Theory on Best Pitcher Types for an All Defensive Team?

[Maddox]

So I just set up the beginnings of an all defensive team and would like to have an idea of what type of pitchers and relievers will be best suited for this team.

Groundball, Flyball or Nuetral?
High Stuff or High Movement?

I have some players training at new positions so I am not expecting a stellar first season with the team so it is not urgent to get the pitching squared away immediately.

Bonus points for budget pitchers that can get the job done in the lower brackets. I don't have a ton of stubs left for this particular team.

[MasonHAsher]

Play to your defensive strengths. Do you have a good IF defense? Roll out some groundballers. Is your OF the strength right now? Roll out some flyball pitchers.


I tend to always lean toward groundballers though just due to the lesser number of homers given up. Make sure you have a good defensive catcher as that does impact your staff.

[OMGPuppies]

Originally Posted by Maddox

So I just set up the beginnings of an all defensive team and would like to have an idea of what type of pitchers and relievers will be best suited for this team.

Groundball, Flyball or Nuetral?
High Stuff or High Movement?

I have some players training at new positions so I am not expecting a stellar first season with the team so it is not urgent to get the pitching squared away immediately.

Bonus points for budget pitchers that can get the job done in the lower brackets. I don't have a ton of stubs left for this particular team.

Who is on your team?

[Maddox]

Originally Posted by OMGPuppies

Who is on your team?

C - Kenji Kohjima
1B - Eric Hosmer
2B - Ozzie Smith (needs to learn the position)
SS - Honus Wagner
3B - Rabbot Maranville (needs to learn the position)
LF - Jesse Barfield - (needs to learn the position)
CF - Harrison Bader
RF - Jay Orsulak

Last night I picked up a couple of Starting Pitchers for testing this season. Two with high Stuff, Rick Ankiel (105 stuff) and Jason Bere (100 Stuff) and I already had one with good movement but low stuff, Lerrin Lagrow (80 Stuff and 81 Control)

I'll monitor how they do while I hopefully earn a few points this season to flesh out the rotation and completely rebuild the bullpen.

[Mizzery]

There is no statistical advantage in the game to being a groundball pitcher vs. a flyball pitcher- in terms of game mechanics, an out is an out.

The most important rating for a SP is MOV- there have been several well done discussions and statistical analysis done on this in PT 19 and 20. Since there is an expected number of home runs in each league to approximate a normalized season, you want to "push" those home runs given up away from your pitchers and onto someone else's. This is especially true for a Defense oriented team, since there is no defense for an opposing home run.

CTL has the second highest correlation to starting pitching success. Pitchers who give up less walks tend to give up fewer runs. Again, just like home runs, no great defense can compensate for a pitcher who gives up a lot of walks.

If any metric can be sacrificed for a defense oriented team, it is STF. There are more examples of high performing relivers than starters with a high STF, low MOV or CON combination.

Adjusting park factors to minimize runs, especially home runs, is one of the most important elements to running a successful defense oriented team, and is actually more important than groundball/flyball pitchers.

[Lemandria]

The park is far more important than gb-fb, particularly at the low end.

Don't underestimate Control in run prevention. Fewer walks=fewer baserunners, if your park is controlling base hits and/ or gopherballs, you could be choking the opposition of virtually all scoring opportunities.

[Maddox]

Originally Posted by Lemandria

The park is far more important than gb-fb, particularly at the low end.

Don't underestimate Control in run prevention. Fewer walks=fewer baserunners, if your park is controlling base hits and/ or gopherballs, you could be choking the opposition of virtually all scoring opportunities.

I have always been confused about the edit ballpark options to be honest.

[Lemandria]

Originally Posted by Maddox

I have always been confused about the edit ballpark options to be honest.

There was z really good thread about that back in 20...see if I can find it.

But basically, a happy-pitchers ballpark is going to have singles or homers reduced to .9. Someimes both.

Note that you're alsio gimping the home team! So maybe (if you reduce homers via your ballpark), your hitters should specialize in Contact over Pop.

Your park is reducing homers, so maybe your pitchers will do ok with a *little^ bit less MOV (moderation!) Maybe your staff should go with STU/CON.

It gets even more complicated when you're gimping only one side, maybe you want to concentrate your park's Hate on just LHB. Okay, you've gimped LHB so YOUR guys should be mostly RHB. And your pitchers, too.

There's a lot of details to think about.

[chazzycat]

I think some of these comments are downplaying the GB/FB importance a bit too much. Yes, park factors are quite important, and an out is an out. But fitting your pitchers to your defensive personnel is still a thing, and properly done should increase the chances of making said out. The GB/FB breakdown corresponds to an expected GB% in the game engine, so it's relatively straightforward. An "extreme GB" pitcher will put up a high GB%. If you have a crappy infield...well I wouldn't expect that team to do very well.

It's also a way to hide some bat-first players on your roster. If you've stacked all extreme-GB pitchers, maybe you can get away with less-than-stellar OF defense (probably along with reducing the doubles/triples factors).

[OMGPuppies]

Originally Posted by Maddox

C - Kenji Kohjima
1B - Eric Hosmer
2B - Ozzie Smith (needs to learn the position)
SS - Honus Wagner
3B - Rabbot Maranville (needs to learn the position)
LF - Jesse Barfield - (needs to learn the position)
CF - Harrison Bader
RF - Jay Orsulak

Last night I picked up a couple of Starting Pitchers for testing this season. Two with high Stuff, Rick Ankiel (105 stuff) and Jason Bere (100 Stuff) and I already had one with good movement but low stuff, Lerrin Lagrow (80 Stuff and 81 Control)

I'll monitor how they do while I hopefully earn a few points this season to flesh out the rotation and completely rebuild the bullpen.

Thank you for sharing. Last year there were a few of us who had the goal of getting nine players in the same season glove awards. That was super fun although there was a ceiling for the team because of offense.