Players 101

Probably the most hair pulling thing is player abilities. Why they don't perform sometimes is the most frustrating thing an owner goes through. All owners must ponder what is best for their team. Many factors are involved in their success, even the ballparks themselves. So I will try and break it down a little and maybe understand how they work together sometimes.

A players abilities are broken into 4 categories for all players. Some work hand in hand with others and some don't. That is probably the most confusing part.

1. Defensive Abilities - Determines the positions a player should be good at. Each position has a HBDML standard. Players can play well at a position if they meet or exceed those standards. But if a player does not fully meet those standards, his error rate increases. I am not saying that a player who meets the standards will not have errors, all players will, I am saying they will have less. The more even one ability goes down, the more likely he will have more errors and minus plays. The opposite can be said when all abilities are over the standard and will have plus plays. Finding players who exceed all defensive requirements is not easy.

The defensive requirements of a position and changing a players position or adding positions is done through the Edit Rosters menu and clicking on the players defensive position.

One big thing to note about defensive positions of a player is one that throws left-handed CANNOT and should not play an infield position other than 1B. Catchers I am not sure about.

Catchers deserve special note in this category. A catchers pitch calling ability helps pitchers. Seldom do you find a catcher that can hit and have great defensive skills and the trade off is hitting. But the minimum pitch calling standard of a catcher is 50. When this ability goes up, the pitches of a pitcher get added bonuses. They have said that the difference between 50 and 100 is about .010 in a pitchers OAV. I haven't seen a catcher with a 100 PC, but I would say that it is possible that .010 is a little understated and that is for about a 80 PC catcher. Those in the 90's could see .020 or near it depending on the pitcher. It doesn't sound like much but those numbers are for every pitcher. That equates to more outs and fewer hits by the other team overall. Over a course of the season that could be a lot. 162 games, that would be at least 162 less hits per season.

2. Physical Abilities - Durability is how long a player can play before he goes into fatigue status or the ability to recover for a pitcher. Every player needs a rest during the season. Few players play all 162 games. I have a complex formula based on plate appearances a player should be able to have depending on his durability. Notice I said Plate Appearances, not AB's. A 100 durability is about 730 PA's, so if you turn the durability into a percentage and multiply you get the number of PA's during the season a player can effectively manage at 100%.

Health is basically the ability to resist injury. The higher the better and below 65 is not that desirable. That doesn't mean a player with high health is not going to be injured even with a high training budget. It also doesn't mean a player with low health will get injured either but is highly more likely.

Speed is used in conjunction with base running. Though a player under 70 is not going to very effective stealing bases.

Patience is used in many facets of the game and the higher the better.

Temper is not used very much far as we know at this time though those with a low temper tends to get hit by a pitch more often.

Makeup is used in many cases. One is if a player is injured, it determines how well he recovers his abilities after the injury. Also a players makeup determines how fast he will approach his projections and how close he gets to them. The higher the better.

3. Hitting Abilities - I wish there was a cut a dried method to explain these. They have a tendency to work hand in hand with one another along with patience even and maybe makeup also (makeup is a guess). What I can say are players with a high contact will put the ball in play for good or bad. High Power will hit home runs. High splits will garner more walks. High Eye finds more mistake pitches. Some do not pay much attention to the push/pull tendency and should a little. The higher all these stats the better he should hit, but that isn't always guaranteed either.

4. Pitching Abilities - Like hitting abilities, not exactly cut and dried. What I can say is the higher the better..roflmao.

Stamina is how many pitches he can safely throw in an outing. Well, that only depends also. If it is a starting pitcher in a 5-man rotation then use the stamina to set the Total Pitch Count or TPC and Maximum Pitch Count or MPC like so: Stamina +10 or 15 = TPC, TPC + 10 or 15 = MPC. So a 70 stamina SP would have either a 80 or 85 TPC and a 95 or 100 MPC. Whether to use 10 or 15 depends on his other pitching abilities. In a 4-man rotation you do not want him to throw as many pitches in an outing. Rarely do you see a 4-man rotation as you would need all four pitchers with a stamina in the mid 80's and 90's with durability in the 30's. Durability is used in a pitchers fatigue recovery after an outing.

Control is how well a pitcher has command of his pitches. The higher the better.

L and R or vsR and vsL or commonly called splits. The higher the better and in the recent dev chat an effective pitcher will have a vsR of 70 or better whether he be left-handed or right-handed. That doesn't mean a pitcher with lesser splits won't be just as good.

Velocity is how hard a pitcher throws. High velocity is known as a strikeout pitcher and a low velocity is a movement pitcher. Either one is good.

GB/FB is the pitchers to keep the ball on the ground or in the air. The higher means hitters are more apt to hit the ball on the ground.

Pitches is how well the pitcher throws the pitches in question. The usual answer of the higher the better fits here also. But a good pitcher will have one in the 90's, one in the 80's and one in the 70's or 60's. Pitch one is a pitchers out pitch which was garnered from a dev chat. Also a pitcher with a really low 5th pitch will rarely if ever be thrown according to the recent dev chat.

Relief Pitchers are treated about the same as starters with a few exceptions. You will want the TPC and MPC not to go over their stamina and you will want them under in most situations as you will only want them pitching an inning. Durability is the real key for short relievers. Long relievers is best handled by not quite starters.

Hope This helps.