Just picked up a team and based the franchise in San Antonio. A lot of negative ratings. Should I focus on Defense? The franchise was in Sante Fe previously and they are definitely geared to that bandbox. All suggestions are very welcome.

I've got teams in Portland and Seattle. Good hitters will still get their hits but mediocre hitters will suffer, particularly in batting average. Expect everyone to take about a 30 point hit in batting average. I try to get hitters who can take a few more walks, keep the on base percentages up. More balls in play means you want good defenders handling the chances. The upside is that your pitchers don't have to be elite talents. Gear yourself down to playing more 4-2 games instead of 6-4 games.

I don't have a lot of experience with skewed ballparks-- but if I were in San Antonio I would build around hitting and preventing BB and HR. The park is -4 for all non-HR hits, but only (0, -2) for HR, and as far as I can tell no park is anything but (0) for walks.

So maximize hitters' power and eye somewhat at the expense of contact and splits (don't let the splits get TOO low), and for pitchers trade some splits/pitches for control/GB (mostly control, and again, don't let the splits get super-low).

Speed/baserunning/eye. Get guys on, steal a base, get a hit, score a run.

Posted by MikeT23 on 12/21/2017 7:12:00 PM (view original):
Speed/baserunning/eye. Get guys on, steal a base, get a hit, score a run.

Nailed it.

I've played almost 30 seasons in San Diego (super negative park)

Small ball is your friend. I built a team that is very defensive but can also run. My 'power hitters' are guys that can get on base with a good eye.

Leadoff hitter walks, steals second, then you just need a few guys to put the ball in the air to move him home. You can win a lot of games by 1 run like this.

I agree that in SD, SEA, TAC, BUR, it should be all about small ball. But San Antonio, and to a lesser extent Augusta, are unique in that they destroy BA (and doubles and triples) but are neutral to HRs. I'm surprised that you wouldn't mix in some power in that particular park.

Mike, you played in ABQ for many seasons, which is the opposite of SA (massively inflates BA but is neutral to power). Do you add power there (because everybody's on base all the time and your homers are less frequently solo) or devalue it (because the park gives up more in the way of line drive hits than homers)?

If you can get it, I feel like every team that plays in a pitchers park should have at least one guy who can hit for power. When games are 1-0, 2-1 etc that one solo shot can be the winning run. So if you have a guy who hits 50 in neutral or hitters parks, even if he hits high 30's in a pitchers park, that's still probably 30 games where he is making a big difference.

The biggest problem is in a neutral or hitters park, I'd consider a guy with good contact and power but no splits or eye (not both) to be a useful hitter. In a pitchers park, he is useless. So then you want to go looking for guys with good numbers in 3 of the 4 major categories plus good power (splits, contact and eye being the others) and unfortunately, those are the all-stars that everyone is looking for.


A few examples.

In a hitters or neutral park

https://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=6230523

Would be the perfect platoon plus defensive replacement. But in SD he just doesn't get on base enough.

Same with

https://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=8468940

In a hitters park I'd probably bring him off the bench for late power against lefties but I can't see him doing well in SD so he will probably stay in the minors or be trade bait.

dedel, I seldom build to my park. I start with getting my defense right. Then often follow with pitching. What I have after that dictates how I play. If you're going to steal, you have to build your TEAM to steal. You can't put 5 thieves out there with 4 turtles. But, if you're going more conventional, I'll look for at least 2-3 power guys to fill in 1B/DH/COF.

Power does indeed play in a pitcher's park. It's just that the same player hits, say, 40 HRs instead of 50 in a hitter's park. The BA takes a hit but the slugging can still be there.