How useful or useless is the Gap rating??

[geoffmatt17]

So according to the manual, gap directly correlates to how frequently balls get hit to the gaps for extra base hits. That part is easy enough to understand. However, don't Contact, Power and Baserunning Speed have to play into this rating to make it work (making Gap more of a second-tier rating)? More specifically, if a player has a low contact rating, wouldn't that effect how frequently he makes contact in order to put the ball in the gap to begin with? And if they have a low power rating, shouldn't that effect how hard the ball is hit into the gap and how likely it will get by the outfielders?

Example:
I have 2 players on my roster, using 1-100 rating scale. What types of outputs should I expect from each player?

Guy A: Contact-56 / GAP-96 / Power-50
Guy B: Contact-74 / GAP-16 / Power-68

It looks like Guy A is an average hitter, but will most of the balls he puts in play be doubles and triples (ie .260 hitter but with 45 doubles)? If so, why is the Gap rating so important? It also looks like Guy B is a very good hitter with the potential to have some all-star years mixed in. But with a Gap rating of only 16, what will that impact?? Will he be a .300 hitter but with 12 doubles instead of maybe 30-40? Again if that's the case, why is gap so important?

I'm trying to dive more closely into scouting reports when I evaluate players, and this one kind of stumps me. Useful or useless? How do others utilize this tool?

Thank you!

[catcherjul]

For what I saw in the game, it is exactly what you say. It will affect a lot the slugging of the hitter. A guy that does not hit a lot in the gap will mostly have singles. I had a guy that had contact 98, gap 95 and power 12 he was was posting stats like : 330 avg/ 45 2b/11 3b/ 2-5 hr

[Charlie Hough]

All of the batting ratings are important including eye/discipline and avoid K's. You want the best ratings you can get across the board. Obviously, contact is arguably the most valuable but not at the expense of gap, discipline, and avoiding K's.

As catcherjul mentioned, a high contact player with minimal gap and power is going to generate a lot of singles and will not necessarily be very productive. Just the same, high gap and power with no contact and bad plate discipline can also limit productivity.

Look at it this way: Rob Deer had great gap hitting and power ability, but he was a strikeout machine and could never hit for quality average. He rarely saw a pitch that he didn't like. Put him in the middle of your lineup and he will drive in quite a few runs, but he'll also kill many rallies with untimely strikeouts.

I tend to view power as the least important among contact, gap, and power. But it's probably more important than discipline and avoiding K's in most cases, as long as contact is still decent.

[geoffmatt17]

Both posts were helpful, but it only helps explain the correlation with high contact and gap or high power and gap. What about my Guy A and Guy B above, where gap is some sort of an outlier? Does Guy A with average at best contact and power have a "more productive" 100 hits per year than the 140 hits I'll get from Guy B?

Also, how much of this is related to speed? Meaning - a faster baserunner can leg out doubles and triples with a higher frequency. Sticking with my examples: Guy A's speed is 75 and Guy B's speed is 16.

[Honorable_Pawn]

Attachment 273789

[Charlie Hough]

Guy A is the clear choice. He has 202 total points of ratings over the three core abilities compared to just 158 for Guy B. That's a major gap between the two. When you add the massive difference in speed, it's not even close. It would be ridiculous to go with Guy B. He's going to cost you RBIs and runs scored and will be far less productive.

Guy A will likely not hit for as good of an average, but his superior gap ability coupled with decent power will make him more likely to hit for a good slugging percentage overall. He should be more adept at driving in runs because he can hit into the gaps, hopefully avoid ground balls, and get extra base hits that make it easier to score runners from first or second. With his speed, he's also going to be more likely to score runs.

Guy B is going to be more of an all-or-nothing proposition. He might hit for a better average, but he's either going to hit singles or home runs and not much else. If he hits enough home runs, maybe he could make up for his strong tendency to hit singles, but my guess is that his lack of gap ability means that his home runs are going to have to be down the lines. And when he doesn't hit home runs, he won't have anywhere near as good of an ability to drive in runs as Guy A. When you add his lack of speed, he then becomes a liability on the base paths and in hitting into double plays. I almost never use players with speed ratings that low unless they're solid contact hitters with excellent gap and power. In this case, he's woefully lacking in gap ability, so I would never choose him.

Personally, I would go with Guy A based on the simple mathematics of it, along with the tendencies described above. To met it's not even a debate or discussion to have. But you could always run a test by making two versions of your game and seeing which of the two proves to be more productive offensively. I have absolutely no doubt that it will be Guy A.

[geoffmatt17]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

Guy A is the clear choice. He has 202 total points of ratings over the three core abilities compared to just 158 for Guy B. That's a major gap between the two. When you add the massive difference in speed, it's not even close. It would be ridiculous to go with Guy B. He's going to cost you RBIs and runs scored and will be far less productive.

Guy A will likely not hit for as good of an average, but his superior gap ability coupled with decent power will make him more likely to hit for a good slugging percentage overall. He should be more adept at driving in runs because he can hit into the gaps, hopefully avoid ground balls, and get extra base hits that make it easier to score runners from first or second. With his speed, he's also going to be more likely to score runs.

Guy B is going to be more of an all-or-nothing proposition. He might hit for a better average, but he's either going to hit singles or home runs and not much else. If he hits enough home runs, maybe he could make up for his strong tendency to hit singles, but my guess is that his lack of gap ability means that his home runs are going to have to be down the lines. And when he doesn't hit home runs, he won't have anywhere near as good of an ability to drive in runs as Guy A. When you add his lack of speed, he then becomes a liability on the base paths and in hitting into double plays. I almost never use players with speed ratings that low unless they're solid contact hitters with excellent gap and power. In this case, he's woefully lacking in gap ability, so I would never choose him.

Personally, I would go with Guy A based on the simple mathematics of it, along with the tendencies described above. To met it's not even a debate or discussion to have. But you could always run a test by making two versions of your game and seeing which of the two proves to be more productive offensively. I have absolutely no doubt that it will be Guy A.

Thank you very much for the insight, this is pretty great stuff. Unfortunately, I have a pretty thin roster, so Guy A and B are both in my starting lineup for now! But come draft time, I'll know how to find a more permanent solution for Mr. B!