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Season Mode Musings - please contribute!
https://www.mlbppworld.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=9739
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Author:  Comfortably Lomb [ Mon Dec 19, 2016 11:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Season Mode Musings - please contribute!

Thanks for the responses above!

I just completed the draft and managed to get a pretty good pitching prospect with the #30 pick: LHP, overhand deliver, 98 mph, C control, C endurance, Cv 3, 2Fb 2. No skills but he has 4 star potential... will he develop noticeably faster than other players? I noticed one pitcher with 5 star potential (but awful draft ratings) and a bunch with 2-3 stars. I'm pumped about this guy though--he will slot into the Sox bullpen very nicely.

The pitcher I took in the second round looks like pure trade fodder. He only throws 90 mph and with a couple lvl 2 pitches. Probably someone I package in a long overdue JD Drew trade.

It seems like the position players are much worse than pitchers in the draft? I ran it a few times hoping a shortstop would fall (Lugo. Is. Awful.) and realized the hitting prospects are mostly terrible and would need several years to ever hope to make an impact.

Author:  dustyfarmer [ Mon Dec 19, 2016 3:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Season Mode Musings - please contribute!

Pitching is way better in the drafts, even if you are picking last.
There are usually a few good position players, but they are long gone by the 30th pick.
You can trade for the position players, but the comp-controlled teams are usually unwilling to trade they've made their MLB debut

Author:  ERISA Dude [ Wed Dec 21, 2016 10:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Season Mode Musings - please contribute!

Sorry for this disjointed response

My memory is that Lugo is pretty good - above average defense and average offense.

Anyway, position players are more highly valued, so they go more quickly. Probably the best you can hope for at 30 is a third baseman with EDFDFE skills

I rarely get a player whose ML ready unless I've got a top 5 pick.

The 4 stars should mean he will develop more quickly, and I've definitely noticed players developing at different speeds, but I've never remembered their start rating.

I've never been able to trade for another teams drafted player until the next year

If you buy the expensive training products, you can get up 1 level on your pitches pretty easily. Pitch speed is also something you can improve quickly. Stamina takes forever, though

Author:  Kungfupandacam [ Wed Dec 28, 2016 2:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Season Mode Musings - please contribute!

I've done about two or three seasons of the AOW grey-bar challenge and I just started another one, but I learned a lot.
One is to always put my *(censored)* starters not in Starter Tab and in the Swingman tab. I can put who I want to start on condition.
Two is pitching to contact is the only way to get outs. I couldn't get many outs without having to pitch like 10-15 pitches and guys like the Boston line-up, a pitch an cenimeter over the sweetspot is an out.
Three is contact swing is pretty much crap. I alwaysgo power swing with my 2-6 guys and then go contact to foul off the pitcher and get lots of pitches.
Four is strikeouts literally don't matter. As long as you get atleast 3 or 4( or higher) per an at-bat, you can win some more ballgames.
Five is that walks are cancer. I walked 2 batters in a game and 4 runs came from that today. But you can also try to ust throw the ball just really low, but don't intentionally walk a guy.
Lastly is that pitchers with a C stamina can pitch a good 3-4 Innings. B Stamina is 5-7 innings.
Then it's done. After that the team can score and win atleast 100 games a year. If not 90 or so games. You will atleast win the divison.

Author:  dustyfarmer [ Thu Dec 29, 2016 12:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Season Mode Musings - please contribute!

I pitch to contact so long as they are swinging for contact.
If they are powering up then I avoid the strike zone.

Author:  Kungfupandacam [ Sat Dec 31, 2016 3:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Season Mode Musings - please contribute!

I guess that's where I go opposite.
When they have power swing, I pitch to the top end of the bat. Easy fly balls sometimes. It works especially well with the Red Sox against Papi and Manny.
Contact swing is harder for me, but I usually pitch somewhat anything trying to get them to ground out either way, I still pitch to contact.

Author:  ERISA Dude [ Mon Jan 02, 2017 6:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Season Mode Musings - please contribute!

What is the aow graybar challenge?

I pretty much always throw strikes - the ai is too good at laying off balls. One exception: if I only have 1 strikeout pitch, and the batter fouls it off, I might waste a pitch to avoid throwing the same pitch twice.

I don't vary based on power v contact swing - unless I realize mid-pitch that, my outfield alignment is wrong.

I disagree that contact swing is crap. I definitely score more with the contact swing, but power swinging is more fun.. If my batter has lower than D contact, I do a contact swing all the time. If my batter has at least D contact and power, I use a power swing if the opposing pitcher has a level 1 or 2 change up. I hit 95% of my HRs on bad change ups. I'll use the power swing until I have 2 strikes, when I switch to contact.

I wouldn't say strikeouts don't matter. Runners 1st and 2nd, no out - strikeout followed by a double play is the best way out. Also, a strikeout is the only way to improve a pitch that's not being specifically trained. Overall though, a 6 strikeout performance is huge for me.

I sorta agree with the stamina comments, but there's a lot more involved. Fatigue plays a huge role, as does the range of B. I can get a lot of complete games from a high B pitcher with 0 fatigue and in yellow or better condition. Good catcher also helps a lot.

I don't agree about listing starters as swingmen. The problem is that if you skip a pitchers turn, they often go blue for an extended time, and it's too hard to remember the order. I use a 6 pitcher rotation, and before the game starts, if my starter is yellow or blue, I'll check my pitching list. If the next starter up is red or pink, I'll swap the order for that and the next game. If my listed starter is blue and the next starter is yellow, I leave it as is. This works well usually, but once in awhile I will delay a start for a blue starter, not realizing that he's dropped from yellow to blue, and my delaying his start further makes it worse.

Author:  ERISA Dude [ Mon Jan 02, 2017 6:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Season Mode Musings - please contribute!

dustyfarmer wrote:
I pitch to contact so long as they are swinging for contact.
If they are powering up then I avoid the strike zone.


When you throw off the plate, they swing?

They just doesn't work for me. They lay off it, unless I mistakenly throw it too close to the plate. I've been using pitchers with D and Empower control, but am training that up to see if it helps

Author:  ERISA Dude [ Mon Jan 02, 2017 6:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Season Mode Musings - please contribute!

Kungfupandacam wrote:
I guess that's where I go opposite.
When they have power swing, I pitch to the top end of the bat.


I generally pitch low and outside to avoid HRs, then go low inside for the strikeout.

Author:  Comfortably Lomb [ Mon Jan 02, 2017 6:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Season Mode Musings - please contribute!

ERISA Dude wrote:
Kungfupandacam wrote:
I guess that's where I go opposite.
When they have power swing, I pitch to the top end of the bat.


I generally pitch low and outside to avoid HRs, then go low inside for the strikeout.


I find going up in the zone is asking for HRs (power swing) and bloopers (contact). The game seems to care less about location when fooling the batter and much more about changing speeds. You can be predictably low and in the zone as long as pitch selection varies a bit. I suspect moving the infield back when pitching up would help prevent being blooped to death but I'm too lazy.

FWIW, I work around star power hitters who are in a good/great mood and swinging with their power swing. Walks are cancer but a hot elite batters can do a ton of damage fast.

Author:  AdamJones113 [ Mon Jan 02, 2017 6:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Season Mode Musings - please contribute!

I've only recently started to play around with IF/OF shifts. I don't think there's any point in using the normal shift for pull/push hitters, so the shifts I do use are more for double plays and deeper outfields.

As for pitching, I take more precaution when pitching to elite power hitters using the power swing, because the damage they do can only be prevented by pitching. An elite power hitter who uses the contact swing, such as Matt Holiday, can be limited to doubles with deep outfields. Big Papi, though, knocks it out if you give him a good pitch to hit, so I worry less about walking him and thus throw a lot of stuff in the dirt/breaking away.

Author:  ERISA Dude [ Tue Jan 03, 2017 10:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Season Mode Musings - please contribute!

Yeah - I don't like pitching around batters, and I often pay the price for it.

If a batter with b power is using a power swing, I'll play the of deep unless there's a runner on 2nd. I rarely adjust my infield, unless I've got a slow IF defense. Then I'll manually create an IF where the IF is deeper, but my 1st and 3rd basemen are not hugging the line.

In some parks, I'll create an of alignment where the CF is extra deep, but the lf and rf are regular depth.

Author:  Kungfupandacam [ Thu Jan 05, 2017 10:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Season Mode Musings - please contribute!

ERISA Dude wrote:
What is the aow graybar challenge?

I pretty much always throw strikes - the ai is too good at laying off balls. One exception: if I only have 1 strikeout pitch, and the batter fouls it off, I might waste a pitch to avoid throwing the same pitch twice.

I don't vary based on power v contact swing - unless I realize mid-pitch that, my outfield alignment is wrong.

I disagree that contact swing is crap. I definitely score more with the contact swing, but power swinging is more fun.. If my batter has lower than D contact, I do a contact swing all the time. If my batter has at least D contact and power, I use a power swing if the opposing pitcher has a level 1 or 2 change up. I hit 95% of my HRs on bad change ups. I'll use the power swing until I have 2 strikes, when I switch to contact.

I wouldn't say strikeouts don't matter. Runners 1st and 2nd, no out - strikeout followed by a double play is the best way out. Also, a strikeout is the only way to improve a pitch that's not being specifically trained. Overall though, a 6 strikeout performance is huge for me.

I sorta agree with the stamina comments, but there's a lot more involved. Fatigue plays a huge role, as does the range of B. I can get a lot of complete games from a high B pitcher with 0 fatigue and in yellow or better condition. Good catcher also helps a lot.

I don't agree about listing starters as swingmen. The problem is that if you skip a pitchers turn, they often go blue for an extended time, and it's too hard to remember the order. I use a 6 pitcher rotation, and before the game starts, if my starter is yellow or blue, I'll check my pitching list. If the next starter up is red or pink, I'll swap the order for that and the next game. If my listed starter is blue and the next starter is yellow, I leave it as is. This works well usually, but once in awhile I will delay a start for a blue starter, not realizing that he's dropped from yellow to blue, and my delaying his start further makes it worse.

Ok, so that's a lot.
Let's start at the beginning.
AOW's graybar challenge here: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=9289
I have powerful on too, and only did it with 3 teams.
I can only hit okay with contact swing. I am just too used to having power swing on from my childhood. I always just did power swing back in 2008 so going to contact is hard for me. My 7-9 hitters who have like E contact I use contact swing and get three on base for a pretty strong line-up with 2-5 hitters.
I would much rather strike-out than ground out sometimes. To me strikeouts are still another out. Strikeouts in pitching does matter.
My pitching has to depend on how each hitter swings. If you go against hard line-ups like the Indians(who are way too OP) it's very hard. Bloops have to be outs. Doubles have to singles then for me.
I only have pitchers with low C to average C stamina(some is a little higher than 100). When I do that, I am pretty much dead. I only have 5 innings, but having 11 of them means being ready for about 40 some innings. Sometimes I can get 6, and I got one to 7 which was pure luck in one season. I think other times I got to a complete game, but I did this on Dolphin and I think the times before I had it on All-Star if I'm mistaken.
Also putting starters as starters gives them extra fatigue and tiredness.
Putting no starters and all as swingmen takes away extra fatigue. I get to use 5 starters this way, if needed six. That was it.
To awnswer your last one, I do have to care with power swings and never go for the strikeout, but that's harder to strike him out when I can get the GO pretty easily.

Author:  Comfortably Lomb [ Fri Jan 06, 2017 11:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Season Mode Musings - please contribute!

Starters getting extra fatigue due to their role assignment is news to me. So it is better to just throw my rotation in the swingman roles? I generally try to pull pitchers before they tire but even with Recovery 4 it seems like they're out of commission after a start longer than they should be.

I also can't figure out why some of my position players accumulate season fatigue faster than others despite similar numbers of games played and training. E.g., Manny is older and plays in LF every game while Ortiz is younger and plays DH every day, both are just resting in training, but in late June Manny has almost no season fatigue while Ortiz has 2/3 of his bar filled. Confusing.

Author:  Alloutwar [ Fri Jan 06, 2017 2:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Season Mode Musings - please contribute!

definitely keep pitchers out of starter role. If you leave them in as starters they need 6-7 days of rest, more similar to Japanese baseball than MLB.

If you put everyone to swingman, then eyeball their stamina, you'll see some guys ready after 4 or 5 days, others may take 6. But no one takes 7!

I like to use a combination of stamina and hot hand. Just pick the SP the day of the game, based on who has best form and full stamina. If you see a hopping purple form, he's your starter. Red next. If none of those guys are rested - even a C stamina swingman - then go to a moderate happy face guy who is rested. Repeat throughout the season - guys will only start 18-25 games, but they'll be rested and you'll get the best innings out of them.

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