Pitcher's Velocity Topic

Does anyone know if a high velocity rating is good for a pitcher that only throws curves and knuckleballs? I have always just assumed that higher velocity was always better, no matter what the pitch. Do knuckleball pitchers throw more wild pitches like in real life?
3/18/2014 4:03 PM
The names of pitches are just cosmetic; they mean nothing in regards to gameplay.
3/18/2014 4:09 PM
When I gave a similar answer to a similar question, it turned into a 15 page ******* contest.
3/18/2014 4:16 PM
Yea I made sure to add "in regards to gameplay." Otherwise...you know.
3/18/2014 4:26 PM
The bottom line is that higher velocity is better in all cases, correct? Does it mean more strikeouts? Do high ball pitchers give up more home runs?
3/18/2014 4:59 PM
What do you mean by "high ball pitchers"?
3/18/2014 5:18 PM
GB/FB, I assume. 
3/18/2014 5:20 PM
GB/FB is correct. What do you think has more value, a high velocity or high first pitch? If you had a 95 velocity and 75 first pitch, would you prefer 85 for both?
3/18/2014 8:10 PM
85 for both.

Velocity is nice because it means more strikeouts, so less balls in play. That said, there are many that believe (myself included) that see strikeouts as just "another out." As in - the sim determines that a batter is out, and then looks at velocity to determine if it's a strikeout.

Bottom line - velocity really isn't a big deal. I generally ignore the rating.
3/18/2014 8:30 PM
I'll take 85 first pitch with 0 velocity over 75 with 95 velocity.
3/18/2014 9:57 PM
I consider velocity a secondary rating.   I give it pretty much the same value as a 4th pitch.
3/19/2014 8:04 AM
Posted by burnsy483 on 3/18/2014 8:32:00 PM (view original):
85 for both.

Velocity is nice because it means more strikeouts, so less balls in play. That said, there are many that believe (myself included) that see strikeouts as just "another out." As in - the sim determines that a batter is out, and then looks at velocity to determine if it's a strikeout.

Bottom line - velocity really isn't a big deal. I generally ignore the rating.
A strikeout is important if a groundball scores a run or you have bad defense. That is probably the only advantage to velocity.
3/20/2014 2:48 PM
Correct.  You could also make a case that in a hitters park, that a ball that may be considered an out by the sim becomes a hit because of ballpark settings.  I'm not sure if that's how the decision tree works, but that would be my guess.
3/20/2014 4:24 PM
So MikeT was talking about pitch ratings? My question about pitches is how often does a pitcher throw a particular pitch. I have a guy with 3 ratings over 70 but the 4th pitch is one of the ones over 70, So will he throw that pitch more because its higher than the 3rd pitch or less because its his 4th pitch?
3/21/2014 1:53 AM
Individual pitches are not thrown.  That has been confirmed.  The common understanding is that the P1-P5 pitches are factored into an algorithm (along with many other pitching and hitting ratings) to determine the outcome of an AB, with P1 weighted more heavily than P2, etc.  So the order of the pitches matter in terms of weighting in the formula.
3/21/2014 5:59 AM
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