger?, has said mood does not effect development. I tend to think that changing positions is not the culprit in the star drop.
Do you have players rated by position or by All Players. If by position then I would expect soem players to take a hit when moved to a position where they have no experience.

2) The C to 1B makes sense because 1B is farthest right on the D spectrum.

The SP to reliever/closer is really based on the quality of the top 2 pitches. SP are evaluated on pitches 1-3+, MR/CL are rated based on top 2 pitches. Plus all the other ratings, CON/MOV/STU etc.

3) I do not play with scouts. My experience with developing prospects is influenced by that.
I promote and demote exlusively based on ratings.

Pitchers- I look at Control, it seems to be the last skill to develop. If they cannot throw strikes they are not useful. A 97 MPH heater that moves like Fergy is no good if it is a ball 75% of the time. My prospect with the best control are usually in AAA and in desending order from there.

Position Players- I use Contact and Eye as my go to ratings with an emphasis on eye. It seems to be the last skill to develop.

Tips- I do not know if I have any really good tips. Innings, innings, innings, innings! The development engine, in some ways, is based on innings. Defensively and other ratings. I make sure my top prospects get the lions share of starts.