Newbie Guide: Rosters, Part 1: Batters.

[Number5]

Hey guys.


So, you're asking yourself which players should you have on your 26 man roster. I'm assuming a 2020 MLB start with fictional players.



Lets split this into 13 pitchers and 13 batters. Since MLB rules prohibit you from having more than 13 pitchers, and you want as many pitchers as possible, this is the only sensible split. We'll ignore 2-way players because they are so rare, if you have one, feel free to ask for more advice.


I'll start in this thread with the batters.



General rule: Default setting, barring injuries, no one on your roster is supposed to have less than 2.5 stars overall rating. Only exception might be the catchers, catchers are rare so you might have 2.0 as the floor.

Anything below that has no place on a major league roster and you need to look for a replacement asap. You can check the free agents, the major league waiver wire and the trading block for players you can aquire for cheap. If you have a player below 2.5 who isn't going to be replaced soon by lets say a player returning from injury, you should check all 3 of those every few days so you can grab somebody for cheap.


Any further upgrades, especially up to 3 stars and more, are going to be costly so they are another kettle of fish, but you can and should always keep your core 13 batters at least at 2.5 stars, or 2.0 if they are catchers.


You want starters to have 3 stars or more ideally. Won't always work, but that's the goal.



So, WHICH 13 players though?

Let's introduce the concept of a platoon. A platoon is a pair of players, usually one hitting lefty and one hitting righty, playing the same position and sharing the starts depending on the opposing pitchers.


A switch hitter can take the role of lefty or righty depending on how good he is against that particular side. If he hits righties better, he's a lefty in terms of the platoon, if he hits lefties better, a righty. If he's balanced, he isn't really a platoon player.
Some righties or lefties have weak, no or rarely even reverse splits, those aren't your typical platoon players either.



Also, let's introduce a second concept. No assholes for backups.


Backup players are cheap and pretty much replaceble. Starters aren't. So if a starter is a bad character, you have to deal with him, but not with a backup. If you have plenty of potential backups to choose from, never choose one with a bad character.
Ofc if your starters are paragons of virtue you can live with a bad apple or 2 as backups, especially if they are a perfect fit in baseball terms.
But if 80% of his duty is with his ass on the bench, why have a guy who detracts while sitting on the bench instead of bettering the team?


So lets get towards the positions:


Catchers: You need 2, no more, no less.
Catchers need more rest than other players, so the backup will see plenty of playing time. Usually, a catcher needs rest every 5th game or so. That makes them ideal for a platoon, cause then your primary catcher will get rested automatically when he gets platooned out. However, lefty catchers are rare, so you might just be stuck with 2 righties. Nothing to worry about, but if you have the choice, go L/R.



If you have a good righty starting catcher, then you obviously won't platoon him. However consider what I call a "reverse platoon" - have a lefty backup catcher and you will only rest your starter if facing righties, so your lefty has the advantage when he plays. That is done easily, you'll rarely face so many lefties in a row that you can't schedule a rest day against a righty without having your starter totally exhausted.


On the other hand, if you have a (very rare) lefty starting catcher who is too good to be platooned, still have a righty backup and try to schedule the starter's rest days when facing lefties.
That's more difficult and won't always work.


1B/DH/PH: At least 2, probably 3.


Every team needs one 1B and every AL team needs one DH (I strongly advise against rotating the DH spot in OOTP, it won't really rest your players and a proper DH is a much better bat.)


It is important that you realise that those positions are bat-first and you can't just go and put a player that can play a more difficult position there and be done with it. You are wasting value, you are paying for defense that you won't use. If your player can play another position but 1B or DH, he probably should, unless he is so bad there or he is exceptionally tall and good at 1B that it is worth it.


A 1B needs to be a combination of tall and have some infield range. I'd say 35 infield range if really tall, 40 if decently, 45 if short.

However, especially if you are NL, there is no floor, cause you don't have a DH spot and if his bat is good enough, then bad 1B defense is the price to pay.
The only requirement for the DH in terms of defense is that he has to suck enough so that playing him in the field isn't worth it. The most common DHes are average (50) or worse 1B or below average (45, 40) or worse LF/RF. The worse, the better, cause you're not paying for defense you are not using.

If you are AL, you should make sure that if you have really good players at both 1B and DH, you can play both of them if you play at an NL park with no DH. Often one of your 1B and DHes can be a mediocre corner outfielder, that means you can keep both of them in the lineup. If not, it isn't the end of the world, but still would be nice to have.


If you are NL, you have no DH, but you'll need some PH every game. They have basically the same requirements as the DH in terms of sucking at defense cause they are unlikely to be used there, but they shouldn't be stronger than 2.5 stars, cause they won't get as many at bats. You can use other positions as PH, but you'll pay for defense you won't use, so I suggest more or less designated PH for the more important at bats and your position backups for the less important PH opportunities.
The AL side can also use the bench backup to PH for let's say their catcher in late innings.



I suggest to AL sides to keep a starting 1B, a starting DH and a bench backup/PH, while to NL sides to keep a starting 1B and 2 bench PH.
In each case I suggest ideally that at least 2 of those players should have the ability to play 1B, and at least 1 to (badly) play LF/RF if required.
You can sacrifice a bench player for a more normal infielder or outfielder, especially if the infielder or outfielder is bat first. Lets say a 45 defense LF could be seen as backup DH/PH, or as backup LF/RF. The rules aren't set in stone.



If sensible, platoon.


Infield: 2B/3B/SS


You should carry 4 infielders: A starting 2B, 3B, SS, and a backup.

Here is it imporant that you have the flexibility to cover all 3 positions if one player goes out. That doesn't mean that your backup has to play all of them, and likely is difficult to achieve cause it's a rare player that has the capability to play all 3 positions without being so good at SS that using him as 2B or 3B is a waste.

Instead, the trick is to have positional flexibility in your starters.


Rough guidelines:
2b need to have infield range and turn DP at least at 50 (or if below 50 then the other stat needs to be higher), most 2Bs have higher ranges.


3b need to have at least a 60 arm and not completly terrible range.


SS need range at least 60 but preferably more, an arm of at least 40 but preferably more and a DP of at least 40 but also preferably more. If you barely qualify for SS, you are more likely to be a 2B or with a strong arm 3B.


So this leaves several overlap type of players:

A 2B with a 40+ arm and good range and or a SS with a weak arm can play the other middle infield position quite easily without wasting too much skill.



Also, a SS with a cannon arm but only average turn DP can be a strong 3B without wasting his SS skills, or a 3B with at least serviceable range and turn DP can hold his own at SS.


If you have a good arm, good turn DP but lack the range for SS, you're a 2B/3B (and maybe an emergency SS)


So your goal is to have 4 players that an injury to any of the 3 starters means that by inserting your backup and moving guys around, all positions are well covered. If your backup platoons one of your starters, even better.

Maybe you can also have an outfielder cover an infield position, making your job easier. Right handed throwing right fielders sometimes can play 3B cause both those positions need strong arms, and right handed throwing center fielders sometimes have the skills for 2B.

A trick you can use to check if a player can learn a secondary position: Set his position to the other position and check if the potential rating goes down. So if i want to check my 2B if the AI thinks he can handle SS, I set his position to SS and the overall rating will lower cause he hasn't learned the position yet, but if the potential rating stays the same the AI thinks he will learn SS to play at a similar level as 2B.



Outfield: 4 outfielders, one of them a backup.


Well, outfield is easy. Range goes into CF, Arm goes into RF, what's left goes into left, backup does backup things.


A CF needs a range of at least 60 and good other OF stats, or 65 if the others aren't good.

A RF needs a strong arm, though there aren't any hard limits I would aim for 60+ when specifically looking for a RF. If you have a similar LF and a RF, just put the stronger arm into right.

A LF can be anyone with at least 45 OF range,or 40+good other OF stats. However just 45 range and bad error and arm means he's more a DH/PH guy than a starting LF.






So what you need is the abilitly to have all 4 positions covered. Usually, the best way is to have one of your outfielders be a swingman, a guy with a range of 60 or 65 that can play center field, but isn't so good in center field that he is wasted in LF or RF. If you have a LF/RF capable player on the bench (likely the bat first guy from 1B/DH/PH), your backup needs to only cover CF, though more flexibilty never hurts. Platoons don't hurt either.


You can also look if you can train your OF to cover some infield positions. Again, better having the ability and not needing it than not having it and needing it.


How do you train the ability? By making a player start at this position at spring training. I usually train everyone at a foreign position if possible the first weeks of ST, and only the last week at his position if he's established there.


Last rule: No lazy bums!


Each player on the bench need to have a role that's more than "backup, waiting for a starter to be injured".

So a guy needs to either: Be the backup C, that guy plays enough anyway
Platoon with a starter
Have a bat good enough to be a regular PH for your bottom order hitters or
Be fast and good with the glove so he is a pinch-running and defensive replacement option. You should try to have a pinch runner on the roster, CF are often good PR/Defensive Replacement options for the 4th outfielder.