Hey all,

I've been on Whatifsports for nearly 18 years now... I've seen variations, and swings in the Simulation during that time... Obviously we haven't seen many changes in a long time, but I havent played Simleague Baseball in a very long time either, so I'm hoping people can help me out!

Could anyone help me understand the differences between Fielding & Range, in regards to the actual sim? In the past, almost everyone kind of ignored fielding, because ultimately it just didn't matter much, but with the introduction of Open Leagues without AAA, there may be some variations where having platoons...etc comes into play, so I'd like to know more about fielding to understand where I can make sacrifices or not...etc.

Fielding impacts errors and is more important if you’re using deadball pitchers because fielding normalizes to the pitcher and batter of a match up.

range impacts +/- plays and results in hits either being added as a result of a poor, non-error, play, or a hit being taken away as a result of a good defensive play.

Range can be very important for maximizing IP, playing in +1B stadiums, or when using pitchers with higher OAV.

This might be the most efficient, and positive message, I've ever received when asking a question.

A sincere Thank you!

I,too, question the significance. Obviously an A+/A+ player is the best defender.

What is the opinion of a C fielder and an A range player versus an A/C player. In other words when I look at the composite it feels like the - plays are offset by fewer errors for the A fielder with poor range. And the player with good range will have more + plays but also more errors.

I tend to lean toward better glove at the expense of range if forced to choose.

I also don't philosophically agree with RF being all that significant because of the different types of pitchers. For example, a higher than average strikeout team's IF/OF will have fewer chances while the catcher will have his RF inflated.

And won't a flyball P team's OF have more chances than its Infielders (and vice versa if they throw a lot more ground balls) if a team's pitchers don't strike out as many opponents. Does RF really matter?

Is a low RF more of a function of playing behind a pitching staff that strikes the other team out more, and because infielders/outfielders have more (or fewer) chances playing behind some pitching staffs?

I am also not a fan of the advertisements that pop up while trying to type.

Yes, Range is important. You are paying higher salary for it, that's the tradeoff.
Look at Performance History to see the effect. Note that it is skewed by outlying stats from fatigued players but it should give you a general idea.
Strikeouts homeruns etc. do affect number of chances but not by a lot unless you have a widely unbalanced staff.
One factor rarely mentioned is what type of error. An error can turn an out into a baserunner, or it can simply allow an extra base. Obviously the first type of error is more damaging. i haven't seen any studies showing how many of each type of error occur in the Sim. This may be why a several 1B have large number of + plays.

I find that Range is very important overall and generally more important than fielding. But it depends on the position. For outfielders range is more important. They typically have a pretty high fielding percentage and range can not only save singles, but doubles, triples, HR's, etc. Problem is that you want offensive production from the OF positions and a lot of the better hitting outfielders have poor range. But if you can get a quality hitter that is a D/A+ defensive player in the outfielder, they can be an ultra valuable player because they are going to get 15-30 + plays on the season and because it's the outfield they won't make very many errors.

Infield is very different. 1B's tend to make a lot of + plays even if they have a range of say B-. My guess is that those positive plays are them picking the ball out of the dirt on a throw. I find range on a 1B to not be quite as valuable.

3B's tend to not make many + plays even if they have A+ range. But what you're paying for with high range 3B's is cutting down on the amount of negative plays they will make.

SS and 2B tend to make a lot of errors. SS more than 2B. A lot of the + plays are not only about taking away singles, but making double plays.

I find that my best teams have good range. But I usually go very heavy in terms of spending on the lineup, so the range helps preserve the pitchers a bit.




HoC

Add to this the gap between A+ and the very top of that rating. The low end of A+ for outfielders is around 2.90, the top over 3.60. Those top guys will really stand out. They are a real difference maker in CF and middle infielder positions...it is possible to get well over 200 plus plays from your defense...that is a huge help to a pitching staff.

As just4me mentioned, range depends heavily on your situation/staff/ballpark. Range is important when dealing with pitchers who put the ball in play a lot (higher OAV) or hitters parks. If I'm playing in a park like Petco, I don't sweat range as much because there will be fewer balls in play. I'll usually load up on D though, so that the balls that are put in play are fielded well. You can also get away with less range if you're loaded with K pitchers.

The "less range if you are loaded with K pitchers" is actually a myth that has been around for a long time, but has been disproven. I ran a league a couple of years ago to test exactly that. We used the exact same set of A+ range position players. Half the teams had an identical high K/9 staff, and the other half had an identical low K/9 staff. The key is making sure that other stats for the two staffs (OAV#, BB/9#, HR/9#) are as close as possible, which we did. There was NO difference in the amount of plus plays between the two sets of teams. The low K team simply did not have more plus plays.

The high K thing sounds good, because in theory more K's = fewer balls in play = fewer opportunities for range to turn hits into outs. BUT, in SLB, the determination of "hit or out" comes BEFORE the determination of what kind of out (GB, FB, K). If the hit or out calculation = hit, then the possibility of a + play exists. If the hit or out calculation = out, then no + play can happen, and only THEN does the algorithm determine if it's a strikeout.

High K staffs won’t affect plus plays but they will reduce the number of minus range plays if you have bad range fielders, since a lower percentage of the outs will be balls in play

C/A would be more valuable than A/C at 1st base. Neither will make many errors and the C/A 1st baseman will usually have a lot more + plays. Also, A range vs D range for a catcher is basically meaningless (they rarely make + or - plays).

Posted by ncmusician_7 on 9/9/2022 6:11:00 PM (view original):
C/A would be more valuable than A/C at 1st base. Neither will make many errors and the C/A 1st baseman will usually have a lot more + plays. Also, A range vs D range for a catcher is basically meaningless (they rarely make + or - plays).

I would always follow this except for a D- glove at 1b. Those I would recommend you steer clear of them.