The following was stated in one of the earlier dev chats: "Most players should reach their projection assuming a normal progression pattern." If this is the case, would it be correct to say that all the effort put into maximizing player development is probably wasted assuming you have at least average coaches and get the players enough playing time? Or maybe only pay close attention for low makeup players as they would seem to be at the highest risk for not reaching full potential.

You could argue it's a good idea to CYA for the "most" qualifier used by the dev. and go above and beyond average coaches or increase playing time (or games played, or whatever the sim uses for experience). But by and large, taking a bunch of extra measures may mean you are simply developing a prospect quicker and not necessarily developing a prospect's eventual ratings any higher.

It would seem absurd to put the effort into programming minor leagues, coaching, spring training, training, etc., and then just have everyone develop the same regardless. And it's certainly not true that most players hit their projections. Not even close.

Posted by joshkvt on 5/13/2016 3:26:00 PM (view original):
It would seem absurd to put the effort into programming minor leagues, coaching, spring training, training, etc., and then just have everyone develop the same regardless. And it's certainly not true that most players hit their projections. Not even close.

What you see as projections are fuzzy. You don't know what the players true projections are. So you can't say with 100% confidence that most players don't hit their projections, because you have no way of knowing what their true maximum projections really are.

It's easy to see in some cases, if a player has been crippled by injuries due to misuse or a poor medical/training budget, or if they have been allowed to languish in the minors and not developed properly. But if everything is done "right", they likely will hit their true projections. It just might not be the projections you see and think they should hit.

I don't put much stock in Dev Chat responses.

That said, I don't fret over the signing of minor league coaches and I don't find that other owners develop players any better than I do. I put my guys where I think they fit best, never demote and make sure they get playing time at 100%. But I do find that some owners DON'T develop players very well. So I think if you take reasonable measures, you'll be just fine. If you ignore it completely, you won't.