Are these totally random? I've seen an 18th rounder and a 24th rounder lately that have big league potential, the 18 round SP could be an all-star. I was away from HBD for a while, but do I need to start signing all of my late round picks now? These are not DITRs.

Yeah. There are many reasons for it, but basically they "weren't scouted" by anyone.

I got one guy out of High School with the #687 pick, he's a possible SP3 or SP4. I saw, let's say, 200 prospects with ratings and all the rest were "?" players. Went back after the draft and checked my prospects page, he was right there at #201.

So yes, I sign most of my late round draft picks, especially the unknowns.

But are all of the surprise good players (non-DITR) those that have ?? in the ratings? For example, if every player I drafted had had ratings appear, and I had a $20M scouting budget, there's no way that any of my late picks could turn out to be great (again, DITR notwithstanding), right? And should I be intentionally drafting more ??? players?

First of all, the only way you get ??? players is to not see a full 500 prospects. With 20 million High School (on one of my teams), I usually see only around 200 prospects with projections. With 20 million College scouting, I almost always see the full 500. But there are other owners who budget less than 20 mil College, so they'll see some ??? college players.

In the High School draft, I now intentionally draft ??? players from about round 10 onward. Somewhere around my 120th prospect, I start seeing players who might never get out of A ball, even if they DiTR they'll still be absolute crap. So I throw them down to the bottom of the pile, after all the ??? guys. I'd rather take a lottery ticket than just waste a mid-round signing bonus.

College players whose drafting owners don't see projections might leave them unsigned. They can show up in the next season's minor league free agent pool. So I always look at the 23-year-olds, see if a good one slipped through.

Posted by damag on 7/20/2017 6:06:00 PM (view original):
First of all, the only way you get ??? players is to not see a full 500 prospects. With 20 million High School (on one of my teams), I usually see only around 200 prospects with projections. With 20 million College scouting, I almost always see the full 500. But there are other owners who budget less than 20 mil College, so they'll see some ??? college players.

In the High School draft, I now intentionally draft ??? players from about round 10 onward. Somewhere around my 120th prospect, I start seeing players who might never get out of A ball, even if they DiTR they'll still be absolute crap. So I throw them down to the bottom of the pile, after all the ??? guys. I'd rather take a lottery ticket than just waste a mid-round signing bonus.

College players whose drafting owners don't see projections might leave them unsigned. They can show up in the next season's minor league free agent pool. So I always look at the 23-year-olds, see if a good one slipped through.

This is a really great idea. Takes a little extra time but I like when hard work pays off.

Posted by damag on 7/20/2017 6:06:00 PM (view original):
First of all, the only way you get ??? players is to not see a full 500 prospects. With 20 million High School (on one of my teams), I usually see only around 200 prospects with projections. With 20 million College scouting, I almost always see the full 500. But there are other owners who budget less than 20 mil College, so they'll see some ??? college players.

In the High School draft, I now intentionally draft ??? players from about round 10 onward. Somewhere around my 120th prospect, I start seeing players who might never get out of A ball, even if they DiTR they'll still be absolute crap. So I throw them down to the bottom of the pile, after all the ??? guys. I'd rather take a lottery ticket than just waste a mid-round signing bonus.

College players whose drafting owners don't see projections might leave them unsigned. They can show up in the next season's minor league free agent pool. So I always look at the 23-year-olds, see if a good one slipped through.

You only see unsigned college players in next year's free-agent pull if they are seniors.

Even at 20M/20M scouting you still miss ~10% of players, (aside from the ones ranked below the top 500). The fact that most teams spend 20M or less in total draft scouting means some good players will occasionally fall through the cracks into ??? territory.

Anyone know if there's a way to see the sub 500 players? I've tried adjusting the formula and playing with weightings in the draft settings page. Neither worked for me.

Posted by sjpoker on 7/21/2017 12:30:00 PM (view original):

Posted by damag on 7/20/2017 6:06:00 PM (view original):
First of all, the only way you get ??? players is to not see a full 500 prospects. With 20 million High School (on one of my teams), I usually see only around 200 prospects with projections. With 20 million College scouting, I almost always see the full 500. But there are other owners who budget less than 20 mil College, so they'll see some ??? college players.

In the High School draft, I now intentionally draft ??? players from about round 10 onward. Somewhere around my 120th prospect, I start seeing players who might never get out of A ball, even if they DiTR they'll still be absolute crap. So I throw them down to the bottom of the pile, after all the ??? guys. I'd rather take a lottery ticket than just waste a mid-round signing bonus.

College players whose drafting owners don't see projections might leave them unsigned. They can show up in the next season's minor league free agent pool. So I always look at the 23-year-olds, see if a good one slipped through.

You only see unsigned college players in next year's free-agent pull if they are seniors.

And only if they were "looking to sign." If they were a questionable sign and they don't sign, it's assumed they did the thing they were threatening to do (play pro basketball, eg) and they don't show up in the free agent pool the next season.

Because I'm bored and waiting for my girlfriend to get changed.

Behold! 19th round!

https://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=8302350

The second best Pujols to go after the 10th.

https://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=7834708..... I really like this guy as a late round lottery ticket

Geezus.. That is sick.. I'd feel like **** if I drafted this ******* 1st pick while you get that guy 677 picks later..

Posted by bigpop34 on 7/28/2017 9:40:00 AM (view original):
https://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=7834708..... I really like this guy as a late round lottery ticket

I'm usually a sim apologist, but this one strains the "no one scouted him" credibility... unless it's those DL stints that jacked him up.

He has not gotten any improvements from extended DL trips, in fact he actually lost some speed while on the DL.

I think it's good for the game. The smart manager will sign those "not scouted well enough" guys if there are enough of this type. And that will fill out minors.