Is a defensive player's range factor affected by the range of the players beside him? I have a CF with a range of 99 yet he has a RF of just 2.32 for the past season. Is that just an anomoly or is he affected by my other primary OFs having RF of 94 in and 75 in right?

My guess is that it's a factor of his 75 Glove (unless I'm looking at the wrong player).

In my casual observations it seems that Range has a pretty strong correlation with plus plays, but putouts and assists are more a factor of glove and arm.

Sorry. That probably wasn't clear enough. I was talking about his range factor (statistic) rather than range (rating). Ordinarily you would expect a good CF to have a range factor over 3.00. That was the right player though: http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=2404937

I was too. My point was that while his range is insane, his glove is well below average for a CF.

Range Factor (RF) is (putouts+assists)*9 / defensive innings played. A range of 99 will help a player get to more balls, but if the glove is below average and the arm accuracy is average then an outcome of an average range factor seems right to me.

No CF in that world had a RF over 2.66. The top three all have gloves over 80. Also, 2 of the 3 play on teams with inferior pitching which also could contribute since your staff is top 4.

Personally I don't find RF very valuable. I prefer plus plays and errors as measuring sticks as they have a pretty strong and measurable relationship to preventing runs.

I see what you mean....sort of. I had not looked at the rest of the world numbers for leaders in RF for the season, but I knew that 2.32 was well down the list of my team's all-time records, which seems odd.

I'm thinking that he only made 8 errors last season which would have only increased it to 2.37 if he had made all those plays. Plus my staff had a GB/FB ratio of just 1.16, towards the bottom of the world ranks. Also, they were slightly below average in strikeouts. Those should increase OF range factor.

I guess I don't follow the logic of pitching quality factoring into RF. The number of putouts over a season will not change very much, regardless of the number of baserunners allowed. Obviously there will be 3 fewer for most road losses, but even if your team loses 50 road games, that is only 150 outs. Less after you subtract strikeouts. That can't mean enough extra putouts by the CF to have much impact.

Anyway, the bottom line is you are right: RF is pretty unimportant. However, I am still wondering how much impact good range to either side of a player has on his chances at making plays. I guess I may get an answer next year, as I am planning to sacrifice defense next season in both LF and RF.

Dakar, one thing to remember is this. If the ball isn't hit to you (for what ever reason) you can't make a play on it (Put Out/Assist).

If you have some major Ground Ball Pitchers your entire OF will lose out on Put Outs as less OF Flies will occur. Since OF Assists are pretty rare (compared to other Plays, like OF Put Outs, IF Put Outs and IF Assists aside from 1B Assist which may be even more rare than OF Assists) they don't have a lot of room to make up those Lost Put Outs.

If you have a lot of Fly Ball Pitchers you will notice the IF will have a lesser RF than usual, and the OF will have a higher RF.

RF is less an indicator of how great a fielder is, and more indicitive of what kind of Staff you have.

Stadium Effects matter here as well. Having a Cavern for a Field means less HRs... which means more Fly Ball Outs. Having a ton of Foul Territory does the same thing. So Park Dynamics can also impact RF (more for the OF but also for the IF where Foul Territory is concerned) as your Corners (1B, 3B, RF, LF) will get a few more chances at Put Outs this way.

There are only 27 Outs in 9 Innings, so those little variables will matter over the course of a Season. It's not so profound as to add an entire 1.00 to a RF, but it will matter. This is why you may trade for a RF with a 2.40 RF and end up with a RF of 2.20 due to having a Shorter Fence and less Foul Territory. He's making all the same plays he used to, he just has less ground to make the plays in.