Specialists

[usa_hank]

I don't think the"specialist" usage option for pitchers is properly used by the AI. I use 8 bullpen slots, and I have only one "specialist" in use set to "vs Left-Handed." Yet, here are his splits:

vs L: 20.1 IP
vs R: 24 IP

I get that good lineups usually have a mix of lefty and righty batters, but you'd think your lefty-specialist would have far more vs-L BF than vs-R BF.

For context, my global strategy also has a very high (one or two ticks from full) preference set for L/R pitching matchups.

[cwhitman]

three batter limit makes it tough

[Dr.Drill]

Originally Posted by cwhitman

three batter limit makes it tough

Just created a Q Silver team in which every V.5 relief pitcher is a Specialist.

Just to see how OOTP 27 handles it ....

[Dr.Drill]

Cause Why Not?

[Dr.Drill]

How I spent my Sunday.

[usa_hank]

Originally Posted by cwhitman

three batter limit makes it tough

I would argue that you should never bring in a specialist at the start of a half inning unless 2 of the next 3 batters are lefties, nor should you keep the lefty-specialist in past the 3 batter minimum. However, I don't think the AI is keeping my pitcher in beyond 3 batters very often judging from the usage stats.

The other thing I want to look at is whether he's just giving up too many hits. However, my specialist has only given up 2BB and 12 HA vs-L with 20.1 IP for a 0.69 WHIP. He should not have 24IP vs R and 20IP vs L with these numbers if it were a problem with him giving up hits vs L.

A specialist should be just that - a specialist. If I were to make an educated guess, I'd guess the AI is bringing in the lefty specialist by only looking at the first batter to see if he's a lefty.

[usa_hank]

Originally Posted by Dr.Drill

Cause Why Not?

I did this with my PT half of last season because my [great-on-paper] bullpen staff was something like 30th in the league through the first half. It didn't improve me much, maybe 2-3 slots by the end of the season.

[Dr.Drill]

Jennifer Melfi disagrees.

[Dr.Drill]

Can't make this **** up.

[Dr.Drill]

do it

[usa_hank]

I'm very convinced there's something wrong with how the AI treats specialists. I know I'm going to get the "small sample size" reply here, but please check your own specialists.

Why in the world would the AI let my lefty specialist pitch to 3x as many righties as lefties?

[usa_hank]

It's concerning because you should be able to trust that the AI should use your specialist correctly. I shouldn't be afraid to put Max Lanier in as a lefty specialist, and I certainly don't want him pitching against righties:

[usa_hank]

Okay even more convinced after one more game. The AI literally brought him in in the 7th, he faced 2 RHBs. What?! My bullpen isn't that worn out either:

[usa_hank]

Hmmmmm, I just changed his "position" to "RP". I noticed in my screencap above that I had his position" set to "SP" (despite the fact he's in my Bullpen and set to Specialist). I know that affects the display of "fatigue" but I never figured it affected anything else. But now I wonder if that was (wrongly) affecting the way the AI had been using him. If that's the case, you guys need to patch this. I don't look at "position" with pitchers, I look at "Primary Role" and "Secondary Role." And I can't imagine I'm alone in that. Frankly, position shouldn't matter at all in pitching staff.

[Dr.Drill]

Originally Posted by usa_hank

I know that affects the display of "fatigue" but I never figured it affected anything else.

Pushing the limits, way over applying Specialist tag to my 1st LD crew of 27.

My aim is to punish all Starter weakness with benching and religious shunning, followed by "X" effective relief pitcher innings that don't tilt tiredness.

Theoretically, R Johnson 100 CS could have 7.50 ERA but I can still win Sunday WS.

Pray for me.

[Minus8isGreat]

Originally Posted by usa_hank

Hmmmmm, I just changed his "position" to "RP". I noticed in my screencap above that I had his position" set to "SP" (despite the fact he's in my Bullpen and set to Specialist). I know that affects the display of "fatigue" but I never figured it affected anything else. But now I wonder if that was (wrongly) affecting the way the AI had been using him. If that's the case, you guys need to patch this. I don't look at "position" with pitchers, I look at "Primary Role" and "Secondary Role." And I can't imagine I'm alone in that. Frankly, position shouldn't matter at all in pitching staff.

If setting position affects performance and AI in game decisions, that's just silly (and definitely needs a patch). I assumed that setting position was for the user to easily remember if they want to use a player at an alternate position (I had a SS that was a good 2B, and needed a 2B so I set his position to 2B so I could easily find him in my Reserve list). I do expect a performace drop off since the player has a 2B level and an SS level, but I still expect all the other rules (fatigue, batting ratings) to be the same. For pitching, the ratings are the ratings, and the behaviors should be based on the user-set sliders, not on some confused AI because an SP is assigned as a reliever. Otherwise stamina is pointless if the AI is going to look at an SP and decide it cannot put in an SP late in the game, regardless of fatigue.

[LeeD]

Position settings affect the Team Position Rankings, which is a mostly cosmetic scale showing how your team stacks up against current league or tournament opponents. I say mostly cosmetic because it doesn't appear to have any effect on game play, but you're obviously outclassed at current league level if most positions are in the red. It has no meaning at all in tournaments since it's based on OVR, which is not a good measure of quality, especially with boosted Variants all over the rosters.

Position settings in general will have an effect on how the AI handles lineup construction. Change Jackie Robinson's position from second to third base and the AI is much more likely to slot him in as third baseman if you have AI (bench coach) choose lineups.

AI basically ignores starting vs. relief pitcher settings when constructing pitching staffs. It will fill the rotation with your top OVR starting pitchers (and possibly a high-stamina reliever).

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So, what does the foregoing mean for specialists in game play? Not much if you're controlling all of your lineups, depth charts, and pitching roles.

In game, AI has a logic framework based on ratings, handedness, and pitch types (slider/cutter good for specialists, change-up/splitter bad). It also accounts for fatigue, which primarily lowers stuff and thus lowers expected strikeout rate. It also looks at exit velocities and will consider groundball/flyball ratings if there are men on base (double plays). Lots of things to look at, also including bullpen fatigue, other bullpen roles, and available pinch hitters.

So...you set Max Lanier to lefty specialist, but his two best pitches are knuckle curve and change-up. Knuckle curve is neutral. Change-up is more effective against opposite-handed batters. Then, there's the issue of simple numbers. Many more right-handed batters than lefties, including bench bats that might pinch hit because Lanier is on the mound (Cal Ripken pinch hits, presumably for a lefty batter).

Not surprising that Lanier faces more righties than lefties given all of the above.

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TLDR:

So much going on under the hood, it's pretty much impossible to keep track. This is also base game stuff, and we don't know if PT is cutting corners and ignoring some of it.

Solution is to either set everyone to middle relief (common) or set a very strict pitch count on the specialist (like 6 or 9 pitches max). That way, he faces no more than two batters. They might still be right-handed if opposition AI goes to the bench, but it does achieve a better mix.

[usa_hank]

None of those variables truly matter. The reality is that any good manager that has a pitcher who rocks against lefties and sucks against righties would most likely try to bring him in against lefties more than righties. It seems pretty obvious how the AI should play this, no matter the variables.

Team splits this PT season look much closer than last week's PT season. I'm seeing about 250 IP vs R | 200 IP vs L on average, or a 5:4 ratio, that's plenty of opportunities for him to pitch. However, Lanier has still been brought in for 6 IP vs R | 4 IP vs L - a 3:2 ratio.

In other words, the AI is not using Specialists as Specialists. Last three games Lanier was brought in.

• Last game: Tied game in the 8th. Brought Lanier in to face 3 RHBs in a row. He loses the game for us.
• Second to last game: Brought in to face RHB, LHB, RHB, LHB in the 7th. He gave up 2 runs.
• Third to last game: Faces LHB, RHB, RHB, LHB.

No rhyme or reason here. Specialists are broken. Can't even trust keeping him in there as he's a serious liability against RHBs.

[usa_hank]

At the very least, I would expect more PAs vs LHBs than RHBs. While LOOGYs don't actually exist today because of the 3-batter rule, even if you look at real world pitchers who closely resemble a specialist in today's MLB, Tim Hill, Sam Moll, etc, they are at a 6:5 ratio of LHB PAs vs RHB PAs.

At least I know what to expect, and what not to expect in PT now. Time to rethink my bullpen, maybe drop back to a 7-man bullpen with just my best guys out there and forget the 8th man.

[Dr.Drill]

Originally Posted by usa_hank

At the very least, I would expect more PAs vs LHBs than RHBs. While LOOGYs don't actually exist today because of the 3-batter rule, even if you look at real world pitchers who closely resemble a specialist in today's MLB, Tim Hill, Sam Moll, etc, they are at a 6:5 ratio of LHB PAs vs RHB PAs.

At least I know what to expect, and what not to expect in PT now. Time to rethink my bullpen, maybe drop back to a 7-man bullpen with just my best guys out there and forget the 8th man.

The 3-Batter rule: what Constantinople faced at the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 AD.