Is it possible to take a look at the HBD-wide occurence of players with a zero power rating hitting inside-the-park HR's?  It seems to be that this event never occurs - even for players that have a high speed/baserunning ratings.  Is it intended that a player with a zero power rating is to never hit a homerun?

I've had a slow day at work, so this has been my task.

Is it possible that a zero power rating doesn't hit the ball hard enough to get it in the gap?

How would they ever hit a triple then? An inside the park HR is not a big step from a triple with a fast enough guy.

Anything is possible, but I think never is a strong word to use when trying to simulate real life.

Have you checked triples?   I don't have a big sample size of fast, zero power guys.    I also think baserunning is more of a factor for triples.

Nonetheless, my Zero Power players don't have a lot of triples either.

The fact that they have triples at all is what raises my eye towards inside the park HR. I could live with never seeing a real HR from a zero power guy, but it seems odd never to see an ITPHR.. My one guy (slow poor running catcher) even has a few triples. I just don't have the access to enough zero rated players to make any determination one way or the other.

This is the player posted by someone else in the other forum that piqued my interest the most: 99 rated speed, 0 power - no homeruns at all.

http://whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=1568738


And here's my guy - with a speed rating of 12 and a baserunning of 30+, I'm actually quite surprised he ever hit 7 triples.  I honestly don't ever expect him to hit an inside the park HR.

http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=703694

Just did a quick and non-exhaustive search in Coop.  Came across the following guys with a significant number of AB's with 0 power and 0 lifetime home runs (majors and minors):

Daniel Mecir: 7000+ AB's.  Peaked at 83 speed.  41 career triples.
Alex Crespo: 5600+ AB's.  Peaked at 92 speed.  44 career triples.
Gordon Barkley: 4600+ AB's.  Peaked at 83 speed.  27 career triples.
Lee Wagner: 5100+ AB's.  Peaked at 92 speed.  52 career triples.

Bi Gal may be on to something.  I'm wondering if there's ever been a 0 power guy with a ITPHR.

Went into GAP and found 13 ML players with a zero rating all without a HR.  Found another fast one with great ratings in speed and baserunning that has plenty of triples but no HR.

Gill Locko: 5300+ AB, 91 speed, 82 baserunning, 38 triples

Not to get off subject, but how could someone pay Locko 4M/ year. Alright continue on. Interested to hear another response from WIS.

guess this is my response?

9/28/2010 9:20 AM	bigal888
In the suggestions portion of the HBD forums we have a thread going about this topic with multiple examples of guys that have great speed/baserunning ratings, 0 power rating, 4000+ ABs and no HR. Could someone familiar with this topic check it out and maybe comment on what we are seeing? Thanks
9/28/2010 9:23 AM	Customer Support
Alan, If a player has zero power he isn't hitting the ball hard enough to get it into a gap or over the head of the outfielder. I would suspect that it is extremely rare for it to happen maybe 1 in 1,000,000,000 ABs. Like I said it is possible just extremely rare.

Looks like I work with CS.  

Yes, that's your answer.   And, quite honestly, it does make sense.  At least to me.  I'm thinking of a guy who just slaps at the ball.  If the OF bobbles it or is slow to get to it, he takes two.   If the fielder cuts it off in the gap and mishandles it, he takes three.   But it never gets to the fence.  And, if it never gets to the fence, you can't get an inside the parker.

But we both know that is not how this simulation works - they aren't determining exactly where the ball goes every at bat.  I am almost certain that first it is decided if it is a single, double, triple or HR (or any of the other possibilities) and then it decides what "dressing" to add to the play to make it more realistic.  In this case, I am beginning to believe that the probability for a zero power guy to hit a HR is set at zero, which then eliminates the possibility for an inside-the-park HR, because all an inside-the-park HR is is "dressing" on a normal HR.

I don't think there is a distinction in the engine between an inside-the-park HR, a HR off the LF foul pole, a HR that barely cleared the wall or a blast to CF.  I think they are all the same HR just with different random facades.

Perhaps.  I do agree that the sim goes thru "steps" to determine the outcome.   So it's entirely possible that they programmed 0 power to have a chance a homer at one billion to one. 

Assuming that you don't disagree with my real life example, that's probably about right.   The only way Slappy McNopower gets a ball to the wall is if the OF plays it like a little league rightfielder.