Suggestions: Game Engine / Player Modeling and Development

[Mattymo]

Suggestion
Get rid of the "closer position", and just use starting pitchers and relief pitchers.

Reason
No one is actually a "closer"...the closer is just the best reliever on the team. I find it rediculous when there's a "closer" with awful ratings...if he was bad he wouldn't be a closer, he's just be a mop up reliever.

Priority
Low.

[Burgandy]

Suggestion


Much more diversity in scouts' opinions on potential. And have a much higher % of players' with better potential... that may just never get realized.

Reason

Realism. There are an abnormally larger number of players in the draft that have the exact same potential ratings as their current skills ratings. Even 16 and 17 year old high school kids. I don't think it's remotely realistic that a scout is going to say, "this 16-year-old has peaked". They may never progress or get better or "realize their potential". But most, if not all, amateur draftees should have some level of expected improvement. A much higher % of players should have a potential rating that their not going to reach, and this would make betting on a player to reach potential more like the guessing game that it really is.

Priority

Low

[kcroyalgm]

Suggestion
Add the ability in "line-ups" and "rotation" to sit out a player for x number of games. An alternative would be to add that function in each player's "set game strategy" feature. (E.g., a checkbox to "do not play if injured on day-to-day" basis") A third alternative to accomplish what I want would be would be some kind of indicator on utility1 and utility2 starts to use the utility player "if starter day-to-day injured" (although that wouldn't help with pitchers.)

Reason
In some on-line leagues fifteen days are processed each sim. I'd like to sit out a player injured on a day-to-day basis for the number of games he is classified as "day-to-day".

Priority
High. There is no effective way to sit a player for x games.

[sofla97]

Suggestion- A "Talent Change Rating" or "Stability Rating" that could be edited in commish mode. Simply put- An individual rating that would specify
how abrupt a players talent changes throughout his career.


Reason-
I hate seeing star players/young studs taking huge rating drops after 1 year. It happens a lot and kind of kills the fun when playing with real rosters.
You could go and set the stability rating to high for certain players and not have to worry about sudden unrealistic talent hits.
Some players are consistent throughout their careers while others are not. I would like to be able to control that.

Priority- High

[Cryomaniac]

I suppose this comes under this heading.

Suggestion
Allow switch pitching. I know not many people ever did it in real life, and it should be rare, but it shouldn't be impossible.

Reason
A couple of guys have done it in real liffe, and I'm ambidextrous . I understand that it does throw up some interesting stats questions, but I'm sure it wouldn't be anything particularly difficult.

Prioity
Well, low for most, medium for me.

[rcbuss]

Originally Posted by Mattymo

Related to CBL-Commish's post above...

Suggestion
Get rid of "park factors" alltogether and base them on dimensions, maybe "elevation" and weather in that city.

Reason
Because that's how it is in real life. You don't build a stadium that has a "1.05 HR factor for lefty's" you just build a stadium with certain dimensions. And things like foul territory directly affect batting average's, etc.

Priority
Medium...I've always found this to be a problem in OOTP. I enjoy "building" funky stadiums, but it doesn't quite work when you have to change the factors too.

I agree.

Check out www.hittrackeronline.com for an illustration of how this could be incorporated.

[ms2002]

Suggestion
Completely re-do the pitcher endurance system. A pitcher's endurance should be a measure of how conditioned a player is and should change quite often. However, that being said, some pitchers should be able to reach higher levels of conditioning than others. Make it possible that some starting pitchers that are converted into relievers are much more effective.

Reason
All pitchers in real-life should be technically able to start a game and last at least 5 innings. However, not all pitchers are conditioned to do so, and some are just plain more effective in shorter doses. This can be due to a number of factors, but I'd say mainly for the number of pitches in their repertoire. Pitchers with only two pitches are pretty limited to relief work. I'd like to see more detail in the pitching engine. More emphasis on pitch-types and "endurance" assigning them their pitching role. However, if I have a stud pitching prospect with 4 ace pitches but low "endurance", I think I should be able to develop him into a starter. Likewise, I'd like to be able to convert failed starting pitchers into an ace closer (i.e JJ Putz, Eric Gagne).

Priority
High. This would make the game infinitely better and much more realistic.

[mlinhoff]

Suggestion

Although this is a bit of a repeat, I would like to see park factors for home runs become more dependent on stadium dimensions and weather. In addition to the Hit Tracker link that was provided in a previous post, this article explains the fundamental issues.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/ar...-new-approach/

There could be five (even seven?) factors depending on where the ball was hit (which depends on who is up to bat).

Reason

Park factors obviously play a big role in how a player performs, and while the statistics for each park bear this out to some degree, they have some random variation and will miss the effects on certains types of hitters.

Players have pull, normal, spray tendencies in the game as they do in real life. These tendencies can have a huge effect on the result of potential homers in certain parks like Yankee Stadium or even AT&T Park.


Priority

Medium High. It would add some more fun in finding players to fit your park.

[ms2002]

Suggestion
Tweak the pitching development so that a player develops more properly and there are less severe drop-offs for older talents.

Reason
I know that RonCo mentioned that this would be a main priority for the next version, but I just wanted to mention it anyway. Currently, one can expect EVERY pitcher in the game to experience a severe drop-off in their STUFF. This really needs to change. Of course pitchers lose some stuff with age, but not this drastically. I regularly see older pitchers in OOTP2007 going from about 200 ks a season to 100ks. This is way too drastic. Look at Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens. It just shouldn't happen. I hardly see any older pitchers in the current version. Let's see some Jamie Moyers, Greg Madduxs', and Roger Clemens'.

Priority
High.

[sixto]

suggestion
Revise the way players develop new position abilities in the minors so that they gain (and lose) abilities at positions more quickly in the low minors, and also so better hitters are not blocked by better fielders.

Reason
Before they sign, most prospects are the best players in their little worlds. As a result, most players are pushed along the "defensive spectrum" (from the SS/CF end to the 1B/LF end) until they find their pro level. The very best defenders stay at SS and CF; everyone else has to move downward.

Using the defensive spectrum as a guide, one understands that if a player has above-average offensive ability, his pro team is motivated to find a place for him to play, and the minor leagues are where he learns new positions, especially the low minor leagues. In OOTP as it stands now, if two minor-league players are rated at only one position, the better one will play, and the lesser one will not. This should only happen if the lesser player is rated more poorly than players at other positions near his on the defensive spectrum.

In the same vein, if a very young player is rated 1-5 (out of 20) at a certain position, isn't that much the same as saying he's not good enough to play that position? Seems strange to me that you would have a SS prospect who can hit, but who is rated a 2 at SS and only SS, and have an 2B prospect rated 20 on defense, who can't hit - at the very least, these two players should be switched on defense.

Very young players should gain - and lose - defensive abilities at a different rate than older players, and their ability to learn new positions should be tied to the defensive spectrum. If an 18-year-old is blocked at SS, the AI should recognize that he is in a low level minor league and move him to a new position. At those low levels, he may very well lose the ability to play SS because he isn't practicing at it, but he would gain skills at a position where he might make a better big leaguer.

At higher minor-league levels, players who have defensive skills should learn new positions at a slower rate than the low minors, but faster than in the majors. And considering there are roster limits at the higher levels, players should end up learning new positions out of necessity. AA and AAA is where utility players learn their utility skills.

Priority
In my opinion, medium high or high. IMO the current system does not make any sense.

[voxpoptart]

Suggestion: Change the development model so that when a young batter has already reached (or nearly) his potential, his potential is more likely to go up than down.

Reason: In real life baseball, a batter's youth, relative to his league, is the single most promising statistical indicator of his development. In OOTP7, on the other hand, a 22-year-old or 24-year-old star player is probably about to decline.

Importance: High.

[battists]

Suggestion:
A player should have a defensive rating at all positions all the time.

Reason:
We can argue what that rating should be, but a manager can always put any player in any position, so a player should have a rating.

It also just clears up one of a number of areas in the game that are "difficult to understand," and makes the game seem more consistent.

Importance:
Medium

[CBL-Commish]

Originally Posted by battists

Suggestion:
A player should have a defensive rating at all positions all the time.

Reason:
We can argue what that rating should be, but a manager can always put any player in any position, so a player should have a rating.

It also just clears up one of a number of areas in the game that are "difficult to understand," and makes the game seem more consistent.

Importance:
Medium

I like this, but it's crucial to make sure this is implemented correctly, along with a sensible replacement-level. I'm not sure it can be done right with the current ratings scales. An immobile first baseman from a rookie-level indy league would probably be rated a -40 on the 20-80 major league rating scale at shortstop.

[bailey]

Suggestion:
If I change a player's position to RF from CF the AI should prefer to play that player in RF

Reason:
After changing a player's position, and I ask the AI manager for the lineup it will still insert that player in CF, even if the player already has a higher rating for RF. But even if not, it would be nice to know the AI is using the player in the manner you want it to.

Importance:
High

[Raidergoo]

Suggestion
No left handed catchers, 2B, SS, or 3B

Reason
Because they are just like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and friendly non-confrontational lesbians...figments of your imagination.

Priority
HIGH

[messenjah]

Suggestion:
More batted ball statistics for pitchers and hitters that actually affects the engine.

Reason:
Realism, and depth to the game. It would be cool to know if my rookie shortstop is getting liners that are getting to be outs and is just getting unlucky or if his .230 average is really because he's not getting good contact at all. Also, this could work for pitchers and having an overall GB% that affects hits as well as outs. (As I understand it, the groundball percentage only affects the plays that go for outs.) A high groundball pitcher should have good HR numbers. Just being able to see my player's LD%, FB%, GB%, etc. would be nice.

Priority:
Medium

[beorn]

Suggestion
Players available in the ammy draft should have an injury history rating. To keep it simple, this might just be on a scale of 1-10. To be more realistic, it could be a text hint of the underlying injury proneness -- never missed a game in high school, had major knee surgery his junior year, has missed starts due to elbow soreness, etc. Even the generic league scouts should have access to this info, although a truly elegant solution might allow top notch scouts to assess the implications of past injuries more accurately. That would just be icing on the cake, however.

Reason
Both in real life and in OOTP, this is a major variable, and doubly so with pitchers. And, although fragility may not really be known to scouts, injury history is largely visible.

Priority
In your opinion, how important is this suggestion?
High... One of the major complaints I hear in all my online lieagues is the random terror of talent drops, particularly following injuries. Since injuries are not totally random -- there is a hidden rating, we can, within realism, cut down on the apparent randomness in this way.

HOWEVER, this is NOT a vote to make an injury proneness rating permanently visible. Once the player is a pro, his injury history is the realistic way to show injury proneness.

[Deftones2003]

Suggestion
Team Chemistry - Adding some kind of factor to your team if you make 10 trades and totally shake up your team that it either could have a positive or negative effect.

Reason
Realism reasons. Not too many teams in the mlb at the trading deadling would deal away 10 key players on their roster. I could understand minor league players not having any effect to the team chemistry but overall somethin like this would be great for the game.

Priority
Medium

[Purple Cowboy]

Suggestion: The ability to give relievers specific instructions while in the bullpen when they are warming up. We should be able to have them either "stretch out" (low, takes longer to be "ready"), "warm up" (regular/as it is now) or "get ready quickly" (high, reliever will be ready more quickly).

A "call" from the bullpen in the form of a note in the play-by-play or from the bench coach when a pitcher is ready is a co-suggestion.


Reason: This is how it's done in real life and I think it would really add some extra strategy elements, especially if there are consequences (like tiring more quickly or being a higher injury risk if you have the same reliever "getting ready quickly" too many times in succession, etc.).


Priority: HIGH

[Raidergoo]

SuggestionCatchers should have a handle pitchers rating.


ReasonThere is a heated debate on what, if any, ability a catcher has on handling a pitching staff. Baseball Prospectus Baseball Between the Numbers did a good job showing that there is no such skill that can be statistically observed. Yet, it is accepted as part of the common wisdom of baseball men that such a thing exists. To square these two observed facts, use the handle pitcher rating of a catcher to modify the morale levels of the pitching staff. A catcher with a good rating will not irritate the pitchers, but one with a low rating will annoy and displease the staff to the point of distraction or even revolt.


Priority
low