Player Development

[GFunk911]

This is for an admin, Clay made a comment before about how palyers develop better in the minors than they do in the majors. Exactly what is the difference. How much better do they develop in AAA? If you stick them in the majors early, can they still reach their ceiling, or does it go down. Bascially, what's the deal :-) Thanks

Mike Harris
Enthusiast: Pittsburgh
NABL: San Diego
NPL: Chicago N

[BBM]

Just we see a few rookies that had over .300 avg in the REAL baseball game now doesn't mean it had been always like that. If you want a player that is a rookie to perform what he should be performing in his rating, you will have to stick him out for a season or two, and he will be fine after. Spencer Plock from the Mogul Enth. from the Arizona, he was a rookie last year, hit 250 and 19 HRs, this year, he hits oever 320 and almost 50 HRs. Patients is what you need in developing rookies.

[Slugger222]

I have a feeling that they are going ot leave that a bit of a mystery. Don't want to give away too many trade secrets!

However, if you see something that looks abnormal..........

[BBM]

There is a Farming System on the expense page, the more money u put in there, the better your batters will be.
Most rookie cant be like Albert Pujols, u will have to put him on the major for 1-3 years before they proform what they should be performing.

[Slugger222]

I also wonder how much the "Scouts" can be trusted. I imagine the higher the ranking, the better they will be a picking talent. But I've seen a number of B/C prospects that the scouts rave about.

Also, I'm not sure if you need a good farm system to develope the players to their potential, or if that only speeds the process along.

I've often wondered if the reason that the next Sammy Sosa did not appear in my farm system is because the farm system rankings were low.

[Troko]

I'm still waiting for BB2K2 to arrive in the mail (hopefully today!) so the following speculation is based on playing with Commisioner's Mode in BB2K (v3.33). Scouts seem to rate players on a 10 level scale. For example, fiddling with one young catcher's predicted stats gave the following descriptions:

Level 1: This kid is a future hall of famer. I'll bet my career on it.
Level 2: XXX's got Superstar written all over him.
Level 3: XXX has had slumps but he's definitely major league material.
Level 4: He'll have his ups and downs, but XXX is definitely talented.
Level 5: XXX has all the skills. With just a little more development time, he'll be a fine catcher.
Level 6: If XXX isn't rushed too much, Anaheim should be happy with what he becomes.
Level 7: XXX is a borderline prospect. He'll either make the majors or spend his life in A-ball.
Level 8: I'm not really sure if XXX is cut out to be a major league catcher.
Level 9: This kid isn't ready for the show, and I'm not sure if he'll ever be.
Level 10: XXX is just wasting the Angels' resources. He should be released.

Notes (mostly speculation-- I'm not 100% certain of these):
1) "XXX has had slumps..." (level 3) is a better rating than "...XXX is definitely talented" (level 4). Having a table of scouting levels would be very useful to BB2K2 GMs. Does anyone have such a table? If not, I'll work on it as soon as my copy of BB2K2 arrives.

2) "XXX has a lot of potential but a lot to prove" is used for level 3 _and_ level 5 position players, making it difficult to properly appraise some position players. However, only level 4 pitchers seem to get that description [edited 11/08/01: formerly said level 3 pitchers].

3) The level ratings for young players seem to be based on the scout's perception of their potential ("peak" statistics in Commisioner's Mode) rather than their current abilities.

4) Position players rated "F" in contact tended to drop in level as they progressed through AAA, possibly because their BA didn't improve as quickly as the Commisioner's mode scout predicted.

5) Very young position players with good contact numbers may have their levels overrated by scouts. If you look at "peak" stats in commisioner's mode, you may find young players with .400+ predicted peak batting averages. The scouts see such players as future hall of famers, but the game engine won't let them fulfill those unrealistic expectations.

6) Most players tended to drop a level from when they came into the league to when they reached maturity. This may not be the case in BB2K2 since the "playoffs hampers player development" bug was reportedly fixed.

7) Your scout's perception of a player's level affects contract negotiations in BB2K. A player will demand more money if your scout thinks that the player is good.

8) Young players supposedly develop faster by playing, with a bonus for AAA. That's why the help files advise you to keep potential stars in AAA rather than have them ride the bench in the majors. Therefore, does keeping a young player in AAA until September 1 and then inserting him in the major league starting lineup maximize player development? Is riding the bench in September better for young players than keeping them inactive once the minor league season is over?

I would appreciate any feedback, corrections, or additional information on the topics listed above. Also, could any of the administrators please verify the correctness/wrongness of some or all of this speculation about how player development and scout ratings work? Thank you very much.

[datrain021]

If a player starts in the major's does he go better over time than someone that began in AAA. I'm asking this because I have an awsome 18 year old Pitcher whose been my #3 starter (Just look at these stats)

Year W L Pct. ERA IP K BB H HR R ER IP/G OBA
2004 6 6 .500 3.42 118.1 166 36 113 13 47 45 6.22 .245

I know he's going to be a great pitcher, but would it be batter if i stuck him in AAA, or keep him at the ML, and let him work out any kinks he has at the ML level.