Does Visiting The Mound Matter?: A Half-Assed Study

[texasmame]

I've always wondered this so, this year, I decided to keep track of the results of each of the at-bats immediately following one of my mound visits.


Things to keep in mind:
~ I play out each of my 162 games with my team for the year (Providence Lobsters this season) in action pitch mode.

~ I tend to visit the mound to settle a pitcher down quite frequently (since catcher visits don't exist in the game, I use these instead). Of course, I also visit when it's a tight situation so consider the vast, vast majority of these visits to have taken place with men on.

~ The average for the league in which the Lobsters played (American) was .255 with a .315 OBP. and .404 SLG. I didn't keep track of SLG after mound visits.

~ Tops in the main offensive categories this year in the A.L. (ave. hr rbi): .327 48 119


Results:

visits
568

batters reached
173



Mound Visit Results


Batter wins:

7.9% walk
45


9.2% hit
52


1.2% infield hit
7


8.1% RBI hit
46


3.0% HR
17 18 MOB

1.1% HPB
6

Reach total: 30.5%




RBI generated: 13.6%









Pitcher wins:

21.1% fly out 120



4.9% DP 28



1.4% Error 8



19.7% k 112



0.9% sac 5



18.8% ground out 107



1.4% ground out RBI 8



1.1% Sac fly RBI 6



0.2% Pickoff 1


Out made: 69.5%






NEXT BATTER TOTALS


ave hr rbi obp

0.215 17 95 0.305






To summarize: the batter immediately following a mound visit hit .215 with 17 homers and 95 RBI with a .305 OBP in 568 AB (which, coincidentally, is about a full season's worth of AB).


So. . . did mound visits matter? In terms of reaching base; yes, it appears to have cut down hits by about 40 points but it cut down OBP by only 10 points.


The production numbers of 17 homers and 95 RBI still appear pretty good but, remember, these were mostly at-bats with men on and were likely formidable hitters the pitchers faced after the mound visit so the likelihood of generating RBI in this situation was greater than an average at-bat.


As an aside, I'd love it if these stats could be incorporated in to the game on a player-by-player basis. It would be helpful to see which pitchers benefit from a visit and which get rattled.


The end.

[Reed]

Thanks for posting.
When I played in manager mode I thought maybe mound visits settled the pitcher down a little. Now that I just play in GM mode it would be interesting (I think) to see the manager go out for a mound.visit.

[brotherblues]

Definitely interestig. Thanks for sharing.

[jeffw3000]

Thanks for this. I have always wondered if mound visits help the pitcher out. I manage every game and have always used mound visits for 2 things.

1. To give my pitcher time to warm up in the pen.
2. To settle down my pitcher when he is struggling.

While I have always felt that #1 definitely works in OOTP, I was never sure of #2. I have always thought about doing a study like this but never took time to. This is probably a small sample size, but at least it is some real data.

[brotherblues]

One thing I'd change though is I wouldn't use league averages for comparison.

Batters may hit 40 points lower than league avg against your pitchers after a mound visit, but they may also hit just as poorly against your pitchers in all their other at bats. So I'd either use your own team's staff batting avg allowed, or do it on a per pitcher basis.

[texasmame]

Originally Posted by brotherblues

One thing I'd change though is I wouldn't use league averages for comparison.

Batters may hit 40 points lower than league avg against your pitchers after a mound visit, but they may also hit just as poorly against your pitchers in all their other at bats. So I'd either use your own team's staff batting avg allowed, or do it on a per pitcher basis.

Excellent point.


My staff's relevant stats:


.240 avg .305 OBP



126 HR allowed in 1,461 innings.


563 runs allowed overall (523 earned).



I'll let stat heads make what they will of this but looks like at least it helped on batting average, a push on OBP but tough to say on homers and RBI.

[Brad K]

If it really has an effect what's to stop someone from gaming the system by visiting the mound every inning? I hope mound visits are just cosmetic.

[ezpkns34]

Originally Posted by Brad K

If it really has an effect what's to stop someone from gaming the system by visiting the mound every inning? I hope mound visits are just cosmetic.

They let bullpen arms warm up quicker and potentially the pitcher's reaction lets you know where they are stamina wise (im still good to go vs i trust the bullpen, etc)

[PSUColonel]

This is another one of those things where I say “ if it does have any type of effect, does the AI have the opportunity to do the same?”

[texasmame]

Originally Posted by Brad K

If it really has an effect what's to stop someone from gaming the system by visiting the mound every inning? I hope mound visits are just cosmetic.

Because you can do that IRL.

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by ezpkns34

They let bullpen arms warm up quicker and potentially the pitcher's reaction lets you know where they are stamina wise (im still good to go vs i trust the bullpen, etc)

OK on the bullpen warm up. But AI doesn't have to warm up relievers so the human doesn't get an advantage over AI.

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

This is another one of those things where I say “ if it does have any type of effect, does the AI have the opportunity to do the same?”

And since AI can't do it then there's no effect, right?

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by Brad K

And since AI can't do it then there's no effect, right?

I’m not saying that..what I’m saying is it’s not a level playing field.

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by texasmame

Because you can do that IRL.

No you can't, or rather you can only do it once per inning per pitcher. The second mound visit must result in replacing the pitcher (as Bruce Bochy once taught Don Mattingly).

Also, thanks to the OP, as I'd say my haphazard experience suggests that, or somewhat better. And I think it's real, you don't have to see too many ballgames before you see a pitching coach go out to settle a guy that's thrown 2 or 3 balls in a row, just before a big AB, etc.

And even if it just gives me a button to mash when a pitcher is bad, at least I have something to do

[texasmame]

Originally Posted by BBGiovanni

No you can't, or rather you can only do it once per inning per pitcher. The second mound visit must result in replacing the pitcher (as Bruce Bochy once taught Don Mattingly).

Also, thanks to the OP, as I'd say my haphazard experience suggests that, or somewhat better. And I think it's real, you don't have to see too many ballgames before you see a pitching coach go out to settle a guy that's thrown 2 or 3 balls in a row, just before a big AB, etc.

And even if it just gives me a button to mash when a pitcher is bad, at least I have something to do

Correct, only one visit per inning for a manager without having to replace the pitcher - but you can do that every inning if you like. Then after you replace the pitcher, you get your one free visit back again.

[oldfatbaldguy]

Do we know the AI doesn't do visits to the mound? Do we know that the AI doesn't warm up pitchers?

If both are true and AI relief pitchers need no warmup, one of these things is an advantage for the AI and the other is an advantage for me. I find the degree of difficulty in the way I play the game satisfactory, so I'm not worried about this.

[Reed]

I don't know anything about coding but could the developers code it so that mound visits in subsequent innings have no effect in calming a pitcher down???

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by Reed

I don't know anything about coding but could the developers code it so that mound visits in subsequent innings have no effect in calming a pitcher down???

The game is full of things that are just for show. Why not make this one of them if it isn't already.

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

I’m not saying that..what I’m saying is it’s not a level playing field.

It shouldn't be a level playing field. But whatever advantage their is should go to AI.

[texasmame]

Originally Posted by Reed

I don't know anything about coding but could the developers code it so that mound visits in subsequent innings have no effect in calming a pitcher down???

Why get away from what can happen IRL? I think a visit can accomplish one of 3 things:


- Pitcher tells you he's done/something wrong and you remove him.
- Pitcher calmed by visit
- Pitcher irritated by visit


There are also pitchers where a visit may not have any effect but to make that "after x innings" makes no sense. Should be on a pitcher-by-pitcher personality basis.