Ratings at a position vs range

[Swan]

I have a player CF who has a rating at CF at 3, but has a range of 5.
Meanwhile, I have a
2B who has a range of 4, but has a RF (range factor?) of 4.56... what does all of this mean? I would suppose that a range of 4 is poor, but looking at the rest of my league, a range factor of 4.56 is pretty good. But what does a position rating mean? Perhaps rated vs other players in the league?

[SandMan]

All it means is that your player will get to more balls (good) but have a higher error rate (not so good). These players are good to have because an outfielder does not make a whole lot of plays a year anyway and I would rather have one that gets to the ball even if he makes a few more errors....


Now if these players were shortstops or secondbasemen then you would not want them.......

[StyxNCa]

Originally Posted by SandMan

All it means is that your player will get to more balls (good) but have a higher error rate (not so good). These players are good to have because an outfielder does not make a whole lot of plays a year anyway and I would rather have one that gets to the ball even if he makes a few more errors....


Now if these players were shortstops or secondbasemen then you would not want them.......

So the error rating doesn't matter?

[SandMan]

Originally Posted by StyxNCa

So the error rating doesn't matter?

Yes it matters, but if you have a player who is getting 50 more outs a year because of his range are you really going to be upset if he makes 1 or 2 more errors per 100 plays? Absolutely not. Range is more important than error rates when it comes to the outfield. I would rather have a guy get to more balls even if he is committing TWICE as many errors as the best in the league in FA.

Why is this? If a OF has a .990 FA he is making an error every 1 time in 100 opportunities which is good, but say his range is bad or even average he is only making about 3 plays a game or about 5 errors a year in, but if you have a guy who is making 3.5 plays a game but with a .970 FA he is making about 14 errors but making 72 more outs during the season (81 more plays - 9 more errors = 72 more outs)...


This is a crude example but you get the idea.....

[injury log]

Originally Posted by Swan

I have a player CF who has a rating at CF at 3, but has a range of 5.
Meanwhile, I have a
2B who has a range of 4, but has a RF (range factor?) of 4.56... what does all of this mean? I would suppose that a range of 4 is poor, but looking at the rest of my league, a range factor of 4.56 is pretty good. But what does a position rating mean? Perhaps rated vs other players in the league?

The position rating takes into account the Range/Error/Arm/DP ratings, along with a hidden experience rating that goes up with playing time at the position. The overall position rating is not relative to other players, and is really only 'cosmetic'- it's there to give you a rough idea of how good the player is at the position, but the game uses the Range/Error/Arm/DP and Experience ratings to determine game outcomes. I don't know what scale you're on (1-5? 2-8? 1-10?), but if your 2B has a range of 4/10 or 4/8, yes, he's probably pretty bad, unless you're using an unusual roster set. Range is by far the most important component in calcuating the position ratings at most positions (Catcher is an exception), along with the Experience rating.

Range Factor is a statistic, usually defined, I think, very simply as a count of plays made by the player per game at the position. It's not always a great indicator of range, however, because if you have a groundball-heavy staff, your infielders will make more plays per game than normal.