A bit confused about setting up pitchers/line-ups

towerbooks3192 · 07-22-2014, 02:26 AM

As much as possible I want to be able to set the pitchers and line-ups and kind of want a really clean start rather than letting the computer do it for me. I am a bit confused about setting up pitchers and lineups.

As for pitchers, what I did was filter all the players to pitcher only then on the rotation side I picked like the best pitchers and then on the other side set some stuff like players with less stamina to be closing pitchers, etc.

As for the lineup side, I am confused about the bottom left side (I assume that would be the batters?) and the depth charts (seems to have the positions on defense). I have read the manual about that part and it is still confusing. I don't know why if the bottom left side are the batters, why they have a position on their side and how I should set it when there are players who are good at batting but are bad at a particular position.

The other thing that confuses me is why there are things like vs RHP and etc.

This is the part of the game that I am struggling now as I am trying to make sense of how to put players that I think who are good for the position in a particular position

wuttang · 07-22-2014, 06:06 AM

You arrange the players to bat in the order you want and assign positions as you want. You can make your CF play SS if u really wanted to for example, but that's usually a bad idea.

Vs rhp vs lhp means you can have different lineups depending on if the opposing pitcher is right handed or left handed.
Some players bat well either way, but most guys usually do better vs different sided pitchers.
Righty bat better for lefty pitcher and vice versa.

Good luck

towerbooks3192 · 07-22-2014, 06:37 AM

I am still a bit confused. Like what is the difference between the order of pitchers (rotation) and the other side beside it where you set the others to be relievers and closers.

And also the box where there are lineups and depth charts. I mean I already chose pitchers there so do I have to re-start again? and what does the other box mean (depth charts?) I am like which ones are going to bat on that chart and which ones are going to defend and whether the batter will be the same people playing 1B,2B,SS, etc?

towerbooks3192 · 07-22-2014, 07:46 AM

Sorry for the double post but just to build upon what I have said. I am confused especially when I filter the pitchers in the pitcher sections, like they have different roles and I am confused especially when I go to the line-up section and it says that the roles required are 1B,2B, Pitcher, Catcher, SS, etc. and once you have chosen who to rotate in the pitcher side, do I have to add them in the line-up side and depth chart, etc. That is the confusing part for me so far.

pjh5165 · 07-22-2014, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by towerbooks3192

Sorry for the double post but just to build upon what I have said. I am confused especially when I filter the pitchers in the pitcher sections, like they have different roles and I am confused especially when I go to the line-up section and it says that the roles required are 1B,2B, Pitcher, Catcher, SS, etc. and once you have chosen who to rotate in the pitcher side, do I have to add them in the line-up side and depth chart, etc. That is the confusing part for me so far.

No, you do not have to add your pitchers to the lineup screen. On your 'vs RH' and 'vs LH' lineups there will be an empty spot (the number 9 spot in the order by default) where the pitcher who's turn it is in the rotation will bat.

You can move that blank spot around the lineup if you want your pitcher to bat anywhere other than 9th (you probably don't want to do that).

towerbooks3192 · 07-22-2014, 09:44 AM

ok. That clears things up a bit. I just had my first successful game where I managed to get 7 while my opponents only got 1. Now on to my other question:

How does substitution work? If I understand it correctly, I have to let the people I want to go in the game in the bull pen until they are warmed up and then just swap them?

I don't know if I get this right but in setting up my lineup, I have to make sure to pick people with good field and batting skills? I am a bit confused by this part as batting and pitching are different and some players are good at batting and some are good at pitching.

Is there a way for me to follow the reliever, closer, etc. setting I have in the pitching tab if I want to substitute them? I am still getting used to my players and I don't know who does what.

IanIachimoe · 07-22-2014, 11:57 AM

^^ yep, you must warm your RP until he is 'ready' to come into the game. if not, he will prob get hit hard.

fielding skills refer to the player's ability to play their position in the field behind the pitcher. important, but not as important as their ability to hit imo.

middle relievers are usually used somewhere between the 5th - 7th innings.

then you generally have your setup guys. I like to have one right & one left hander in those roles. they generally pitch between the 7th & 8th inning and are counted on to 'hold' a lead.

your closer comes out to finish & 'save' the game. he is usually your best RP. beneficial to have someone with good control and high K ability.

of course, you can use them anyway you like. some prefer to use their best reliever @ the most crucial point late in the game. doesn't necessarily have to be in the 9th.

not sure if that^ answers your questions or not...

towerbooks3192 · 07-22-2014, 12:02 PM

That certainly cleared some things up. Now attribute-wise. What are the key attributes to look out for for a certain position? I can't seem to know which guys are good pitchers and other positions. I am used to having in FM where a key attribute for a position is highlighted therefore I would have a clue if the player would be good/bad for that position. Determining which attributes to look at for the positions is my other problem as of the moment

pjh5165 · 07-22-2014, 01:10 PM

In regards to warming up pitchers...When you are in the pre-game screen (after you hit "Play game against XXX" and you see the starting lineups for both teams) there is an option on the left side where you can turn the "warm-up rule" off. This makes it so you do not have to warm up relief pitchers and can just bring them straight in without worrying about it. A lot of veteran players, myself included, turn this off. Since you're just starting, I would suggest turning it off and then you have one less thing to worry about.

pjh5165 · 07-22-2014, 01:15 PM

And as far as key attributes for each position, the main thing is really that they can play defense there. For instance, at shortstop you want to start someone who has a good defensive rating at the shortstop position. There are certain positions where defense matters less than others.

This is up for some debate, but a pretty well accepted ranking of positions where defense matters the most to where it matters the least is as follows:

Catcher
Shortstop
Center Field
Second Base
Third Base
Right Field
Left Field
First Base

As you can see, the "up the middle" positions are where defense is valued the most highly since they have the most ground to cover and toughest plays to make.

pjh5165 · 07-22-2014, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by towerbooks3192

I can't seem to know which guys are good pitchers and other positions.

Also, there are very rare exceptions but for the most part being a pitcher and being a position player are mutually exclusive. You will only pitch with your pitchers and play the rest of the field with your position players.

towerbooks3192 · 07-22-2014, 01:20 PM

Ok. Now on to my next question. I will assume that the higher the better is good for different stats but I know there might be some other things to consider.

How much control do I have when it comes to the actual game? I mean there are options to pitch and swing but I am a bit confused as to which ones would be better to use at a certain time.

Also there is this tab when the game is played where if defense is e.g normal, etc. what is the use of that tab?

towerbooks3192 · 07-22-2014, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjh5165

Also, there are very rare exceptions but for the most part being a pitcher and being a position player are mutually exclusive. You will only pitch with your pitchers and play the rest of the field with your position players.

Correct me if I am wrong but as you said:

Pitchers are pitchers only (worry more about whether they are starting, reliever, close, etc).

while the others are both batters and position players? I really hope they would include more tooltip features in this game especially when looking at positions and stats.

pjh5165 · 07-22-2014, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by towerbooks3192

Ok. Now on to my next question. I will assume that the higher the better is good for different stats but I know there might be some other things to consider.

For ratings, it is generally the higher the better. To learn about different stats in the game, check out the glossary at Baseball Statistics and Analysis | FanGraphs Baseball . Anything you could want to know is in there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by towerbooks3192

How much control do I have when it comes to the actual game? I mean there are options to pitch and swing but I am a bit confused as to which ones would be better to use at a certain time.

Not 100% sure what you mean here. When you're playing out a game, the "1" key option is what you will use most of the time. The rest of the options are mostly for specific situations (ex: stealing a base).

Quote:

Originally Posted by towerbooks3192

Also there is this tab when the game is played where if defense is e.g normal, etc. what is the use of that tab?

This tab is the defensive alignment. An example of when you would want to change this would be this: 1 out, bottom of the 9th, tie game, runner on third, your team is pitching. You would want to bring the defense "in" to try and make a play on the runner coming home if there is a ground ball.

Again, you can change this in the pre-game menu so that your hired manager has control over defensive alignments until you get the hang of what the different options mean and are for.

Also, not sure if anyone has linked you to the OOTP manual. It is not perfect, but there is some good stuff in there: Out of the Park Baseball Manual

pjh5165 · 07-22-2014, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by towerbooks3192

Correct me if I am wrong but as you said:

Pitchers are pitchers only (worry more about whether they are starting, reliever, close, etc).

while the others are both batters and position players? I really hope they would include more tooltip features in this game especially when looking at positions and stats.

Yes, batters and position players are the same thing. Your hitters must play defense except for the case of the DH, or designated hitter. This is an option where the pitcher is not part of the lineup (meaning he will not have any at-bats) and another hitter is part of the lineup (and does not play defense).

towerbooks3192 · 07-22-2014, 01:35 PM

Another question. For the sake of reference. What are some handy links that would help me a lot as I learn the game? Truth be told I am really enjoying this game even though I just learned the basics of baseball 2 the other day.

I will make sure to bookmark the manual. I was really hoping they could have offered some paper manuals as I would read it from cover to cover.

towerbooks3192 · 07-22-2014, 01:38 PM

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. are there any links to videos or in depth tutorial in manually setting up pitches? The walkthrough I seem to find like the one from ootp usually focuses on some aspects but not a single video I found (even the LPs) of a line-up and pitcher roles being started from scratch

pjh5165 · 07-22-2014, 01:41 PM

Yeah baseball is a tricky sport with a lot of intricacies. Some good links to learn about it are here:

Baseball - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

MLB.com: The Official Site of Major League Baseball

Baseball Statistics and Analysis | FanGraphs Baseball

There are countless others you can find on google that will teach you a ton. I'd suggest picking a favorite team and learning about them to get a feel for players and transactions and things like that.

EDIT: And I'm sorry, I'm not sure where anything like what you asked for in your last post would be. Maybe post that question in the "General Discussions" section of this forum, as far more members post over there and may be able to help you out.

towerbooks3192 · 07-22-2014, 01:45 PM

Unfortunately I don't have a clue as to which teams are going to be teams that I like. I don't have a clue who the players are. One of the main things that made me want to get this game was for the fantasy leagues.

In my current game I am taking control of the toronto (DSL) blue jays and learning about setting up line-ups and pitching. I reckon if I could know how to start winning games and tweaking strategies then I would be able to easily enjoy the trading/transactions part.

07-22-2014, 02:26 AM	#1
towerbooks3192 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 70	A bit confused about setting up pitchers/line-ups As much as possible I want to be able to set the pitchers and line-ups and kind of want a really clean start rather than letting the computer do it for me. I am a bit confused about setting up pitchers and lineups. As for pitchers, what I did was filter all the players to pitcher only then on the rotation side I picked like the best pitchers and then on the other side set some stuff like players with less stamina to be closing pitchers, etc. As for the lineup side, I am confused about the bottom left side (I assume that would be the batters?) and the depth charts (seems to have the positions on defense). I have read the manual about that part and it is still confusing. I don't know why if the bottom left side are the batters, why they have a position on their side and how I should set it when there are players who are good at batting but are bad at a particular position. The other thing that confuses me is why there are things like vs RHP and etc. This is the part of the game that I am struggling now as I am trying to make sense of how to put players that I think who are good for the position in a particular position

07-22-2014, 06:06 AM	#2
wuttang Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jun 2014 Posts: 101	You arrange the players to bat in the order you want and assign positions as you want. You can make your CF play SS if u really wanted to for example, but that's usually a bad idea. Vs rhp vs lhp means you can have different lineups depending on if the opposing pitcher is right handed or left handed. Some players bat well either way, but most guys usually do better vs different sided pitchers. Righty bat better for lefty pitcher and vice versa. Good luck __________________ former The Show and MLB 2K franchise player. Now a new OOTP addict.

07-22-2014, 01:15 PM	#10
pjh5165 Major Leagues Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 410	And as far as key attributes for each position, the main thing is really that they can play defense there. For instance, at shortstop you want to start someone who has a good defensive rating at the shortstop position. There are certain positions where defense matters less than others. This is up for some debate, but a pretty well accepted ranking of positions where defense matters the most to where it matters the least is as follows: Catcher Shortstop Center Field Second Base Third Base Right Field Left Field First Base As you can see, the "up the middle" positions are where defense is valued the most highly since they have the most ground to cover and toughest plays to make. Last edited by pjh5165; 07-22-2014 at 01:17 PM.

07-22-2014, 01:41 PM	#18
pjh5165 Major Leagues Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 410	Yeah baseball is a tricky sport with a lot of intricacies. Some good links to learn about it are here: Baseball - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia MLB.com: The Official Site of Major League Baseball Baseball Statistics and Analysis \| FanGraphs Baseball There are countless others you can find on google that will teach you a ton. I'd suggest picking a favorite team and learning about them to get a feel for players and transactions and things like that. EDIT: And I'm sorry, I'm not sure where anything like what you asked for in your last post would be. Maybe post that question in the "General Discussions" section of this forum, as far more members post over there and may be able to help you out. Last edited by pjh5165; 07-22-2014 at 01:43 PM.

07-22-2014, 06:37 AM	#3
towerbooks3192 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 70	I am still a bit confused. Like what is the difference between the order of pitchers (rotation) and the other side beside it where you set the others to be relievers and closers. And also the box where there are lineups and depth charts. I mean I already chose pitchers there so do I have to re-start again? and what does the other box mean (depth charts?) I am like which ones are going to bat on that chart and which ones are going to defend and whether the batter will be the same people playing 1B,2B,SS, etc?

07-22-2014, 07:46 AM	#4
towerbooks3192 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 70	Sorry for the double post but just to build upon what I have said. I am confused especially when I filter the pitchers in the pitcher sections, like they have different roles and I am confused especially when I go to the line-up section and it says that the roles required are 1B,2B, Pitcher, Catcher, SS, etc. and once you have chosen who to rotate in the pitcher side, do I have to add them in the line-up side and depth chart, etc. That is the confusing part for me so far.

07-22-2014, 09:44 AM	#6
towerbooks3192 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 70	ok. That clears things up a bit. I just had my first successful game where I managed to get 7 while my opponents only got 1. Now on to my other question: How does substitution work? If I understand it correctly, I have to let the people I want to go in the game in the bull pen until they are warmed up and then just swap them? I don't know if I get this right but in setting up my lineup, I have to make sure to pick people with good field and batting skills? I am a bit confused by this part as batting and pitching are different and some players are good at batting and some are good at pitching. Is there a way for me to follow the reliever, closer, etc. setting I have in the pitching tab if I want to substitute them? I am still getting used to my players and I don't know who does what.

07-22-2014, 11:57 AM	#7
IanIachimoe All Star Starter Join Date: May 2014 Location: paper st. Posts: 1,044	^^ yep, you must warm your RP until he is 'ready' to come into the game. if not, he will prob get hit hard. fielding skills refer to the player's ability to play their position in the field behind the pitcher. important, but not as important as their ability to hit imo. middle relievers are usually used somewhere between the 5th - 7th innings. then you generally have your setup guys. I like to have one right & one left hander in those roles. they generally pitch between the 7th & 8th inning and are counted on to 'hold' a lead. your closer comes out to finish & 'save' the game. he is usually your best RP. beneficial to have someone with good control and high K ability. of course, you can use them anyway you like. some prefer to use their best reliever @ the most crucial point late in the game. doesn't necessarily have to be in the 9th. not sure if that^ answers your questions or not...

07-22-2014, 12:02 PM	#8
towerbooks3192 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 70	That certainly cleared some things up. Now attribute-wise. What are the key attributes to look out for for a certain position? I can't seem to know which guys are good pitchers and other positions. I am used to having in FM where a key attribute for a position is highlighted therefore I would have a clue if the player would be good/bad for that position. Determining which attributes to look at for the positions is my other problem as of the moment

07-22-2014, 01:10 PM	#9
pjh5165 Major Leagues Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 410	In regards to warming up pitchers...When you are in the pre-game screen (after you hit "Play game against XXX" and you see the starting lineups for both teams) there is an option on the left side where you can turn the "warm-up rule" off. This makes it so you do not have to warm up relief pitchers and can just bring them straight in without worrying about it. A lot of veteran players, myself included, turn this off. Since you're just starting, I would suggest turning it off and then you have one less thing to worry about.

07-22-2014, 01:20 PM	#12
towerbooks3192 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 70	Ok. Now on to my next question. I will assume that the higher the better is good for different stats but I know there might be some other things to consider. How much control do I have when it comes to the actual game? I mean there are options to pitch and swing but I am a bit confused as to which ones would be better to use at a certain time. Also there is this tab when the game is played where if defense is e.g normal, etc. what is the use of that tab?

07-22-2014, 01:35 PM	#16
towerbooks3192 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 70	Another question. For the sake of reference. What are some handy links that would help me a lot as I learn the game? Truth be told I am really enjoying this game even though I just learned the basics of baseball 2 the other day. I will make sure to bookmark the manual. I was really hoping they could have offered some paper manuals as I would read it from cover to cover.

07-22-2014, 01:38 PM	#17
towerbooks3192 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 70	Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. are there any links to videos or in depth tutorial in manually setting up pitches? The walkthrough I seem to find like the one from ootp usually focuses on some aspects but not a single video I found (even the LPs) of a line-up and pitcher roles being started from scratch

07-22-2014, 01:45 PM	#19
towerbooks3192 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 70	Unfortunately I don't have a clue as to which teams are going to be teams that I like. I don't have a clue who the players are. One of the main things that made me want to get this game was for the fantasy leagues. In my current game I am taking control of the toronto (DSL) blue jays and learning about setting up line-ups and pitching. I reckon if I could know how to start winning games and tweaking strategies then I would be able to easily enjoy the trading/transactions part.