How do I stop AI from using my bench catcher as pitch hitter

Leatherfut · 09-10-2008, 08:15 PM

Hi All,
Right now I'm playing out maybe 2/3 of my games. So when I quick play a game it's inevitable that the AI uses my bench catcher as a pinch hitter early in the game. Now, I would never do this and nearly every real life manager wouldn't either.
So, am I missing something on the strategy page that would prevent this?
If not, got any ideas how to stop this?

thanks for any help,
Frank

dickysty · 09-10-2008, 09:21 PM

Play out 3/3 of your games. That will guarantee that he won't be used early

Sorry I don't really know how to stop that from happening.

Curtis · 09-11-2008, 12:25 AM

Have you tried setting the bench catcher to 'defensive substitute' in the depth chart? (No idea whether that would actually work, but if you haven't tried it…)

If the issue is how early in the game he's brought in, rather than that you don't want him pinch hitting at all, you could set the Managerial Tendencies to no pinch hitting before the seventh inning. (At least, I think you can.)

Simon_Nesbit · 09-11-2008, 04:26 AM

Is he pinch-hitting for the catcher only?

If so, select your main catcher (team strategies) and select "Never pinch hit for this player".

If it's general pinch-hitting (ie he's your best non-starting hitter) then I'm not sure how you'd go about it.

Leatherfut · 09-11-2008, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Curtis

Have you tried setting the bench catcher to 'defensive substitute' in the depth chart? (No idea whether that would actually work, but if you haven't tried it…)

If the issue is how early in the game he's brought in, rather than that you don't want him pinch hitting at all, you could set the Managerial Tendencies to no pinch hitting before the seventh inning. (At least, I think you can.)

I haven't tried the 'defensive substitute' - I'll see if anything happens with that. But I like your idea of working with Managerial Tendencies. That would probably help.

Last season I had a platoon situation with my two catchers and this one in particular would always pinch hit, often for a pitcher, earlier in the game. This season, he's the starter all by himself and I have the backup guy set to play maybe every tenth game. So on his off day, he gets used as a pinch hitter.

It's not a big deal, just a little annoying.

thanks for the responses,
Frank

Greatgrampa · 09-11-2008, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leatherfut

I haven't tried the 'defensive substitute' - I'll see if anything happens with that. But I like your idea of working with Managerial Tendencies. That would probably help.

Last season I had a platoon situation with my two catchers and this one in particular would always pinch hit, often for a pitcher, earlier in the game. This season, he's the starter all by himself and I have the backup guy set to play maybe every tenth game. So on his off day, he gets used as a pinch hitter.

It's not a big deal, just a little annoying.

thanks for the responses,
Frank

Personally, I see way too many pinch hitters being used in a game. More than normal anyway. Could be that I really don't know how to adjust this myself. I see some of the ideas that could help solve this problem but they are general and not specific. What would be some specific settings to offset these AI problems I am having with the number of pinch hitters used in the sim? Thanks in advance.

Leatherfut · 09-11-2008, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greatgrampa

Personally, I see way too many pinch hitters being used in a game. More than normal anyway. Could be that I really don't know how to adjust this myself. I see some of the ideas that could help solve this problem but they are general and not specific. What would be some specific settings to offset these AI problems I am having with the number of pinch hitters used in the sim? Thanks in advance.

I agree. Also, too many pinch runners. You can adjust these in your team's strategy page. You have to make the adjustment for every situation: inning 1-3, tie score; inning 1-3 and down by one run, etc. This has helped a little, but I'm still getting pinch runners, even when I have it set for "almost never" - I think I'll go to "never"
But this doesn't fix my initial problem - I want to be able to pinch hit for my pitchers, I just don't want my catcher doing it.

Hope that helps,

Frank

SteveP · 09-11-2008, 12:31 PM

The overuse of pinch hitting has bothered me as well. I finally tried adjusting the league strategy option for pinch hitting for position players to "very rarely" and pinch hitting for pitchers to "rarely". I also set my own manager strategy settings to very low and low frequencies, as well. To me, the results seem more consistent with real life, both for my team and for the AI run teams.

AFAIK, the only way to stop the AI from using a certain pinch hitter too often is to get him off the roster. That solution wouldn't work in this case.

The other problem I see is that the AI will pinch hit for someone who is having a great day at the plate, or even a great week at the plate (unless that player as achieved "on fire" status). Quite often I will go into the strategy section for that player and check the "do not pinch hit for" button, but then you have to keep track of that for when that player goes into a slump. Also, it's cumbersome to do that in a game. But it works.

SamP · 09-11-2008, 04:28 PM

You need to go to team strategy. There are a couple of things that might help. The first is that you can set the team strategy so that you never use a pinch hitter, and if you want to to do this you should copy to all times and situations which you can do by clicking the copy button. But if you're like, "well that's crazy, I got boss pinch hitter #1 Ruben Sierra on the bench," then go to the player strategy page and drag each player you don't want pinch hit for into the bottom section and set them to never lift for a pinch hitter. Obviously these are both imperfect solutions because they would cut out all your bench players as options but you can't set a player to never be used as a pinch hitter. However, at least this way you can set your catcher to never be lifted as for a pinch hitter but you can still set your backup as a defensive replacement to catch or your closer and set up men.

cbbl · 09-12-2008, 12:36 AM

This would be a worthwhile suggestion for an adjustment to a future version of OOTP. Just as pitchers are never used as pinch hitters by the AI (TTBOMK anyway), nor should the back-up catcher, no matter how good he is.

I see this sometimes, but fortunately not too often, in my own league, where my catcher is routinely skipped in when the AI is substituting pinch hitters.

Anyway, the suggestions posted here can help a team you control, but the AI's teams will still do this -- causing RFs and 2Bmen to be used as catchers for an inning or two. Certainly unrealistic (or very uncommon at the most).

SteveP · 09-12-2008, 12:50 PM

An additional thought here: in any game involving an AI, you will always have to use work-arounds from time to time, and hope they won't require doing something that's unreasonable.

If I were in your shoes, I would accept that the AI is going to use my backup catcher as a PH, and look at reshuffling my roster so I had a third catcher.

Simon_Nesbit · 09-12-2008, 11:27 PM

I get around this by running three nominal catchers - usually a 'converted' 3B. (either way).

The 3rd option might be a shizenhousen catcher (and is rarely in the depth chart at C), but he can cover an inning or two if need be. He might only get 10 innings in a whole season, usually in long (12+ inning) games.

Syd Thrift · 09-13-2008, 05:17 PM

Back in the day, when 25 men were more than enough to employ whatever strategies a manager might want to employ, teams did carry a 3rd catcher they'd use primarily to warm up the bullpen and in case of emergencies. Some of these guys were extremely well-liked by their teammates and stayed on the roster for a long, long time. The expansion of strategy killed half of this role and the rise of the bullpen coach killed the other half.

But yeah, to the main point... the AI pinch-hits like it's Game 7 of the World Series every game. The rates ought to go down and just as importantly there ought to be a way to virtually prevent the AI from pinch-hitting altogether (like in the early 1900s, when a player might lead the league in pinch-hits with 4 for the entire season).

09-10-2008, 09:21 PM	#2
dickysty Major Leagues Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 348 Blog Entries: 21	Play out 3/3 of your games. That will guarantee that he won't be used early Sorry I don't really know how to stop that from happening. __________________ NABA - Baltimore Blue Claw's Dynasty

09-10-2008, 08:15 PM	#1
Leatherfut Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 59	How do I stop AI from using my bench catcher as pitch hitter Hi All, Right now I'm playing out maybe 2/3 of my games. So when I quick play a game it's inevitable that the AI uses my bench catcher as a pinch hitter early in the game. Now, I would never do this and nearly every real life manager wouldn't either. So, am I missing something on the strategy page that would prevent this? If not, got any ideas how to stop this? thanks for any help, Frank

09-11-2008, 12:25 AM	#3
Curtis Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Watertown, New York Posts: 4,567	Have you tried setting the bench catcher to 'defensive substitute' in the depth chart? (No idea whether that would actually work, but if you haven't tried it…) If the issue is how early in the game he's brought in, rather than that you don't want him pinch hitting at all, you could set the Managerial Tendencies to no pinch hitting before the seventh inning. (At least, I think you can.)

09-11-2008, 04:26 AM	#4
Simon_Nesbit Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 260	Is he pinch-hitting for the catcher only? If so, select your main catcher (team strategies) and select "Never pinch hit for this player". If it's general pinch-hitting (ie he's your best non-starting hitter) then I'm not sure how you'd go about it.

09-11-2008, 12:31 PM	#8
SteveP Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 3,109	The overuse of pinch hitting has bothered me as well. I finally tried adjusting the league strategy option for pinch hitting for position players to "very rarely" and pinch hitting for pitchers to "rarely". I also set my own manager strategy settings to very low and low frequencies, as well. To me, the results seem more consistent with real life, both for my team and for the AI run teams. AFAIK, the only way to stop the AI from using a certain pinch hitter too often is to get him off the roster. That solution wouldn't work in this case. The other problem I see is that the AI will pinch hit for someone who is having a great day at the plate, or even a great week at the plate (unless that player as achieved "on fire" status). Quite often I will go into the strategy section for that player and check the "do not pinch hit for" button, but then you have to keep track of that for when that player goes into a slump. Also, it's cumbersome to do that in a game. But it works.

09-11-2008, 04:28 PM	#9
SamP Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 31	You need to go to team strategy. There are a couple of things that might help. The first is that you can set the team strategy so that you never use a pinch hitter, and if you want to to do this you should copy to all times and situations which you can do by clicking the copy button. But if you're like, "well that's crazy, I got boss pinch hitter #1 Ruben Sierra on the bench," then go to the player strategy page and drag each player you don't want pinch hit for into the bottom section and set them to never lift for a pinch hitter. Obviously these are both imperfect solutions because they would cut out all your bench players as options but you can't set a player to never be used as a pinch hitter. However, at least this way you can set your catcher to never be lifted as for a pinch hitter but you can still set your backup as a defensive replacement to catch or your closer and set up men.

09-12-2008, 12:36 AM	#10
cbbl All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 1,179	This would be a worthwhile suggestion for an adjustment to a future version of OOTP. Just as pitchers are never used as pinch hitters by the AI (TTBOMK anyway), nor should the back-up catcher, no matter how good he is. I see this sometimes, but fortunately not too often, in my own league, where my catcher is routinely skipped in when the AI is substituting pinch hitters. Anyway, the suggestions posted here can help a team you control, but the AI's teams will still do this -- causing RFs and 2Bmen to be used as catchers for an inning or two. Certainly unrealistic (or very uncommon at the most).

09-12-2008, 12:50 PM	#11
SteveP Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 3,109	An additional thought here: in any game involving an AI, you will always have to use work-arounds from time to time, and hope they won't require doing something that's unreasonable. If I were in your shoes, I would accept that the AI is going to use my backup catcher as a PH, and look at reshuffling my roster so I had a third catcher.

09-12-2008, 11:27 PM	#12
Simon_Nesbit Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 260	I get around this by running three nominal catchers - usually a 'converted' 3B. (either way). The 3rd option might be a shizenhousen catcher (and is rarely in the depth chart at C), but he can cover an inning or two if need be. He might only get 10 innings in a whole season, usually in long (12+ inning) games.