OOTP10 Suggestions: Game Engine / Player Modeling and Development

[Isura]

Suggestion
Option to use "one-pitch" up to a certain count, then switch to pitch-by-pitch. Have an option such as "use one-pitch until 3-0, 3-1, 2-2".

Reason
For example, I like to use pitch-by-pitch early in the count for crucial at bats, but want to just swing away when the count goes to 2 strikes, or take a pitch on 3-0 or 3-1. I'm not sure how the game calculates these strategies in one-pitch mode.

Priority
Medium. Not essential, but would make the in-game managing more convenient.

[dickysty]

Suggestion

Add aging players as Mentors that can aid in player development.

Maybe guys with great leadership attributes and experts at their respected positions.

Could be Pitching , infield or outfield or just a great hitter.


Reason- Real world stuff.

Just heard an interview about how Jamey Moyer has been helping some of the young Phillies pitchers this season and how it's paid off with results.

Has to count for something.


Priority To me Medium.

[IchiroIsAwesome55]

Suggestion:
The defensive rating and range factor are not enough, we need something like defensive zone ratings to quantify defensive ability.

Reason:
Right now, we aren't able to quantify how good defenders are. This is especially problematic when managing a small-market team in which the need to understand the trade-off between offense and defense is so important. There are good statistics to measure offensive ability and pitching, defense is a glaring omission.

Priority:
High: for more realism, GMs need to be able to understand defensive ability in terms of statistics, the same as we get for offense and pitching.

[Curtis]

I'm not certain whether this belongs in this thread, or in Game Setup.

Suggestion: Players should have ratings based on relative abilites to do things, then those ratings should be modified by era.

Reason: The idea that a deadball hitter wouldn't be able to hit home runs in a liveball era is ludicrous. If you're playing in a 'best of' league with the 25 or whatever best players from each team, or in a 'random debut' universe, then players from the deadball era are unfairly penalized. Likewise, if there's a sudden shift from deadball to liveball in a fictional universe the players created before the shift will be penalized for the remainders of their careers.

Priority: Probably low, but it annoys me.

[Braves0121]

Suggestion : Improve Minor League performance issues

Just to elaborate, I've seen similar things mentioned above. I feel the AI does a very bad job of handling matchups between guys with very low ratings, as often happens in Rookie and low-level A ball. Rookie ball is comprised almost entirely of newly drafted high schoolers and young international signings. If you were to take a 22 year old starter from college and drop him in the rookie leagues he would likely dominate, but in OOTP they often end up struggling. Short season A is similar, but comprised of mostly rookie league grads and newly drafted college players. Again, I think a look at the stats would show most star college pitchers breezing through short season ball, but I've never seen it happen in OOTP.

Reason : Current model seems to work poorly

Priority : High

[Bagpipes5]

Suggestion

Eliminate left handed (throwing) 2B, 3B, SS, and C.

Reason

Because you never ever, ever see this in real life at any level of competitive baseball. You may see a LH catcher once every 20 years or so, about as rare as a ambidextrous pitcher.

Priority

High

[Dogzilla]

Suggestion:

Have more players created with fielding ratings at both IF and OF positions.

Reason:

1B/LF type players are fairly common.

Priority:

Medium.

[Isura]

Originally Posted by RedSoxFaithful

Suggestion
Change player ratings to more accurately influence minor league stats!

Reason
It is almost impossible in the current version for minor league batters to have success as they move through an organization, while literally any minor league pitcher can dominate no matter the level or talent. I'm not sure what the problem is here (I tried making the league totals accurate, which took hours and fixed nothing), but it needs a solution.

Priority
Extremely high. I want minor leaguers to be able to hit the ball!

Related to this.

Suggestion
Change the league totals modifier system. Allow user to enter target settings such as avg, bb/game, so/game, hr/game etc instead of complicated modifiers.

Reason
Tweaking league modifiers is extremely time consuming and difficult. The modifiers are are correlated with each other (for example, changing strike outs effects home runs, hits, doubles and base on balls). Furthermore, modifiers are dependent on league talent level. Thus AAA with 3 levels of minors requires different modifiers than AAA with 5 levels of minors since the talent distribution is different between these structures. Instead the user should simply be able to enter required totals such as hits/game, 2b/game, hr/game, so/game (which can be found in real life data). The game can then figure out the appropriate adjustments to modifiers to get these totals. I put a lot of time in tweaking modifiers for my 5 minors setup. But unfortunately this is won't work for all leagues and it's very unfriendly to new users. http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...s-project.html

Priority
High. Unrealistic minor league stats is a big detractor from realism and effects every league.

[StyxNCa]

Originally Posted by Dogzilla

Suggestion:

Have more players created with fielding ratings at both IF and OF positions.

Reason:

1B/LF type players are fairly common.

Priority:

Medium.

""

[KurtBevacqua]

Originally Posted by atlbrave1

Suggestion
Change the pitching model

The main issue I am trying to address is how the game creates SP and RP in what seems to be an equal ratio (if not even unequal -- creating more RP).

In real life, a majority of the pitchers who are drafted are SP, it's what happens thereafter that decides if they are a starter or reliever.

1) When creating a draft pool (Not the initial pool -- that should probably stay similar to what it is now in terms of more defined roles) approximately 85% of the pitchers created should have enough endurance to start a game. Without doing a lot of research, I am sure that number is actually low in regards to how many starting pitchers are actually drafted.

2) Tie endurance development to the role the pitcher is in. Pitchers should be created w/ a maximum endurance rating, which could be considered an endurance "potential". The pitchers "current" potential should be very close to his potential endurance at the time of the draft. If a pitcher is drafted and put in the starting rotation, his "potential" endurance should not fluctuate much, although there should be cases in which endurance "potential" increases or decreases significantly. Example: Joe Rookie is drafted w/ endurance "potential" of 70 out of 100 and placed in Rookie league Starting Rotation. Assuming he stays in the rotation, his endurance should remain fairly level -- 65 to 75 w/ the chance of quicker improvement or reduction, perhaps w/ a message from a scout saying "Joe doesn't seem to have the stamina we originally thought, he's tiring earlier than expected" or "Joe's turning out to be a real horse out there, he could throw all day" with a corresponding "Potential" decrease to 55 or increase to 85. If a pitcher is placed in the bullpen, his "Current" endurance should decrease, but "Potential" endurance should should be dependent on the time spent in the bullpen. The 1st year in the bullpen should not effect "potential" endurance that much, but longer stretches should reduce endurance quicker. The longer a pitcher spends in the bullpen the longer it should take to regain the endurance to become a starter.

3) Keep the current Stuff, Movement, Control rating (or a similar rating system) but change the way they are calculated based on pitch types. Instead of having pitchers created w/ 3 ratings, instead have pitchers created w/ specific rating for each pitch they throw. Example: Joe Rookie is in the draft pool and has 3 pitches, a Fastball (w/ 70 Stuff, 60 Movement, 70 Control "Potential"), a Curve (w/ 60 Stuff, 50 Movement, 50 Control) and a Changeup (w/ 30 Stuff, 40 Movement and 30 Control). Pitchers would be created w/ repertoires depending on their experience level...college pitcher would typically be able to throw more types of pitches (3-5) than high school pitchers (2-3). The reason for this type of rating system ties into the next idea.

4) Weight overall Stuff, Movement and Control ratings differently based on a pitchers role. I think a pitcher's rating should be based on a weighted average of his individual pitches and the weights should be different based on whether a pitcher is a SP or RP. Here are the weights for SP:
5 pitches (Best pitch 3, 2nd - 4th Pitches 2, 5th Pitch 1)
4 pitches (Best pitch 3, 2nd - 3rd Pitches 2, 5th Pitch 1)
3 pitches (Best pitch 3, 2nd - 3rd Pitches 2)
2 pitches (Best pitch 3, 2nd Pitch 2)
NOTE: Best Pitch would be the pitch with the highest sum of Stuff, Movement, and Control.
So in the example above Joe Rookie would have the following "potential" attributes.
Stuff: (70*3+60*2+30*2)/7 = 56
Movement: (60*3+50*2+40*2)/7 = 52
Control: (70*3+50*2+30*2)/7 = 53

For Relief pitchers, the weights change:
5 pitches (Best Pitch 3, 2nd - 4th Pitches 1, 5th Pitch not counted)
4 pitches (Best pitch 3, 2nd - 3rd Pitches 1, 4th Pitch not counted)
3 pitches (Best Pitch 3, 2nd Pitch 1, 3rd Pitch 1)
2 pitches (Best Pitch 3, 2nd Pitch 1)
So in the example above Joe Rookie would have the following "potential" attributes.
Stuff: (70*3+60*1+30*1)/5 = 60
Movement: (60*3+50*1+40*1)/5 = 54
Control: (70*3+50*1+30*1)/5 = 58

Also, the ability to throw more than 3 pitches should get a starting pitcher a slight boost (5% per pitch) to simulate the idea that a hitter has a harder time "sitting" on a pitch, and starting pitchers who throw only 2 pitches should get a reduction (20% to stuff and movement) to simulate the idea that a pitcher with a limited repertoire would get hit around more.

5) Pitchers will have the ability to "learn" pitches. At some point in a pitchers development, depending on factors such as intelligence and/or work ethic, a pitcher will learn a new pith (or pitches). This will be more likely w/ pitcher with 2-3 pitches than pitchers with 4 pitches. You would get a message from a scout saying, "Joe has been working hard on a new slider grip and has starting using it in games." The player card would then show the new pitch in his repertoire. On the other hand, a pitcher may not develop any more pitches and you may get a message saying, "Joe has been working on a slider in the bullpen, but he doesn't seem to have the feel for the pitch." As far as role impacts development, I think that a pitcher pitching in the bullpen should have the development of his "worst" pitch develop at a lesser rate than his "better" pitches, while a starter will have more even pitch development (to reflect the idea of a SP using more of his repertoire, while a RP uses only his best pitches).

Reason

Creating a more realistic model of how pitchers develop

Priority
Medium

That's a much more developed, inclusive version of an issue I have been thinking about. Well done. However I'd still like to make my proposal as an addendum to this and possible jumping off point for how to improve pitching endurance.

Suggestion
I think every pitcher should have a sliding ability scale tied to expected endurance based on their assigned role. A starter would have a certain endurance rating with ability ratings tied to it, and those abilities would decline the more pitches the starter throws. A MR would have a different set of abilities tied to a MR endurance and a closer would have different abilities. All these would depend on the role you assign the pitcher. So say you want John Smoltz to go back into the rotation, he would have different stuff, velocity, control, etc as a starter than he would as a closer. Maybe you want to move Pedro Martinez to closer. His stuff, velocity, etc would improve accordingly.

Reason
I think most everyone can see that the less a pitcher is required to throw, the more effective he is. Dave Righetti and Dennis Eckersley are great examples of pitchers who were very good starters, but much better closers. I contend a pitcher throws harder and has better control when they go in to throw just one inning as opposed to a full blown start. I even contend a closer is more effective than even a MR as the closer knows he only has at the most 20 pitchers while the MR still needs to hold something back for multiple innings.

Priority
Medium to high

[udbacker58]

Suggestion
Player's speed should degrade more realistically. As it is, you will see guys in their mid to late 30s who have elite speed and absolutely no range defensively.

Reason
Players lose range because their bodies breakdown and they become slower. If a player's range drops from 150 to 30 over a period of years, his speed should drop at the same rate.

Priority
Low-Medium (just bugs me to see players in their mid 30s who used to be speedy and respectable fielders steal 30-40 bases but be nearly unplayable defensively)

[udbacker58]

Suggestion
Do away with disappearing position ratings

Reason
I like that there are minimum requirements for players to learn a new position, but once they learn the position, they don't forget how to play it and they shouldn't lose the rating because their physical abilities have dropped below the minimum requirements (I know you can view the player's experience in the editor, but that doesn't help those in online leagues, or that don't want to see the actual ratings). If a player has experience at a position and once had a rating there, he should always have one there, even if it's just 1. Having a low rating lets me know that he may stink like hot garbage if he plays there, but that he does have experience at the position.

Priority
Low (Medium for online leagues with incomplete fielding stats due to conversion)

[messenjah]

Originally Posted by Isura

Related to this.

Suggestion
Change the league totals modifier system. Allow user to enter target settings such as avg, bb/game, so/game, hr/game etc instead of complicated modifiers.

Reason
Tweaking league modifiers is extremely time consuming and difficult. The modifiers are are correlated with each other (for example, changing strike outs effects home runs, hits, doubles and base on balls). Furthermore, modifiers are dependent on league talent level. Thus AAA with 3 levels of minors requires different modifiers than AAA with 5 levels of minors since the talent distribution is different between these structures. Instead the user should simply be able to enter required totals such as hits/game, 2b/game, hr/game, so/game (which can be found in real life data). The game can then figure out the appropriate adjustments to modifiers to get these totals. I put a lot of time in tweaking modifiers for my 5 minors setup. But unfortunately this is won't work for all leagues and it's very unfriendly to new users. http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...s-project.html

Priority
High. Unrealistic minor league stats is a big detractor from realism and effects every league.

Related to this.

An even easier way of doing this would be to have a drop down screen with type of offensive league. Heavy offensive, offensive, neutral, defensive or heavy defensive. This would tailor the numbers to represent the league rather than the mixed up ratings. Also, an easier way to view ballpark figures for minor league teams that could influence player movement as well.

Reason
I think that the minor league numbers are a huge problem in the game. You should be able to see your hitter having a .806 OPS in the Florida State League and know he's doing well. Most times you only can move up a pitcher if his eRA is under 2 and a hitter if his OPS gets anywhere over .700. This is unrealistic and hurts the gameplay. Also, having easily accesible ballpark numbers would play in the same way, letting you know that your pitcher whose given up no homeruns in one of the most heavy homerun parks, that should help you decide if he's ready to move up or how dominate he's been.

Priority
High (I wouldn't say it's a game breaker, because I will always love this game, but it is pretty darn close. I think the way the stats work now in the minor leagues, especially those who watch the minor league movement closely, it can become really frustrating)

[messenjah]

Suggestion

Batted ball statistics such as LD%, GB%, and FB% for all plays, not just outs and have it actually be important to a players abilities.

Reason

There are a few situations where these Batted Ball Statistics would be helpful: a) when your hitter is not hitting for a high average but his LD% is great, you'll know that he is going to bounce back most likely. b) the GB% should replace movement rating or close to it, because GB% will tell you if your pitcher should be keeping the ball in the park more. Most studies done on the topic show a HIGH correlation to GB% and HR/9. c) It would make it easy to create so many more statistics like xBABIP, xOPS, HR/FB, IF/FB.

I think all of these reasons can be summed up in the idea of wanting to be able to assess your players from more than just a scouts perspectice, but also from a statistical perspective.

Priority

High; right now you are too reliant on your scouts to assess your players. I think that a team should be able to assess their players based off of more statistical information and scouting and this would be huge in the player evaluation process.

[messenjah]

I want to preface this by saying I know it would be almost impossible to code and extremely difficult to get into the game, but:

Suggestion
Pitch f/x data and statistics and a screen in-game that shows pitch f/x data.

Reason
The advancement of pitch f/x data has given bloggers and analysts more to salivate over than they can handle. Having the ability to look at, track, and analyze pitch f/x data would add such a great depth of player analysis tools. Also, as mentioned in another suggestion thread, having the pitch f/x in the game would make it so much more interesting and fun to watch since there is no 3D graphic view of the game.

Priority
I don't know where to put this one. The addition of it would put the game to a whole other stratosphere in sports games, but if it doesn't happen I'm not going to be pissed. Still, I'll give it a HIGH.

[pstrickert]

Suggestion

Provide separate ratings for a player's ability to steal second, third, and home.


Reason

Some players have a special ability to steal third (or home -- think of Jackie Robinson). This kind of rating system could differentiate those special players from all the rest. In addition, it might seem realistic when a slow-footed player steals second. It happens every once in a while. But these same players should really not attempt to steal third (or home). The steal rating for third (or home) should, theoretically, keep these attempts to a bare minimum.


Priority

Low.

NOTE: We have to rely on the AI being "smart" enough not to send these slow-footed runners in the first place. That's part of the equation, too.

[Curtis]

I wasn't sure whether this belonged here or in the Grab Bag thread. Since injuries link to player development, I decided to place it here.

Suggestion: When converting a league from one version of the game to another, players should retain their injury proneness ratings.

Reason: I spent several hours editing the proneness ratings in my league so that players with higher potentials would have lower than average chances of being hurt, and vice versa. When I converted to version 9 the values all re-randomized, but did so in such a way that players with higher potential were MORE likely to be hurt than low or mid-potential players. I didn't notice this for weeks, until one day I saw that a bunch of league superstars were on the disabled list. I guess I can now expect most of the superstars to start taking rating hits, which is exactly what I was attempting to avoid by editing them in the first place.

Priority: Very, very high. There really is no excuse for this happening.

[phillosopherp]

Not sure if this should go here or what not but,

Suggestion: Make the steals slider into two separate sliders, one for Second one for third. Hell maybe even add one for home.

Reason: Sending a guy from first is TOTALLY different then sending a guy from third, and a completely different league then sending a guy from third to the plate.

Priority: Extremely high, I would say this is top 5!

[golander40]

Suggestion:
The best idea I've seen (IMHO)--The additon of real managers,with ratings reflecting their "actual" tendecies (historical as well as modern).
Reason:
Will add a whole new dimension,excitement and interest in this aspect of the game."Matching" players to Mgr.Being able to develop the type of team you enjoy. ---Being able to put in real Mgr. photos--etc-etc.
Priority:
Important: It should add a whole new interest in an aspect of the game.
As I said in my humble opinion
Thanks for your time
Gil

[outrider64]

Suggestion

When runners are on base let user decide whether he advances extra bases, based on the runners speed and steal ratings.

Reason

For gamers like me who like to play out games it would seem I am more involved in the decision making as a manager, rather than just reading about it.

Priority

For myself this is high on my list. Any feedback from others might determine if this a necessity or just a minor upgrade.

Thanks!