OOTP Draft Classes Too Weak?

[waittilnextyear]

I vaguely remember there being some chatter about draft classes being underpowered, although I'm not sure where those threads might be these days.

I am running a modern MLB Live Start sim as an expansion team. I've noticed that the highest POT players in drafts between 2024-2026 are just 3-star prospects (and there are only 5 such full 3* prospects). This is with my scout (who has good scouting ratings) and not having changed any of the default draft settings. When I switch to OSA, things get a little rosier, with a whopping three 4* prospects over this same time frame.

My question: does this seem a little underwhelming? Are there settings that help boost the draft classes a bit so the league doesn't run out of star players eventually? Is this something that would warrant being a line item in a future patch?

[Curve Ball Dave]

This has been discussed over and over and over again.

Two or three star guys can become five star guys over time. Five star guys can become two or three star guys over time.

Give a league enough time and you'll find that the drafts produce as many major league talents as your league will need as long as you have enough drafts and rounds. You'll have your expected distribution of great, pretty good, good, and not so good players. But this will play out over time, as in five or six seasons worth, sometimes longer. That's how baseball drafts work. OOTP models this very well. At times you'll think it models it too well.

Finally, some draft classes are initially weaker and stronger than others. That happens in real life too. But you won't actually know how strong a draft really was until several seasons are played.

[nutt]

I've played 2021-24 and the draft classes to me are loaded. Compared to previous versions, I actually enjoy this from the GM standpoint.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by Curve Ball Dave

This has been discussed over and over and over again.

Two or three star guys can become five star guys over time. Five star guys can become two or three star guys over time.

Give a league enough time and you'll find that the drafts produce as many major league talents as your league will need as long as you have enough drafts and rounds. You'll have your expected distribution of great, pretty good, good, and not so good players. But this will play out over time, as in five or six seasons worth, sometimes longer. That's how baseball drafts work. OOTP models this very well. At times you'll think it models it too well.

Finally, some draft classes are initially weaker and stronger than others. That happens in real life too. But you won't actually know how strong a draft really was until several seasons are played.

Agree with this.

I'd add to Dave's thoughts, and I think he'd agree, there will be plenty of top 3 pick burnouts and also late round picks that get to The Show. There will even be some late rounders that become stars.

[Curve Ball Dave]

Originally Posted by Sweed

Agree with this.

I'd add to Dave's thoughts, and I think he'd agree, there will be plenty of top 3 pick burnouts and also late round picks that get to The Show. There will even be some late rounders that become stars.

Yep.

You get disappointed when a top pick goes nowhere, but then there's the satisfaction of a guy you don't even remember drafting because he was just there to add depth to the Rookie league team becoming one of your best players.

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by Curve Ball Dave

This has been discussed over and over and over again.

Two or three star guys can become five star guys over time. Five star guys can become two or three star guys over time.

Give a league enough time and you'll find that the drafts produce as many major league talents as your league will need as long as you have enough drafts and rounds. You'll have your expected distribution of great, pretty good, good, and not so good players. But this will play out over time, as in five or six seasons worth, sometimes longer. That's how baseball drafts work. OOTP models this very well. At times you'll think it models it too well.

Finally, some draft classes are initially weaker and stronger than others. That happens in real life too. But you won't actually know how strong a draft really was until several seasons are played.

Thanks

[OrangeP47]

I tend to play longer saves, and I'll say after awhile on a save, a (loose) pattern emerges. 2-3 years of draft classes with three or four 5 star players (for a draft of around 1120 picks) and the rest of the star ratings scaled appropriately below that, followed by 1 year of a draft class with nobody above 3 star. I'm quite fine with this, especially as people that go undrafted or fail to sign get added back to the draft pool, so some of that talent could theoretically be in multiple draft classes. Roughly every four years, maybe three years if you're unlucky, you get a weak draft class, and otherwise you get a draft class strong enough to give everyone who finished bottom of their division someone good if there's no surprises. As the others have said, though, there are surprises, and that's where the fun comes in.

[waittilnextyear]

Originally Posted by OrangeP47

I tend to play longer saves, and I'll say after awhile on a save, a (loose) pattern emerges. 2-3 years of draft classes with three or four 5 star players (for a draft of around 1120 picks) and the rest of the star ratings scaled appropriately below that, followed by 1 year of a draft class with nobody above 3 star. I'm quite fine with this, especially as people that go undrafted or fail to sign get added back to the draft pool, so some of that talent could theoretically be in multiple draft classes. Roughly every four years, maybe three years if you're unlucky, you get a weak draft class, and otherwise you get a draft class strong enough to give everyone who finished bottom of their division someone good if there's no surprises. As the others have said, though, there are surprises, and that's where the fun comes in.

The reason I posted this is because it was 3 years in a row of the top prospect in the draft being 3*. That just seems odd. I am ok with not every draft being the same though.

If people want to claim everything will work out fine, then ok. That's the most important part. But, it seems strange to design it in where there are no 4* and 5* prospects on purpose and then hemming and hawing about the ratings will go up and some will go down. But, if other people are seeing more talent in their drafts, it must be more of a "me" and my sim problem than a general one in the game.

[OrangeP47]

Originally Posted by waittilnextyear

The reason I posted this is because it was 3 years in a row of the top prospect in the draft being 3*. That just seems odd. I am ok with not every draft being the same though.

If people want to claim everything will work out fine, then ok. That's the most important part. But, it seems strange to design it in where there are no 4* and 5* prospects on purpose and then hemming and hawing about the ratings will go up and some will go down. But, if other people are seeing more talent in their drafts, it must be more of a "me" and my sim problem than a general one in the game.

I know 2026 can seem like a long time out, but it isn't really long enough for things to "stabilize". It's been awhile since I've started a new game too, but I do seem to recall it taking a bit for things to iron out before they normalize.

I happen to have the game up right now, so I took a quick look. My current draft pool is for 34 teams and has 1224 total players, of which 1 is 5 star and then under that there are 5 3-1/2 star, the rest being 3 or under. This might be a slightly weak year. Looking ahead down the road at players entering for future drafts, next year doesn't have a 5 star, but two years down the road does. Next year looks to be one of those weak overall draft classes though (I haven't been keeping track of the pattern that closely, and tbh as this was an expansion year my attention has been more focused on the fact that both of the expansion teams have somehow managed to contend for division titles with the expansion draft going really well for them). Those draft classes can still change a bit too.