Advance scouting...do most invest most in this ? I've always put the mot money towards this at the expense of high school college and international scouting but as of late my drafts haven't been good...any advise?

I certainly do.  Many great GM's don't.

If you're not constantly trading FOR young players, you don't need it.    It could be argued that you don't need it even if you are making those sorts of trades.

Advanced Scouting doesn't effect your draft at all.

Many experienced owners have gone to 0 ADV.  Development patterns for players are easily seen and it's not rocket science to manually project them out to an actual peak.  Once you're able to do that, ADV provides no tangible benefit unless, as Mike pointed out, you plan on trading for young players who haven't yet established an observable development pattern.  The money you spend on ADV can be better spent elsewhere.

I read in some forum about a formula some use and just wanted some more opinions on it. IIRC, you need to see the player's ratings jump after his first season (this won't apply for first year players).

(Difference in rating from season 1 to season 2) * 2.5 + season 1 rating = good projected final rating guess

So if, for example, my guy shows a 56 contact rating in season 1 turn into a 65 contact rating in season 2:

(65-56) * 2.5 + 56 = 78.5 projected contact rating

Is this widely used and fairly accurate?

It's reasonably accurate.

Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Mark Borowski improved 6 points between S1 and S2.   I'd have him in mid to upper 80s.    The formula you're referred to would have him at 91.   I think 86 is the best I can expect(maybe 87).

To put it another way, I do 1.5 x first improvement.  But it's even less on a higher scale.   A guy that goes 85 to 90 is less likely to improve 7.5 more points than a guy who goes 65 to 70.

Mike interestingly enough, xfitwolf referred to that formula applying to the sub-ratings ie contact, and the formula was actually almost perfect for your player's contact , (S2-S1)x2.5 + S1 in this instance = 85 and your player got to exactly 85.  It seems like it wouldn't necessarily apply to overall because some of the ratings are fixed (speed, temper, etc) and therefore the formula would always be skewed downwards ?  Also would the fielding ratings (glove, accuracy) be more dependent on your FI than on any particular unified formula ?

Guess I misunderstood the formula.  

FI is the most important coach because glove/AA is very dependent on his skill level.   It may only add up to a 1-3 points per season but, over the course of 4 seasons, it's the difference between a SS and a 3B.    You really need a FI with upper 60s, at a minimum, even though players will improve with a FI in the upper 40s.

Yes I was referring to only the sub-ratings. It seems like that formula can give a fairly accurate idea of where a player's ratings will end up. Should do away with the need for advanced scouting at all (besides evaluating players in their first year of development)

This guy doesn't work.   Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Cesar Aneury

Either way, using either formula, you can get in the ballpark.    And that's all you're going to get with 20m in ADV.

Problem starts if you're trading for players who aren't in their 2nd full year. 

http://whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=5314738

Here's a weird player for our fielding coach example. Seasons 25-26 the previous owner had the worst fielding coach in the league, season 27 I showed up and hired one of the 3 best, a guy whose development had literally stalled for two full seasons (no DL stints) restarted again at his maximum rate. So I'm guessing this formula does not apply to all attributes but is probably good for estimating

Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Braden Burks


Three seasons of no development with weak FI.  Then 6 seasons of improvement in G/AA after I took the team and hired a good FI.