Looking for input on player personalities.

[frangipard]

So, as most of you are aware, certain players have certain personality types, and those personalities affect team chemistry. If you play with a fictional league or with generated players, you may have noticed that approximately 25% of all players belong to a named personality type (the other 75% are just "normal"). On the other hand, if you play with the real MLB roster set, you may have noticed that less than 10% of the players in it do, and that some types have only two or three representatives in all of organized ball.

The roster team is trying to close that gap by identifying who in MLB and MiLB (or for that matter all the other leagues) fits certain personality categories, and since most of ya'll follow one or more teams pretty closely, we're hoping you can help.

There are two personality types that we already have plenty of in the roster set --

Captain -- the hugely respected David Wright/Derek Jeter types
Humble -- the softspoken hard worker

For the most part, we have all of those guys we need, though feel free to ID any you feel strongly about. The following categories are the ones we really need to identify:

Sparkplug -- The grinders who lead by example, popular with teammates
Prankster -- Never gets too high or low, keeps his head up, keeps things light
Fan Favorite -- a player that for whatever reason builds a cult following with the fans, much more than you'd expect from just his performance
Outspoken -- The lightning rod. Not necessarily a bad guy, but he does seem to attract controversy and cause chaos.
Unmotivated -- The underachiever, the pouter, the quiet malcontent
Selfish -- Does not work or play well with others.
Disruptive type A -- The manager's nightmare. Unmotivated AND selfish.
Disruptive type B -- The infamous. Controversial, unpopular even with fans ... the guy that causes reporters to go to teammates and ask if they're bothered by what that guy said/did.


Please give a short explanation of why this guy is whatever you say he is. A link or two would be ideal. The descriptions do not fit exactly. So for example -- Odubel Herrera, as a person, is probably not really "selfish" per se, just immature and overemotional. But clearly he's a guy that makes problems for his teammates, and that's likely the category he fits best in.

We want to be a little careful here with some of these as we do have an agreement with MLBPA and we don't want to go overboard with labelling the personalities of real human beings. On the other hand, Yasiel Puig has pretty much said himself that he's a disruptive influence, so it's not like he can sue.


All suggestions welcome, info on minor-leaguers especially. Please do understand that there is a lot of inherent subjectivity here, so we may end up having to agree to disagree in some cases.

Thanks!

[itsmb8]

Fan Favorite - Eric Sogard.

[dward1]

prankster-Hunter Pence, Kenta Maeda

fan favorite-Yadier Molina, Tim Tebow, Freddie Freeman, Freeman and Molina dominate their fans jerseys and Tebow is incredibly well-known and loved for a non-prospect

unmotivated-Pablo Sandoval, Matt Harvey, Dominic Smith, Matt Kemp, all for weight-related reasons.

outspoken-Brandon McCarthy, just look at his twitter feed.

[Reggie]

Chris Sale has to fit in there somewhere. Just not sure where.

[DB930]

I can give you a couple of Red Sox ones:

Joe Kelly: prankster. I know that I've heard multiple stories about the stuff he's pulled, but the only one I can think of right now is last year when he collected the high school senior photos of all the relievers and hung them up in the bullpen for every game (even taking them on road trips). The first time the cameras spotted them, I remember the announcers saying "You know Joe Kelly's behind that." As the season went on, he started photoshopping them, adding mullets, etc...

David Price: outspoken. Not sure if you can actually call someone "outspoken" who barely talks to the media, but there was the playoff game 5 years ago where he gave up 7 runs and then called the sportswriters "nerds" when they said he didn't have a great outing, and then his run-in with Dennis Eckersley last year... Kind of a toss-up on whether he actually fits that description or not.

Dustin Pedroia: sparkplug. No specific example, but if the definition is a "grinder who leads by example", then that's Pedroia.

[frangipard]

These are great. Already had some of them, but not all. Keep 'em coming!

[jpeters1734]

Pirates:

Jameson Taillon - Fan favorite or sparkplug. Always super positive when he was injured, never complains, endeared himself to fans

Trevor Williams - Fan favorite. Always makes himself available to fans at games and on twitter because he remembers what it's like to be a fan himself. At the same time, i don't know if "fan interest" would crash if he left as a fan favorite would cause in the game.

David Freese - Outspoken. Does not shy from calling out his employers.

Josh Harrison - Prankster. J-hay is always joking and keeping it loose.

Josh Bell - Fan Favorite. Quickly becoming a favorite with his skill, demeanor, and attitude. Cutch 2.0

Sean Rodriguez - Fan Favorite. Everyone loves Sean, fans were pissed when he wasn't resigned. and he throws a mean hook to the water coolers.

Alen Hanson - Unmotivated or selfish. Not with the Pirates anymore, but it's well documented that he was very upset that he didn't get promoted in 2015 and his performance showed. He thought he was on polanco's level.

Starling Marte - Normal. I don't think Marte deserves a disliked popularity or anything like that for his PED suspension. He is still very well liked by fans and players.

[r0nster]

Spark plug Lenny Dykstra
Fan favorite be like Alan Trammell
Unmotivated be Lou Whitaker
Selfish Steve Kemp
Humble Lance Parrish
Disruptive Type A Reggie Jackson
Type 2 Thurman munson
Prankster Stan Papi or Jose Fernandez
Caption Mike Stanton (before he traded to NYY)

[Dark Horse]

Disruptive type A -- The manager's nightmare. Unmotivated AND selfish.
Disruptive type B -- The infamous. Controversial, unpopular even with fans ... the guy that causes reporters to go to teammates and ask if they're bothered by what that guy said/did.

Are these set in stone? Both are just repeats/combinations of other personalities.

Chris Sale has to fit in there somewhere. Just not sure where.

For instance, Chris Sale is more hot-tempered. When things don't go his way. He's outspoken. He'll throw at batters. He'll cut up uniforms. So i guess this would be descriptive of Disruptive Type B. Guys like Machado. Would go into this category. These are the guys that will let you know when they are upset. But i would change the name to something like hot-tempered, uptight, irritable, testy, cantakerous.

Disruptive Type A could be more for the clubhouse cancer guy. The guys that act "bigger than the team", the guys that have their own rules or guys that just aren't friendly, the loners. Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, Albert Belle fall into this category. If you don't call it a cancer, call this category belligerent, petulant, acrimonious...

Oh, if OOTP ever decides to expand on this, i would suggest two other personalities.

Showboat - This is the animated guy that does everything with flair. He'll tick off opponents with bat flips, pumping fists, slow home run trots, general over celebrating in blow out games.Or the guy that flips his bat on fly balls or doubles. (Carlos Gomez, Luis Valbuena, Fernando Rodney)

Emotional - Similar to the showboat, but they are only animated in big moments; hits that tie and give his team the lead, big strike outs, big outs. (Jose Bautista, Carlos Correa, Lance McCullers Jr.)

[wallewalls]

For the Yankees I would say Brett Gardner as a Prankster or Captain/Leader, or even Sparkplug. CC definitely a Captain as well. But knowing that you need some for the other types, I will say Didi Gregorius as a Fan Favorite. He's loved by basically all Yankee fans.

[Dark Horse]

Astros

George Springer - sparkplug
Alex Bregman - outspoken
Jose Altuve - fan favorite
Brian McCann - captain
Justin Verlander - captain

[Padreman]

Can someone explain the parameters that a player must have to be Categorize as a specific personality? In case you want to make fictional chatacters be a specific type?

[frangipard]

Originally Posted by Dark Horse

Are these set in stone? Both are just repeats/combinations of other personalities.

They're more severe. AFAIK, for practical purposes, both kinds of disruptive are identical. It's just that some guys' disruptiveness is mostly in the clubhouse, and other guys' spills over to the public sphere. Michael Vick is a Type B.

i would suggest two other personalities.

These are very interesting suggestions, but I don't think they'd work in OOTP, for completely opposite reasons.

The personality/chemistry system is only cares about the practical effect of his personality on the team, and the fact that a guy is a showboat, per se, doesn't make a difference. If he showboats in a way that inspires his teammates, he's a sparkplug. If he showboats in a way that annoys his teammates, he's selfish.

As for the idea of designating certain guys as "emotional," I am 99% sure that the devs wouldn't consider having personality types that directly affect in-game results. There are other baseball sims that ID certain players as having a "clutch" attribute; OOTP does not, and that's intentional. If a player is emotional in a way that might significantly affect the mood of the clubhouse, the other categories cover that. (e.g. see Odubel Herrera above).


Thanks to all for the suggestions! Keep 'em coming!

[drksd4848]

Originally Posted by DB930

I can give you a couple of Red Sox ones:

David Price: outspoken. Not sure if you can actually call someone "outspoken" who barely talks to the media, but there was the playoff game 5 years ago where he gave up 7 runs and then called the sportswriters "nerds" when they said he didn't have a great outing, and then his run-in with Dennis Eckersley last year... Kind of a toss-up on whether he actually fits that description or not.

Funny: For Price, I was going to say Whiney Douchebag but that isn't in the personality list. Maybe it should be.

[David Price voice] # Hey! Check out my dog Astro. [/David Price voice]

[ederemer]

For the Seattle Mariners, some may be a bit obvious:

Felix Hernandez - Sparkplug, he's the heart and soul of the team, goes out there and wears it on his sleeve. Also a Fan Favorite, has his own seating section (King's Court) everytime he pitches at home.

Dee Gordon - Prankster, only been on the team for a short time seems like he's adapting to the culture well. Had out catcher wear his pants on the first day of spring training to "stretch them out"

Tuffy Gosewich - Fan Favorite, seems like I only ever hear good things about him, "future manager" etc. etc. Plus I think fans just like someone with a name like Tuffy Gosewich

Braden Bishop/Ian Miller - Would classify both as sparkplugs; guys who have had huge question marks about their ability to be everyday players, but have just constantly improved themselves and become all-around players. Braden Bishop would probably get Fan Favorite as well, he's a Seattle/UW local.

Robinson Cano - Prankster. His personality is unassuming to a fault it seems like, but I think its that he is able to make everything look so easy.

And just regarding a former Mariner, Danny Valencia.. I think in previous games he's been regarded as a clubhouse cancer type. Last year with the Mariners he actually acclimated to the clubhouse really well. I see him more as the Outspoken type at best, the kinda guy that you love him when he is on your team and you hate him if he's on the other team. I think he's gotten a bad rep and it would be cool to see it cleared up somewhat.

[Dark Horse]

Originally Posted by frangipard

As for the idea of designating certain guys as "emotional," I am 99% sure that the devs wouldn't consider having personality types that directly affect in-game results. There are other baseball sims that ID certain players as having a "clutch" attribute; OOTP does not, and that's intentional.

Oh, no. i didn't explain that well. The "showboat" or "emotional" rating would not affect any game result. Those ratings would only become apparent after the in-game action. A high showboat guy hits a home run, and he flips his bat. Or he stands at home plate and "admires his work". Or he rounds the bases really slowly.

And, if that happens, does the pitcher stare the showboat batter down as he rounds the bases? Or does the pitcher shout at the showboat? Or does someone in the dugout shout at the showboat? Or does the catcher say something (gets into the showboat's face) when the batter reaches home plate?

Now, the next time the showboat gets to the plate? Do they throw at him? Do they hit him?

Same thing with the "emotional" guy. But he would only "react" like a showboat when his hit tied a game or gave his team a lead. Also, the emotional guy would be the one that gets a hit to start a rally, tries to get the guys in the dugout by clapping his hand and pointing into the dugout.

Originally Posted by frangipard

If a player is emotional in a way that might significantly affect the mood of the clubhouse, the other categories cover that. (e.g. see Odubel Herrera above).


Thanks to all for the suggestions! Keep 'em coming!

Good point. i guess i was letting my imagination run away with me. Still, it might be something to consider in the future.

It would add to the play by play. It's not just Smith hit a home run 335 feet over the left field wall. Now, maybe he reacts. Maybe someone says something to him. And we could have some more conflict on the bases on a close play. Think Bautista and Odour at second base. Or if you're old enough, George Brett and Craig Nettles at third base.

It could add 3D presentation. (Picture the catcher and showboat standing nose to nose at home plate after a home run. And then the teams start coming out of the bullpen

And it adds new options for news. Maybe the catchers says something about the showboats antics in the post game interview. And it shows up in the news in part of the game news.

And, eventually, (if we ever get them) these are the things that fuel rivalries.

[koohead]

Some I can think of for the DBacks.

Sparkplug - Ketel Marte/Archie Bradley
Fan Favorite - Jake Lamb to some extent
Unmotivated - Yasmany Tomas.
Prankster - David Peralta

[frangipard]

Thanks, guys!


Shamelessly bumping this for new eyeballs.

[Rosco Peabody]

Originally Posted by DB930

I can give you a couple of Red Sox ones:

Joe Kelly: prankster. I know that I've heard multiple stories about the stuff he's pulled, but the only one I can think of right now is last year when he collected the high school senior photos of all the relievers and hung them up in the bullpen for every game (even taking them on road trips). The first time the cameras spotted them, I remember the announcers saying "You know Joe Kelly's behind that." As the season went on, he started photoshopping them, adding mullets, etc...

David Price: outspoken. Not sure if you can actually call someone "outspoken" who barely talks to the media, but there was the playoff game 5 years ago where he gave up 7 runs and then called the sportswriters "nerds" when they said he didn't have a great outing, and then his run-in with Dennis Eckersley last year... Kind of a toss-up on whether he actually fits that description or not.

Dustin Pedroia: sparkplug. No specific example, but if the definition is a "grinder who leads by example", then that's Pedroia.

I would have categorized Pedroia as either fan favorite or maybe even Captain material.

Mookie Betts would be the same. Fan favorite or maybe captain material.

Chris Sale would either be outspoken for the crazy Chris Sale that you see at times (cutting up unis?) or the sparkplug that his teams love because he always grinds

Brock Holt and Andrew Benintendi are best buds and often goof around with each other. (I wish there was a way that you could categorize friendships or enemies).

Hanley Ramirez would definitely be the unmotivated type


...Is this just for modern MLB?

[b10wick]

Captain: Martin Prado, Brian McCann
Sparkplug/Fan Favorite: Ender Inciarte
Outspoken: Mike Foltynewicz
Unmotivated: Aaron Blair