Minor Leagues and Development (especially of pitching)

Rex Dart · 11-20-2017, 08:00 PM

I started a historical league in 1977, with all minor league teams in play - no changes to the historical setting aside from releasing all players on Day 1 and having a draft to repopulate the rosters.

An irritating thing that happened from the start, and has basically persisted into 1980, is that all my minor league rosters have pitching staffs composed of nearly all relievers, and it's the same for AI teams.

Based on experience with earlier versions of OOTP, I kinda know how to develop an individual RP and turn him into a starter - e.g., look for a guy with semi-decent Stamina and several pitches, and lock him into that role because the AI loves having 10-man bullpens with zero starting pitchers. Sometimes it'll work, sometimes it won't, which is fair enough, I suppose.

But is there any way to get minor league teams to have starting pitchers, and/or to get AI teams to develop starting pitchers?

It seems like most pitchers are destined to play out their careers as relievers no matter what, absent manual intervention by the human player.

jmknpk2 · 11-20-2017, 11:41 PM

I noticed a similar situation during our inaugural draft.

All major league teams had a full rotation of starters.

Not even enough starting pitchers to fill the first spot in the rotation for all triple AAA teams. Basically minor leagues full of almost only relievers.

I am curious to see what comes out of our feeder leagues for our second amateur draft.

I guess I can change the player creation settings if this persists.

I usually pay attention to the difference between "current" and "future" role on the player rating page. If he's not at least listed as "Bullpen / Emergency starter" in the future, I hold little hope he will ever start on a regular basis in the majors.

NoOne · 11-21-2017, 01:39 PM

well the fictional is a shortage of players... defintieyl bump newly created if you are short anything at anytime... more is better when it comes to MiL. i.e. i focus on the 'worst' situation in league at any particular snapshot of time and make sure it stays above comfortably above 25. if other teams reach ~50 in order for other teams to avoid dropping below ~25, so be it.

the historical one, no idea... players i a bit pre-determined, even if their ratings can be calculated in different ways.

double check rules or optiosn etc in league settings... make sure #'s for rotation/bench/relievers are defined. if not in season, the players may not be where they "should/will" be in a few months. just make sure it's after ai sets up their mil systems for the season, if not during.

jmknpk2 · 12-01-2017, 12:03 AM

In my current solo league, I had the problem of not enough starting pitchers to fill out minor league pitching staffs. But that was apparently just a quirk of the first amateur draft having only created players.

In the second amateur draft, where players were actually coming from feeder leagues, there were plenty starting pitchers.

11-20-2017, 08:00 PM	#1
Rex Dart Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 36	Minor Leagues and Development (especially of pitching) I started a historical league in 1977, with all minor league teams in play - no changes to the historical setting aside from releasing all players on Day 1 and having a draft to repopulate the rosters. An irritating thing that happened from the start, and has basically persisted into 1980, is that all my minor league rosters have pitching staffs composed of nearly all relievers, and it's the same for AI teams. Based on experience with earlier versions of OOTP, I kinda know how to develop an individual RP and turn him into a starter - e.g., look for a guy with semi-decent Stamina and several pitches, and lock him into that role because the AI loves having 10-man bullpens with zero starting pitchers. Sometimes it'll work, sometimes it won't, which is fair enough, I suppose. But is there any way to get minor league teams to have starting pitchers, and/or to get AI teams to develop starting pitchers? It seems like most pitchers are destined to play out their careers as relievers no matter what, absent manual intervention by the human player.

11-20-2017, 11:41 PM	#2
jmknpk2 All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 982	I noticed a similar situation during our inaugural draft. All major league teams had a full rotation of starters. Not even enough starting pitchers to fill the first spot in the rotation for all triple AAA teams. Basically minor leagues full of almost only relievers. I am curious to see what comes out of our feeder leagues for our second amateur draft. I guess I can change the player creation settings if this persists. I usually pay attention to the difference between "current" and "future" role on the player rating page. If he's not at least listed as "Bullpen / Emergency starter" in the future, I hold little hope he will ever start on a regular basis in the majors. Last edited by jmknpk2; 11-20-2017 at 11:53 PM.

11-21-2017, 01:39 PM	#3
NoOne Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 7,167	well the fictional is a shortage of players... defintieyl bump newly created if you are short anything at anytime... more is better when it comes to MiL. i.e. i focus on the 'worst' situation in league at any particular snapshot of time and make sure it stays above comfortably above 25. if other teams reach ~50 in order for other teams to avoid dropping below ~25, so be it. the historical one, no idea... players i a bit pre-determined, even if their ratings can be calculated in different ways. double check rules or optiosn etc in league settings... make sure #'s for rotation/bench/relievers are defined. if not in season, the players may not be where they "should/will" be in a few months. just make sure it's after ai sets up their mil systems for the season, if not during.

12-01-2017, 12:03 AM	#4
jmknpk2 All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 982	In my current solo league, I had the problem of not enough starting pitchers to fill out minor league pitching staffs. But that was apparently just a quirk of the first amateur draft having only created players. In the second amateur draft, where players were actually coming from feeder leagues, there were plenty starting pitchers.