What's going to happen to Catcher Framing with ABS?

[uruguru]

Imagine a league, it's not too hard, where ABS is used on every pitch. In effect, Catcher Framing no longer has any effect.


How is this going to affect the AI evaluation of catchers? For example, let's say the league framing effect is set to 0 for an ABS-using league. Will the AI evaluation of catchers no longer value the catcher framing stat?

[Carplos]

Does the catcher framing setting even affect AI evaluations?

[uruguru]

Originally Posted by Carplos

Does the catcher framing setting even affect AI evaluations?

I don't think so. Even if you disable it completely in league settings, the catcher framing ability can create wild swings in the overall defensive rating of the catcher.

[Pelican]

I just read an article in Baseball Prospectus that suggests that, under the current system with only two challenges per team, catchers known for skillful framing are getting more challenges, and more successful challenges, from hitters. In other words, framing fools the umpire, but not ABS. So framing becomes a liability, but only so long as challenges remain.

[locuspc]

Originally Posted by Pelican

I just read an article in Baseball Prospectus that suggests that, under the current system with only two challenges per team, catchers known for skillful framing are getting more challenges, and more successful challenges, from hitters. In other words, framing fools the umpire, but not ABS. So framing becomes a liability, but only so long as challenges remain.

That doesn't follow at all. They're getting more successful challenges because they're getting more strikes called balls. If a framed ball gets challenged, you haven't lost anything, and if it doesn't get challenged, you've stolen a strike. It's not a liability, it's just a smaller benefit.

[uruguru]

Originally Posted by Pelican

I just read an article in Baseball Prospectus that suggests that, under the current system with only two challenges per team, catchers known for skillful framing are getting more challenges, and more successful challenges, from hitters. In other words, framing fools the umpire, but not ABS. So framing becomes a liability, but only so long as challenges remain.

That makes sense. I was speaking in terms of a presumed near future where ABS is automatically used 100% of the time. It seems to me at that point, catcher framing would have no effect, so the OOTP setting would be to set the league setting for framing impact to "0 (None)"