What determines stolen base success in Perfect Team?

[captainbuttercream]

Some of the stolen base percentages make no sense in Perfect Team, not just on my team but league wide I'm seeing players with elite speed, steal ability, and base running with abysmal stolen base percentages. I've even tried lowering base stealing aggressiveness to see if players pick better spots to run and that has had almost no effect.

So, I started to look at some of the more popular catchers around the league and most of them have throwing arms in 60s.

Is there really anything I can do to help my guys with 90+ speed and stealing improve their percentages?

[getheroff]

Good question. I had Rickey Henderson and a couple other players with elite speed, stealing, and base running and they were not as successful as I would have thought they would be.

[Bunktown Ballers]

Originally Posted by captainbuttercream

Some of the stolen base percentages make no sense in Perfect Team, not just on my team but league wide I'm seeing players with elite speed, steal ability, and base running with abysmal stolen base percentages. I've even tried lowering base stealing aggressiveness to see if players pick better spots to run and that has had almost no effect.

So, I started to look at some of the more popular catchers around the league and most of them have throwing arms in 60s.

Is there really anything I can do to help my guys with 90+ speed and stealing improve their percentages?

I don't find that at all. I'm near the top of leagues in SB for 3 years in BETA by acquiring speed guys. Then change strategy for players individually. I actually had more steals than games played @ a 70% success rate.


BB
Louisiana Crawdads

[getheroff]

Yes, I changed player strategy individually; Rickey was still getting thrown out 40-45% of the time. Altuve was CS 17 times and only had 10 SB. It was really frustrating.

[el_gringo]

Ichiro (2001 Rookie, ~85 in speed and stealing but terrible base running) once started the year for me with 2 SB and something like 19 CS. I just let it play out to see what happened. Ended up with ~55-60% success rate and ~35-40 SB I think, but still... rough start. Next year he was more like 75% with 55-60 SB.

I went all-speed this final beta season with aggressive strategy settings for the team and most players, and ended up with 385 SB and ~75% success rate, so overall it looks ok to me. I have noticed a lot of pretty elite-armed catchers around though, and it's worth mentioning that most players with truly elite speed have a rating progression where speed > stealing > base running, so that doesn't help. If only those with elite speed had even *more* elite stealing...

[One Post Wonder]

If speed > stealing ability, usually the player will have a poor stealing percentage in my solo game experience. Even if it's a situation where speed is 98 and stealing is 90.

With the top historical base stealers I've looked at in PT, pretty much all of them have higher speed than stealing ability. Maybe those attributes need some adjustments.

[Markus Heinsohn]

The higher you set the individual stealing frequency, the more the AI will adjust (pitchouts, holding runners close etc) and hence the CS% will increase.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by One Post Wonder

If speed > stealing ability, usually the player will have a poor stealing percentage in my solo game experience. Even if it's a situation where speed is 98 and stealing is 90.

With the top historical base stealers I've looked at in PT, pretty much all of them have higher speed than stealing ability. Maybe those attributes need some adjustments.

Nope, that is not accurate. The ratings do not correlate in regards to stealing %.

[One Post Wonder]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

Nope, that is not accurate. The ratings do not correlate in regards to stealing %.

Is there something about higher speed which would cause the CS% to go up indirectly? Like making the player more aggressive or being less likely to be held on first base?

My feel is that if I've got 2 guys - one who is rated 100/85 and another rated 70/85, that the 70/85 is a guy I can set to be aggressive as a base stealer and the 100/85 player is someone whose setting I'll leave in the middle.

Or if you've got a mediocre base stealer. On an average settings a fast guy with poor SB abilities always seems to get 2 SB vs 5 CS or something for me, whereas a slower player with the same ability might have only 1 or 2 attempts on the year.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by One Post Wonder

Is there something about higher speed which would cause the CS% to go up indirectly? Like making the player more aggressive or being less likely to be held on first base?

My feel is that if I've got 2 guys - one who is rated 100/85 and another rated 70/85, that the 70/85 is a guy I can set to be aggressive as a base stealer and the 100/85 player is someone whose setting I'll leave in the middle.

Or if you've got a mediocre base stealer. On an average settings a fast guy with poor SB abilities always seems to get 2 SB vs 5 CS or something for me, whereas a slower player with the same ability might have only 1 or 2 attempts on the year.

No. Both players will have the same SB % over a big sample size, unless you tinker with the individual stealing strategy, as I mentioned above

[Kushiel]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

No. Both players will have the same SB % over a big sample size, unless you tinker with the individual stealing strategy, as I mentioned above

How about global strategy. If a manager has his stealing turned up and has a player with 50 steals, does he not draw more pitch outs from the AI too? From my solo play in Challenge Mode it always felt like it did. I agree that it should but just am not sure.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by Kushiel

How about global strategy. If a manager has his stealing turned up and has a player with 50 steals, does he not draw more pitch outs from the AI too? From my solo play in Challenge Mode it always felt like it did. I agree that it should but just am not sure.

Yes, global strategy has this effect, too.

[One Post Wonder]

This is an interesting topic. I've been playing nearly 20 years and I always had the assumption regarding speed. I learned something new there.

Still, if the defensive AI is adjusting based on player or global strategy instead of looking at the runners capabilities, then it seems like the base stealer might be getting tested a bit too harshly.

What I mean is, the opposing team wouldn't know what my strategy is going into any specific game. If I decide, say, to turn base stealing down before playing against an elite catcher then the AI is already going to know this before the game starts whereas IRL that wouldn't be the case.

Also, wouldn't it be possible to game the system by setting stealing strategy really low in your settings, then managing the game yourself?

And does it work the other way? Like, one reason I never turn stealing up high globally is because I believe my AI would be just as aggressive against a catcher with a 105 arm as it is against a catcher with a 35 arm. Would my own manager know to tone things down or be more aggressive depending on who the catcher and pitcher is?

[getheroff]

Peak Rickey Henderson (96-90-81) has 49SB and 30CS over parts of 2 seasons. His frequency of stealing is a tick below maximum as is his baserunning aggressiveness. If I want to maximize his efficiency here, where do I need to be? I ask because I managed/played out all of my games in single-player OOTP and I could usually make very good judgments on when and when not to steal. I am really struggling with this aspect of the AI management system, because it does not seem realistic for a premier/all-time-great base-stealer like Rickey to get thrown out this much. Any advice would be appreciated.