OOTP X

[Pat]

The creator of the database put the same injury in with different wordings to try to increase the frequency of more common injuries. Not sure why they have different recovery times. Probably an oversight.

FWIW, OOTP X fixes all of these issues by removing the SEI option, making all injuries follow the duration times listed and adding a frequency paramater.

Are you pushing for the OOTP X switch?

[Clay]

The injury system (if it works properly) is really outstanding in OOTP X.

[Ryan]

When does OOTP X drop?

[Andrew]

Are you pushing for the OOTP X switch?

Not anytime in the near future. But as I said to Clay the other day, some changes in the last few weeks have made me a lot more excited about it than I was previously.

1987 will be played with OOTP 9 though.

[Andrew]

When does OOTP X drop?

Next week.

[Ryan]

Next week.

Hmm, can I still get the discount or did I miss it?

[Andrew]

Hmm, can I still get the discount or did I miss it?

Missed it.

[Clay]

Everything about OOTP X that I'm hearing sounds really exciting... but like Andrew said... we are NOT going to be the first in the pool this time. We're still recovering from lost history and things like that. Hell, we still don't have our Playoff History back. This is Season 10 and it would be a damn shame to lose more stuff by switching too soon.

[Andrew]

Here's an explanation of the new pitching system that will be posted in the OOTP general forums soon:

As nearly everyone knows, <acronym title="Out of the Park Baseball">OOTP</acronym> 10 has introduced a number of substantial changes to its pitching system. The following will attempt to explain those changes so that <acronym title="Out of the Park Baseball">OOTP</acronym> 9 users will know what to expect.

First and foremost, you can still use Stuff, Movement, and Control to evaluate your pitchers as always. Some of the underlying formulas have changed, but you can continue to easily gauge a pitcher’s strikeout, home run, and walk rates based upon these numbers.

The largest and most obvious change in <acronym title="Out of the Park Baseball">OOTP</acronym> 10 is that a pitcher’s pitches now have their own individual ratings. These ratings serve two purposes. The first is to determine a pitcher’s Stuff rating. Quite simply, higher pitch ratings mean more strikeouts. The second purpose behind the pitch ratings is to determine how effectively a pitcher will function as a starter. As in <acronym title="Out of the Park Baseball">OOTP</acronym> 9, the bare minimum endurance (now called Stamina) needed in order to start is 50 on the 1-200 scale. However, pitchers now require at least three pitches whose average rating is halfway decent in order to be considered competent starters in major league ball. As you travel down to the lower levels of the minor leagues, pitchers need fewer pitches at lower ratings in order to fulfill the same duty. A pitcher’s suitability for starting at any level of play can be easily seen in a dropdown menu in the Ratings tab of the Player Profile. This dropdown menu will display a pitcher as a Starter, Borderline Starter, Emergency Starter, or Bullpen pitcher at any level of play you select. Each designation will of course perform increasingly worse in a starting pitching role.

One of the reasons why this is such an exciting change is that there is a lot more uncertainty over whether a pitching prospect will end up in a starting or relieving role once he comes of age. A vast majority of draftees will have good enough Stamina to start, but will lack a third pitch needed to do so in the majors. Just as in real life, the development of their third pitch will determine their future role and not just a static endurance rating. The Stamina rating isn’t simply there for show, however, especially as severe injuries now have a chance to reduce a pitcher’s Stamina rating. Some pitchers won’t end up healthy enough to start, despite their pitch selection. Think Kerry Wood.

Another reason why the new pitching system is an exciting advance is that managers are now given actual decisions over whether to use a pitcher in the starting rotation or the bullpen. In <acronym title="Out of the Park Baseball">OOTP</acronym> 9, you simply took your five best pitchers with enough endurance to start and threw them in the rotation. In <acronym title="Out of the Park Baseball">OOTP</acronym> 10, you will notice that pitchers are given different Stuff ratings based upon whether they are used as starters or relievers. <acronym title="Out of the Park Baseball">OOTP</acronym> has always given a hidden bonus to relievers to reflect the fact that batters get fewer looks at their pitches and have less of a chance to adjust to them. <acronym title="Out of the Park Baseball">OOTP</acronym> 10 now displays that bonus and heavily ties it to the strength of a reliever’s top two pitches as relievers have much less incentive to mix in their weaker offerings than starters, who have to mix in a third or fourth pitch to keep batters guessing. This means that a pitcher with a strong fastball, a strong slider, and a weak changeup might make for an average starting pitcher but a great reliever. You get to decide how he provides the most useful fit for your team.

A number of other minor changes have been included in <acronym title="Out of the Park Baseball">OOTP</acronym> 10 that help to improve the realism of its pitching system. Groundball percentage now directly factors into a player’s Movement rating and the presence of a curveball or sinker correlates to a higher groundball percentage. Also, velocity will now properly increase and decrease with age. This is important because some pitch ratings are heavily dependent upon velocity. Velocity plays a large part in a fastball’s rating but no part at all in a changeup’s rating, for instance.

Finally, we come to a relatively minor change, but one of my personal favorites. Left handed batter/right handed batter platoon splits are now based upon pitch type and strength. This means that if you are looking for a left-handed reliever who specializes in getting left handed batters out (a LOOGY), you can quickly search for those with good sliders, for instance. If you want a right handed reliever who can handle lefties and righties equally well, look for someone with a good cutter. To determine how each pitch would influence a pitcher’s platoon split in <acronym title="Out of the Park Baseball">OOTP</acronym>, we gathered data from real life platoon splits of pitchers who specialized in each pitch. <acronym title="Out of the Park Baseball">OOTP</acronym> pitchers still have their own individual platoon split ratings, so not all pitchers with the same pitches will end up with the exact same splits, but pitch types give a good general guideline. You can still view a player’s Rating tab in the Player Profile to see individual split ratings, but I’m a big fan of this change because as with many of the changes to the new system, it adds realistic depth and character to my pitchers.

[Lintyfresh85]

Interesting.

I'm hesitant to make any moves though as I know a couple of my pitchers would see drastic changes in their ratings, related to movement and what not due to their extreme, or lack their of ratings for ground ball %.

Also, unless Markus added a LOOGY spot to the bullpen screen, it's useless for online leagues.

Our managers hardly ever play the correct match ups as is. I doubt they would suddenly be smart enough to know when to put in a LOOGY, and when to put in a standard left handed reliever.

[Ryan]

Missed it.

Crap. I had a feeling that would happen.

The new pitching system is something that I've been wanting for quite some time. Can't wait.

[Riverman]

I think we will have to upgrade at some point if we want to keep the league viable but it make sense to wait until until at least after this season. It will be tough to find replacement GMs if we fall too far behind.

The new pitching system sounds very interseting if it is done well. IRL almost all real pitching prospects start out as starters in the minors and it sounds like 10 may do a good job of simulating that. It will add a new and interesting dimension to the game.

Has 10 been released yet, BTW? If so, does anyone have it, who has had a chance to take a look?

[Matt]

Comes out in a week...oh gotta go puke again. I'll give impressions if I'm still alive.

[Andrew]

The thing that scares me about the pitching system is how guys will convert. For example will a guy like Teagan Corrigan be a reliever because he only has 2 pitches?

[Ryan]

The thing that scares me about the pitching system is how guys will convert. For example will a guy like Teagan Corrigan be a reliever because he only has 2 pitches?

Wow, I had not even thought about that. Good point. The thing is though, this feature should have been in the game years ago. It's kind of a basic thing when evaluating pitchers.