Bug in Perfect 1995 Greg Maddux?

[trebor2323]

My username in PT is trebor23 and I run the Burbank Black Wolves. Last week I obtained a 1995 Perfect Greg Maddux. I was wondering if there's a bug in him because I noticed in the auction house there was another perfect Greg Maddux a few days later that had slightly different stats. Mine had 83 Stuff, 80 Movements and 89 Control but the other had 81 Stuff, 80 Movement and 89 Control. When I put Maddux in my rotation his first three outings he gave up 6 earned runs in 5 innings in each outing. I pulled him for awhile but he was terrible when I put him back later. In limited use, he he a 7.15 ERA. This may be a stupid question but I was wondering if my Maddux was somehow defective, particularly since there is another Maddux with slightly different stats and he seemed to be performing adequately.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by trebor2323

Mine had 83 Stuff, 80 Movements and 89 Control but the other had 81 Stuff, 80 Movement and 89 Control.

The perfect Maddux has 81 stuff. Yours might have been set as a reliever.

[trebor2323]

That's odd that all other stats (including stamina) are exactly the same. Makes no sense to me. So a card for the same year and same overall rating can be different?

[CrazyWR]

if you set him as a relief pitcher, his stuff goes up typically, thats likely why yours had slightly higher stuff with all other ratings the same.

[Threnodas]

Originally Posted by trebor2323

That's odd that all other stats (including stamina) are exactly the same. Makes no sense to me. So a card for the same year and same overall rating can be different?

Pitchers have different Stuff ratings depending on whether they are starting or relieving. You can try it yourself right now. Go to your Pitching or Roster Management screen, right click on a starter, and set his position to Reliever (or vice versa, change a reliever's position to Starter). Most pitchers have slightly better Stuff as a reliever, but some are much better and some are the same or even worse. This is based on relievers getting more strikeouts by sticking to their best couple pitches and going all out, knowing they'll only face each guy once and only a few batters total, as opposed to starters having to use all their pitches (even the bad ones) to face batters multiple times and hold something back to get through 5+ innings. It's also based on the observation that some of MLB's best relievers were previously just OK starters before they went to the bullpen..

So, the different Stuff ratings were presumably the difference between him being a starter vs. a reliever. And it is fair to ask whether your card is broken or cursed, but the devs have made it abundantly clear that there are no such differences between cards. You probably hit a rough patch of bad luck, or he mostly pitched against great teams, or your defense is bad, or ...

ETA: Since you mentioned stamina, I'll also clarify: stamina ratings do not change based on starter/reliever role, but the same rating means different things for starters and relievers (in real life, this would be due to preparation routines). If you move a starter to the bullpen, he will have an easier time pitching multiple (2-3) innings than other low-stamina relievers, but do not expect him to be able to pitch 5+ innings. He will get about as tired after a long outing, or after pitching multiple games in quick succession, as everyone else.

[trebor2323]

Wow. Thank you guys for the info. I did try him out as reliever after letting him sit in reserves awhile and he got shelled there too! I'm in perfect level so competition is fierce and at the time I couldn't afford to wait Maddux out so he's back in the reserves. If one of my starters falters I drag him out and give him another shot but if he gets shelled again after prolonged use I'll probably sell him. You just never know what you're going to get even when you acquire high quality players.

[|ChelseaNS]

Trebor it's been discussed a lot how certain cards out or under perform their rating. This is a combined effect of a few things. Quality of opposition per AB. The Meta of team construction, small sample sizes and human error on how good the player actually was.

Having said that Perfect Maddux shouldn't perform like you've described. I will gladly take him off your hands : )

[zrog2000]

There really are not 5 better starters than a perfect Maddux. I'd leave him in the rotation. Eventually it will perform.