Anyone have experience with a pitcher with decent splits/control but low pitch ratings?

Looking at a pitcher with the foll potential ratings:
Sta - 67
Control - 90
vL - 61
vR - 67
Vel - 57
1st pitch - 64
2nd - 54
3rd - 33
4th - 66
5th - 40

With those low pitch ratings does he have any place on a ML roster as a Long Reliever?

Those low pitches are pretty damning, but what's worse is those really aren't "good" splits, especially if he's trying to overcome that pitch quality deficiency.

On top of that, no room for error if he doesn't reach "full potential". Having said that, in an pitcher friendly park, he might be useful as mop up, LRB or spot starter .

If those are projected ratings, there's no guarantee he'll hit them, or come close.  With that, he shouldnt see much action past AA.

He's not a legitimate ML prospect.

Disagree - clearly he's not an all star, and he is probably not playing on a team going to the WS, BUT . . . in your world, in your league, the YTD avg ERA is 5.10. Your park is rather friendly to pitchers. IF he reached those projections, and IF you have a strong defense, he could easily have seasons where he has a 5.00 ERA or better. (And, yes, some seasons where he is somewhat worse)

Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Benjamin Hogan, a player in your world, is a reasonable comp. He pitches in Ameriquest and has a career ERA of 5.53. Texas is a bit hitter friendly and has about the worst defense in the NL. Move that player to LA, with your 2nd best AL def and he becomes a useful innings eater - at least until he hits arb.

Let's talk Velocity! It is conspicuously absent from the above chat. Is velocity not considered as important as splits, control, and pitch ratings? What does it mean when a pitcher.s highest rated pitch is a fastball, but they have low velocity? Velocity seems like it would be important for Closers and Set Up guys; do you ignore it otherwise? 

Velocity really is a mis-named rating.  What it really represents is the ability to get strikeouts.  No correlation to pitch names, since pitch names are just cosmetic. 

It's more of a secondary rating.  Many owners use it more as a "tiebreaker" than anything else, i.e. when considering two pitchers with similar ratings, take the one eith the higher velocity.

It's probably a little more important for closers and set up guys because in high-leverage situations (i.e. runners on base), a strikeout may be a little more desirable than a ground out / fly out, where runners may be able to advance.

Posted by dwoolery on 4/13/2011 6:47:00 PM (view original):
Disagree - clearly he's not an all star, and he is probably not playing on a team going to the WS, BUT . . . in your world, in your league, the YTD avg ERA is 5.10. Your park is rather friendly to pitchers. IF he reached those projections, and IF you have a strong defense, he could easily have seasons where he has a 5.00 ERA or better. (And, yes, some seasons where he is somewhat worse)

This sounds more like a marginal ML prospect than a legitimate one, which was the point I was making.

To elaborate on tecwrg's points on velocity, I think this guy could consistently ring up league average performance or slightly better. I've found that great velocity (80+) can overcome below-average stuff OR control – but not both, unless the pitcher has outstanding splits, which this guy does not.

In that case we probably agree, though the OP asked if he had any place on a big league roster, not if he was a blue chip commodity.

I've searched for a pitcher formula since the beginning of HBD.  I've never quite perfected it(WHIP/ERA are my guidelines).  I recently added a weighted velocity back in and I'm much closer than ever to getting a formula that works.   It has importance.  Not splits/control/pitch importance but it can't be ignored.

Id think that P should never make it past AAA if you have any intention of winning the WS.  At best he might be a 3rd injury replacement.  Certainly not a #1 injury replacement.  If that world has a 5.1 ERA average it could very well be that the pitching is average but the bats all rock.  In this case that P will get lit up.  If the case is the bats suck but the pitching sucks even worse then its possible that P could be doable with an excellent defense behind him.  That being said I should think that you could pick up a FA at the start of ST that will be less then a million bucks and be a heck of a lot better.

His vel is nothing to write home about at 57.  If it's any consolation the guy is in AAA in his 3rd season of service and has a 1.02 WHIP and 2.27 ERA over 67 innings.

Not everyone tries in the minors. Some people think its the trendy, cool guy thing to ignore the minors, run your propsects into the ground and finish up 7-134. The dimensions of your Aaa stadium may also make him appear better or worse than he really is.