Throw Strikes option

[ajpolo]

With so many pitchers that are extraordinarily talented, but just walk too many batters, can there be a strategy feature added to make certain pitchers to attempt to throw strikes as a priority, leading to a random decrease in other attributes?
I see there is a "Throw Strikes" feature added for in game play, why not a strategy setting for some/leagues?

[sc_superstar]

Wouldnt that be the same as pitch to contact?

[Syd Thrift]

Lou Piniella wishes this strategy existed in real life.

[The Wolf]

[RchW]

Originally Posted by ajpolo

With so many pitchers that are extraordinarily talented, but just walk too many batters, can there be a strategy feature added to make certain pitchers to attempt to throw strikes as a priority, leading to a random decrease in other attributes?
I see there is a "Throw Strikes" feature added for in game play, why not a strategy setting for some/leagues?

That instruction doesn't work in real life. If it did managing in MLB would be a job we could all do.

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by RchW

That instruction doesn't work in real life. If it did managing in MLB would be a job we could all do.

I suspect that all of us actually could do it.

[Fyrestorm3]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

I suspect that all of us actually could do it.

Whether we could do it WELL is another story.

[Syd Thrift]

I think the point there is that pretty much every pitcher in baseball is attempting to throw strikes the vast majority of the time they're out there. It's just very, very hard to do so without throwing 80 mph meatballs that every major league hitter can blast out of the park at a moment's notice. Breaking pitches in particular are notoriously hard to control; even at the major league level you won't see a catcher call a curve or a slider to a particular part of the plate. "Around the general vicinity of the strike zone" is as close as most guys can get.

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

throwing 80 mph meatballs

I would love to be able to throw those
Instead I throw 45 MPH wobble balls that makes the people on the front row duck.




In all seriousness, a throw strikes option is not a very good idea IMO but I do like the idea of pitch to contact.
In the dead ball era pitchers threw to contact pretty much 100% of the time.

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

I suspect that all of us actually could do it.

A chimp could probably do it. Being a baseball manager has to be the easiest of the coaching/management jobs in all of pro sports. Most of the sport is individualized, decisions are so ingrained in tradition that every manager manages the same and no baseball manager has GM powers.

Being a NCAA baseball coach is much more difficult but offers a fraction of the respect or pay.

[BIG17EASY]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

A chimp could probably do it. Being a baseball manager has to be the easiest of the coaching/management jobs in all of pro sports. Most of the sport is individualized, decisions are so ingrained in tradition that every manager manages the same and no baseball manager has GM powers.

Being a NCAA coach is much more difficult but offers a fraction of the respect or pay.

Managing a baseball team is only partly about what goes on on the field. Managing giant egos with guys making tens of millions of dollars is a big part of it. That's a big reason why Bobby Valentine failed in Boston but won in New York. He couldn't handle the big egos and personalities in Boston. The Mets team he took to the World Series was largely a group of overachievers with a few stars (Piazza, Leiter, Ventura, Alfonzo) who were not selfish or difficult personalities to handle.

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

Whether we could do it WELL is another story.

Didn't say "well."

[D-BacksJosh]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

Whether we could do it WELL is another story.

Probably no worse then Buddy Bell.

[rudel.dietrich]

Dusty Baker

I think that name alone should stop all further argument that managing is intellectually challenging.

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

Dusty Baker

I think that name alone should stop all further argument that managing is intellectually challenging.

Yes, Mister Clog Up The Bases is a living argument that anyone could do it.

[Curve Ball Dave]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

Breaking pitches in particular are notoriously hard to control; even at the major league level you won't see a catcher call a curve or a slider to a particular part of the plate. "Around the general vicinity of the strike zone" is as close as most guys can get.

This is incorrect. The highest level I ever got was an adult league for ex-college and a smattering of ex low minor league players, and even at that adult sandlot level catchers (myself included when I did catch) called locations on breaking pitches. MLB catchers do it all the time.

Even at the amateur level I was at, the good pitchers still hit their spots with their breaking stuff because they had good command. That's also the difference between a solid major league pitcher, and a guy who rides the elevator to and from AAA for his career before he finally fades away.

[termcl]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

A chimp could probably do it. Being a baseball manager has to be the easiest of the coaching/management jobs in all of pro sports.

Terry Bevington comes to mind. Calls for a relief pitcher without first having anyone warm up....must have been AI controlled.