The Brewster

I love, love, love OOTP studies. Inject them into my veins. Ever since my early days in FOBL when an owner showed that MOV in a super-early version (I think v5, but it's been a long time) was by far the most important pitching rating, and it wasn't close. That has changed over the years, but he built a dominant strategy around it we called "cuervoball," and everybody immediately copied him.

Back then, FOBL had quite a few stat nerds (*cough* Ron *cough*), and I learned pretty much everything I know about OOTP from them.

With that in mind, I went through the "Features" forum here and tried to compile threads (and in some cases, individual posts within threads) containing information that I consider to belong to the category of, "things you really want to know about OOTP."

I'm not all the way through, but really, given the changes in each version, I think we're almost reaching a point of diminishing returns. Feel free to post links to things I've missed.

I hope to go through this post and enhance it to include more specific information on what the post in question discusses (sort of a mini-abstract for each post), but I wanted to get this out there.


(includes posts dated 9/28/17 and newer)
Last Updated: 12-12-19

Pitch types and their effects: viewtopic.php?p=176873#p176873

Chart showing personality traits and resultant "types": viewtopic.php?f=20&t=28662&p=162921&hil ... er#p162932

SS defense is more than "just find me the best range you've got": viewtopic.php?f=20&t=28414&p=161054

UCL surgery: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=29202

Exit velocity: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=29117

Strikeout proficiency: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=28765

Game planning: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=28624

5-Tools in the BBA/OOTP: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=28488

The Power of On-base Percentage: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=28468

Relative Ratings and Platoon Splits: Batters: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=28235

What is a good/bad team?: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=28188

The Thin Line Between 1B and DH: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=27343

The status of Ratings across the BBA after the BBA adjusted our rating scheme from absolute to relative: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=27115

International Complex Development: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=26218

Catcher ratings and their effects (many individual posts discussing various aspects): viewtopic.php?f=23&t=26010

Gate Sharing as a primary tool for controlling the financial environment: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=25444

Some info on ticket prices, both estimating other team's and their effects: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=25407

Aspects of player personality and using PPT to increase them: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=25265

Another Danged Catcher Defense Study: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=25186

Players' error rating and its effect on performance: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=25140

Is Infield Error Broken?: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=25137

The value of various pitching ratings (in the BBA environment of 2035): viewtopic.php?f=23&t=25012

How Often Do Defensive Ratings Bump?: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=24421

Post in a larger topic discussing MOV and batter ratings (e.g., how to estimate BABIP rating): viewtopic.php?p=135688#p135688

Several threads on SB:

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=23787
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=22190
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=22198
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=21319

Predicting Player Performance-It's not all about the ratings (with some valuable posts from Ted and RonCo later in the thread about granularity of ratings, etc.): viewtopic.php?f=23&t=23391

The relative value of 4 different slash lines (to get to the original linked poll, go to viewtopic.php?f=34&t=22991), with really good discussion of the OOTP engine: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=22996


Media Guide Articles

The pitching platoon experiment - good thoughts on how to pick SP based on your opponent (2033): http://www.typosphere.com/2033-BBA-Medi ... -Final.pdf

Is there a difference as to when injuries occur in V18 vs. V17, along with other injury data - "Pain and Suffering in the BBA (2034)": http://www.typosphere.com/2034-BBA-Medi ... -Final.pdf

An Argument for Higher Ticket Prices (2038): http://www.typosphere.com/2038-BBA-Medi ... -Final.pdf

What’s a Draft Pick Worth? (2039): http://www.typosphere.com/2039-BBA-Medi ... -Final.pdf

Wow. What a great post!! Give this man some PP!

Awesome. Now I've got to go back and read them all.

niles08 wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 04, 2019 6:46 pm

Wow. What a great post!! Give this man some PP!

Yes, yes. I smell "Special Project points" and a Sticky

I'd like to buy you a beer. Seriously.

Also, there goes my evening...

I'm so glad people are finding this useful!

I'll add something here... studies I would like to see:

Pitch types and their effects on splits, etc. (i.e., what is the "optimal" mix of pitches in prospects?)

How often does a "stuck" changeup become "unstuck," and at what age is it likely to happen (conversely, after what age is a changeup never going to develop). Also, how often do pitchers develop a 3rd pitch, and is the best chance with a guy that has a 1/1 changeup (what I've found anecdotally).

sjshaw wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 04, 2019 6:56 pm

How often does a "stuck" changeup become "unstuck," and at what age is it likely to happen (conversely, after what age is a changeup never going to develop). Also, how often do pitchers develop a 3rd pitch, and is the best chance with a guy that has a 1/1 changeup (what I've found anecdotally).

I would love to see this. I don't have much time to go through the info, so I'm so appreciative of people who take the time to put this stuff together.

GREAT stuff, can't wait to go back and read (or re-read) them...I'm willing to bet some of these might even make their way into what I expect to be an enormous 75th anniversary media guide in a few (real time) years!

Yeah, Stephen, I’ve got to join in - this is a tremendous post. What a great idea and public service. Not sure Ron even has enough points to adequately reward you for the thought and work you put in here.

Needless to say, thanks for this!

HoosierVic wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 05, 2019 4:17 pm

Yeah, Stephen, I’ve got to join in - this is a tremendous post. What a great idea and public service. Not sure Ron even has enough points to adequately reward you for the thought and work you put in here.

Needless to say, thanks for this!

I award Stephen 10,000 points, but, then again, I'm currently watching "Whose Line is it Anyway".

wow, great stuff,

sjshaw wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 04, 2019 6:56 pm

I'll add something here... studies I would like to see:

Pitch types and their effects on splits, etc. (i.e., what is the "optimal" mix of pitches in prospects?)

How often does a "stuck" changeup become "unstuck," and at what age is it likely to happen (conversely, after what age is a changeup never going to develop). Also, how often do pitchers develop a 3rd pitch, and is the best chance with a guy that has a 1/1 changeup (what I've found anecdotally).

I'm catching up a little. I've done quite a bit of work on some of these things, and even then I'm not really sure I can adequately answer these.

I'll also say that to write/post about them would get a little ... intense. I'll think about it a little and see if I can come up with some kernels, though. None Des Moines ones.

Added a post with a chart showing personality traits and resultant "types." At the top.

Added viewtopic.php?p=176873#p176873

Doing yeoman's work, Stephen...great stuff.

Definitely have to take some time to comb though all of this... great compilation, thanks!

I need to update this post eventually, but adding "Relative Ratings: Perhaps you don’t want to go here… " for posterity....

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=33592

I'll update this post completely during the offseason, but putting this here now:

Ted's Guide to Sustained Winning

Part 1--viewtopic.php?f=45&t=28178
Part 2--viewtopic.php?f=45&t=28179
Part 3--viewtopic.php?f=45&t=28275
Part 4--viewtopic.php?f=45&t=28356
Part 5--viewtopic.php?f=45&t=28359
Appendix A--viewtopic.php?f=45&t=28795

good stuff...thanks for making this thread noticed again