1) How important is speed in determining base stealing ability vs the "base running" rating?

2) Does the Bench Coach only use his strategy rating once I am ejected from the game?

3/4) What is a decent rating for a pitch and how many pitches should I expect a starter to have?


Thanks for all the help guys. Since the start of the season there has been a lot of info to wrap my head around so any help is much appreciated.

1) They are both important.  A high speed, low BR guy will run a lot under normal settings with a poor success rate.  A medium speed, high BR guy might run here and there with a decent success rate.  A guy with  low 80's speed and low 70's BR will probably be able to steal with a ~ 70-75% success rate.  With 90+ speed and 80+ BR, he will run frequently with 90%+ success rate.

2) I think the strategy rating primarily affects the overall development of your players ratings, and is most important in the minors.  I may be wrong here though.

3) A SP should have at least 3 pitches, and it's hard to have set rules.  I'd say 80 is decent for P1, 70 for P2, 60 for P3, and 50 for P4, but there are a lot of permutations that will be good.  A 90/90/40/40 guy would probably do pretty well, and if a guy has high ctrl + splits you can forego pitch ratings a bit.  If a pitcher has 75+ control and splits he could probably post an ERA ~ 4 with 70/65/50/50 pitches, even though they are subpar.  If a guy has 3 pitches rated 80+ that is awesome.

1) Almost equally important (as outlined by deano)

2) I'm pretty sure strategy only comes into play if "you" have been ejected. The bench coach's other ratings (hitting, pitching, fielding, etc.) can help (or hinder?) player development at their respective level, but I also believe that this effect is more pronounced in the minors.

3/4) I agree with all that deano has said, but I'll add some more. Of course, a SP with 75+ control and splits with 80/70/60/50 is going to be pretty good, but those guys are also somewhat uncommon (and thus, expensive). Finding undervalued pitchers is one of the most fun parts of the game, and goes a long way toward your success. I'm usually more willing to take a risk on a guy with splits in the 60s if he's got two pitches and control over 75, especially if his velocity is 50 or above. (Velocity sort of helps pitches become a little better, it seems to me.) This can be especially effective in pitchers' parks. But I have seen very effective pitchers with 80+ splits and no pitches above 70, but they aren't going to strike out too many guys and will put up a stinker of a season if you give them enough time. As long as a pitcher (starter or reliever) has two quality pitches and ML-caliber splits and control (generally considered to be 60 or above), he can probably be useful. A starter is going to need a third pitch of some sort, but I don't worry too much about how good those are. I try to stay away from RP with only one ML pitch and a second one below 70; others have success with them, but they make me nervous. I also don't like the guys with a second pitch better than their first one, but that's just a prejudice on my part.

Hope this helps.

Date	User
3/24/2008 1:38 AM	plague
I have a question about coaches. I took over a team with a poor major league pitching and bullpen coach. It seems to me that pitchers are recovering slow on the team, I always assumed, or was led to believe that coaches are mainly for player improvement. This leads me to a few questions. Do coaches factor during gameplay? For example does a poor pitching coach play a factor in pitchers recovering slowly from game to game, or does a poor pitching coach factor into pitchers ERA on average being higher that season compared to a better pitching coach?
3/24/2008 4:51 PM	Customer Support
James, Coaches play no role in player's recovering fatigue that is solely based on the player's ratings. Coaches also do not play a role in player performance, that is also strictly ratings.