How to evaluate players: OOTP Tutorial for Beginners

[@alexdostaler]

These videos are still super helpful in 2021 -- thanks for making them!

[@pfholden]

Thanks, Alex! Glad they help.

[@davidstewart2364]

Played OOTP casually since OOTP4. This series has helped dive deeper and reevaluate how I do things. Great Tutorials for beginners and even casual long time players.

[@pfholden]

Wow, thanks for the kind words, David. I’m sure a veteran of the game like you could teach me things about the game!

[@nathancrawford312]

Found this game because of you and vids like these really help me wrap my head around it all. Having so much more fun than trying to manage a franchise on the show.

[@pfholden]

Yeah man, the level of detail for managing a franchise really blows The Show away. Glad the videos have been helpful.

[@GoneGamingBadfish]

Very well done videos man, I've watched a few of your ootp tutorials now and all have been extremely informative! Keep up the great content!

[@pfholden]

Thanks for the kind words, appreciate it

[@7varm2]

So I did some FanGraphs research: you’re pretty right on batter K% and BB%, but average K/9 is 8.2 and average BB/9 is 2.9 (for starters, I assume?)

[@pfholden]

ah gotcha. Yeah, some of those numbers have shifted as bit in recent years for sure. Thanks for checking!

[@reedtimme1258]

Would be curious to know if/how your evaluation methodology changes for the amateur draft, especially with respect to stats

[@reedtimme1258]

Great videos by the way, really informative

[@pfholden]

Hey Reed, thanks! I don't really pay any attention at all to stats for the draft. If you look at my O's franchise playlist, there are a few draft episodes on there where I kinda talk strategy. Let me know if any other questions.

[@hammerpgh]

@@pfholden Looking forward to watching your O's franchise videos once I've worked my way through these tutorials 👍

[@BryanBear5050]

For the batters, I think one should keep in mind their strategy of playing and the ballpark. I play the Padres and their ballpark is modified, by default, to reduce all types of hits. My strategy is to steal often and find guys that get extra base hits. So, I value gap power and speed in tandem to determine triples. I would assume the Orioles' stadium has a better stadium modified to allow more home runs and hits, in general. I use a lot of Run and Hit with Machado and Hosmer. They do not have great speed but above average stealing (60). I have stolen 15 bases with Machado in 40 games. In your experience, does the computer only use the base stealing value for the player and hold running / catcher arm on defense? For pitchers, I look at quality start percentage. Some days, a pitcher will have terrible stuff and get shelled. Other days, he will be awesome. My guess is there is a RNG before the game for the pitcher to determine if they are going to have a good/bad day. In real life, it might be how the guy feels, weather, etc. But the game is based on if your team wins or loses, not the actual calculated stats of individual players. ERA for a reliever is not really important. I prefer to look at the game logs to see if he had more "good" outings than "bad" ones. This is just my philosophy. What are your thoughts on catcher ability? Some folks in the OOTP forums think it is super valuable. I've since signed a free agent catcher with a catcher ability of 70. It appears the called strike change is higher when a catcher ability is higher. I wonder if the pitch selection/sequence is simulated using catcher ability, meaning the percentages of a hit are less when the catcher ability is high. Thanks for making the video and I look forward to your response. You seem to respond often so thank you for that.

[@pfholden]

Yeah, I think paying attention to park is a good thing to do, especially with pitchers. For example, high movement and groundball pitchers are less likely to give up home runs, so it's important to target these guys in homer-friendly parks. Catcher ability is key. Sgt Mushroom posted a video about this over on his channel: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qafGmnVtl5qFadk

[@ColinWitkowski]

How do you edit the stats on the player profile screen? I have OOTP21 and don't see how to edit them to what is displayed in the video.

[@pfholden]

Hey Colin, I have a video in the tutorial playlist called “stats views” that goes over that. I’d send you the link but I’m getting a weak signal where I am and can’t get it pulled up.

[@ColinWitkowski]

@@pfholden Oh ok, I'll take a look in the playlist. Thanks again! This was a super helpful video.

[@pfholden]

Yeah man, let me know if you have anymore questions

[@ColinWitkowski]

@@pfholden So i setup my view similar to yours. The AI is hellbent on prying this one prospect from me who doesn't look like much with the basic view, so thats what drove me to get some better tools for analysis. Turns out this guy has had crap luck for 2 out of 3 years and projects to be pretty solid. That AI is sneaky, trying to throw some garbage back for him. Now its time for ridiculous counteroffers. Hopefully one of them sticks.

[@pfholden]

Haha the AI trade offers are generally trash

[@pizza_volcano]

how do you customize stat lines in player profile pages?

[@pfholden]

Here you go: kzbin.info/www/bejne/opSzpIJqoraHldE

[@pizza_volcano]

@@pfholden thanks!

[@Fives179]

What I completely dont get is why when you go on a player from your team and look at his stats through your scout report, it says average or low (at least at the start of the season, I havent gotten far yet). Like this player is from my team, how does my scout only have an "average' lvl of knowledge???

[@pfholden]

Hey Roomster, The accuracy of the scouts most recent report can be impacted by a few things. One is how much money you invest in scouting. The more money invested, the more your scout can get done. Another is how you have that scouting budget divvied up. If you find a certain area is under-scouted, consider putting more money there. You can also have your scout give you a report on any specific player by requesting a scouting report in the player profile. And a report with "average" accuracy isn't too bad. While iut helps to have "very high" and things can certainly change, some research I saw on the OOTP forums suggest you won't see wild swings in a scouting report with "low" or "high" accuracy.

[@zxccxz164]

so how do you evaluate players over 30? since the potential is gone

[@pfholden]

Pretty much the same as in this video, like with Rutschman, he'd reached his full potential according to my scout. Stats and ratings combo. Here's a video on pitching stats: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKDIqJqJZ7ejoMk and hitting stats: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKmYiJuXl62nnrM that may help give more detail.

[@disneyfannrkrb]

when do you know its time to cut a player? how long do you give him?

[@pfholden]

Do you mean prospects in the minors? Hate to give a vague answer but it really depends on things like age, potential, performance, any improvement since drafting etc.

[@disneyfannrkrb]

@@pfholden sorry, yes Prospects

[@spinnygatz3202]

How many players do you keep at each minor league level during the season (roughly)? Thanks in advance

[@pfholden]

Hey Spinny, I normally keep about 16-20 hitters and 16-20 pitchers. This is so I don't have to worry as much about injuries leaving a team short. I still check on each minor league team every two weeks or so. But, you'll want to be careful that a crowded roster doesn't leave developing prospects on the bench.

[@spinnygatz3202]

pfholden makes sense! thanks for the response.

[@spinnygatz3202]

pfholden my main concern was losing ABs/Innings for the guys I want to develop as I let the AI control my minor league lineups.

[@pfholden]

Hey Spinny, I let the AI control my minor league lineups too. But, if the computer isn't starting who you want, you can always go to a player strategy page and use the "force start" at a certain position.

[@wheelsoffpodcast]

Ok so where do I find the place to customize my stats for my batters and pitchers?

[@pfholden]

Hey Keith, I can do a video on this soon if this isn't clear, but go to a player page, go to either batting or pitching stats, click view and then edit views. For team pages, like your pitching staff, click on views and then edit views on the menu.

[@wheelsoffpodcast]

pfholden appreciate it. Just started playing the game about a day or two ago so everything is new to me. Appreciate the content and sorry for busting your chops on the ummms. Momentary lapse of being an English teacher struck me

[@pfholden]

Lol, no problem, I took it as all in good fun. The game is awesome, good luck! There's a lot to learn so feel free to drop back by with more questions. The OOTP forums are a great resource too.

[@wheelsoffpodcast]

@@pfholden yeah doing a video on this might help us old timers trying to figure things out...

[@brendanjackson2037]

@@wheelsoffpodcast Thanks i was about to ask the same thing!

[@finalthrd]

Great vids with accurate info. Just subbed. :)

[@pfholden]

Awesome, thank you!

[@connorjohnson3159]

Yohan Ramirez has like 25 control, but is an absolute beast for my team

[@pfholden]

It could be that your scout's opinion on his control is too low, depending on his BB% and/or BB/9. Or maybe he's a guy who has enough dominance and luck in other areas that he can get away with a bad walk rate.

[@buckybuckeye8998]

I love your tutorial vids and am learning a lot and I hope you make vids on development and drafting. Just some thoughts though. I know it isn't popular at all in the sabermetrics dominated era, but I personally think batting average is a lot more important than it gets credit for now. If you look at the teams that have won the last 5+ World Series one thing most of them have in common is they had a good team batting average. Also, I don't know if it is the same way in this game but extra base hits are good to look at in development as doubles can turn into home runs as players' power improves.

[@pfholden]

Hey Bucky, Thanks for watching. I think batting average can be a sign of a good hitter, but I think on-base and slugging can tell me more about a player so I prefer them.

[@mbgoodchild]

Great video. Very helpful. I would love on on how you manage minors.

[@pfholden]

Hey Mike, Thanks! On managing the minors, do you mean when to promote players and that kind of stuff/

[@mbgoodchild]

pfholden exactly! Who gets called up for injury vs stays down for lower level experience. Maybe even how many guys per level and how you manage to keep it all straight. Already started using your stat breakdown for evaluation. Been paying off. Thanks again.

[@pfholden]

Yeah, I can do a video on that hopefully here in the next week or so.

[@mbgoodchild]

pfholden that’s awesome! Been watching your tutorials and keeping notes.

[@CASEY1100_]

i just typed some random stuff on youtube and fate brought me here

[@pfholden]

Welcome