Scouting ratings drop after move from OOTP24 to 25

[rink23]

I just moved my Cardinals franchise from OOTP24 to OOTP 25 at the start of the offseason between the 2025 and 26 seasons.
One thing I noticed was some major drops in the scouting ratings of many of my players. Some of them I was counting on heavily for the 2026 season.
Infielder ONeil Cruz, who I traded for during the 2025 season, dipped from 70 current/70 potential to 45/45.
Catcher Willson Contreras dipped from 55/55 to 45/45.
Across the board almost all the position players saw some kind of dip.
Some of the pitchers did as well.
What can I read into this?

[ayaghmour2]

This is worth looking at in depth: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...73Rl9KSzo/edit

From the Devs on this thread: https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=352897

Long story short, they changed how they calculated ratings to mirror real life more. Nothing really changed with your players, its just now there are more 35-55 rated guys and less 60+

[perfektootp]

Which, by the way, is probably the best feature of this version of the game and what I would've advertised. The idea that we now get the same version of the 20-80 that scouts and pitch development analysts at places like Driveline use... just awesome.

[DrPhilipino]

Originally Posted by ayaghmour2

This is worth looking at in depth: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...73Rl9KSzo/edit

From the Devs on this thread: https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=352897

Long story short, they changed how they calculated ratings to mirror real life more. Nothing really changed with your players, its just now there are more 35-55 rated guys and less 60+

It definitely has affected the resultant stats of some players. I've noticed changes in pitchers most especially as control has become much more important than it was previously.

I've had guys with 75 stuff and 45 control go from dominant starters and relievers to being unplayabale at times.

[OutS|der]

"Player Ratings

The big change will be to player ratings. Not only the visual differences like BABIP being visible, or power being removed from the contact rating, but internally as well.

The new ratings (catcher framing and stealing aggressiveness/speed) will be generated for players based on their current profiles. They will generally match their other similar ratings.

The core ratings for all players will be imported to the new ratings range. While we attempt to maintain ratings that will display as close to what they appeared as in the previous version as possible, in certain cases that is not possible while retaining a proper league balance. Most ratings will adjust slightly - for example, a player who had a “55” for power in OOTP 24 certainly might import with a 50 or a 60 when adjusted to the new ratings scale. Note that this will apply to both their raw ratings, and their scouted ratings. As scouting has changed between versions as well, with scouting enabled, certain players may shift even further. On upgrade to a new version, all scouts automatically adjust and get a “new look” at players, so while they may have been favorable to them previously, they may not like them nearly as much on import. So with scouting on, certainly some ratings may shift by even more.

Also note that in the update, as the Stuff rating for pitchers will be adjusted to the new ratings system, that results in a change to players’ individual pitch ratings. Due to how the pitches influence stuff, you may note some more significant changes in there.

Relative Ratings

Another consideration with ratings is that, depending on what game modes you are using, you may not notice how much the internal ratings structure has actually shifted. While the visible ratings may not have adjusted that much (you may notice lots of “good” players with a stuff rating of 60 or higher), it is quite possible that the underlying structure may have shifted further. While there is some attempt to return to a more stable baseline, you may also notice some further adjustments. For example, your league may see virtually all pitchers “lose” 10 points of stuff, or all pitches show as significantly worse than before. Or you may even see some deeper changes like a few years of apparently sub-par draft classes, or other scenarios like that. Hopefully those cases are kept to a minimum.

Overall Ratings

Further, on top of the general ratings update, do also note that in every version, the way players are rated and ranked will shift as well. We may value power or defense to varying degrees. Especially for players who have significantly skewed profiles, their ratings may shift a lot. There may certainly be players that the OOTP 24 engine valued as significantly valuable, that the OOTP 25 engine sees as barely above a replacement level value. We always strive to make sure the ratings are better in each version, but there may always be some players who shift more than others, or who are over-corrected for.

As mentioned, all efforts were taken to maintain the integrity of leagues. You should not see a formerly power hitter turned into a slap hitter. The previously elite players should still be elite players. We do know this will be a bigger change than normal for some. Some people may not like the changes. That is unfortunate, but it has come to a point where we could not maintain the previous structure."


TLDR Ratings got a massive overhaul

[ayaghmour2]

Originally Posted by DrPhilipino

It definitely has affected the resultant stats of some players. I've noticed changes in pitchers most especially as control has become much more important than it was previously.

I've had guys with 75 stuff and 45 control go from dominant starters and relievers to being unplayabale at times.

While this may be true, and happens with each version, the point is the player themself didn't change. The engine and the way ratings are displayed/calculated (range iirc went from 1-250 to 1-500/550) changed. Maybe I didn't phrase my response well, but yes, guys who performed well in '24 may not perform well in '25 and vice versa

[Guthrien]

Reading that excerpt really highlights how different this year is. It's harder to highlight than "features" but it's a radical change to systems. I'm excited to see how it plays out long term.