Ratings Reset Criteria

(Note: in certain cases we “undo” the effects of OOTP’s Player Development on players; the following is a detailed description of what determines whether we do that. It is not required reading; it is here for reference.)

This league’s player creation/maintenance rules are heavily biased in favor of players who had long real-life careers.

When a player enters the league I rate him based on his career statistics. The resulting ratings are his “base” ratings. Prior to each season I check each player in the league and make changes, if necessary. The criteria that determines if a player’s ratings are to be changed follows.

Tenured/non-tenured/“dead man walking”

For the purposes of determining when and how they will be reset, players fall under three categories:

Tenured:

• The player’s real-life career was ten years or longer, AND
• The player is not within three years of the end of his real-life MLB, AA, or NeL career

Non-tenured:

• The player’s real-life career was less than ten years, OR
• The player is within three years of the end of his real-life MLB, AA, or NeL career

“Dead man walking”:

• The player is past the end of his real-life career

Pitchers

I compare the pitcher’s CURRENT ratings with his base ratings and check for changes in the following categories:

• Stuff
• Movement
• Control

If the pitcher is not tenured, I reset all his ratings if his Movement rating has gone up by more than +1, or if either of the other two ratings have gone up by more than +2.

If the pitcher is a “dead man walking”, I reset only the ratings that have gone up; I don’t reset any of the ratings that have gone down.

Batters

I compare the player’s CURRENT ratings with his base ratings and check for changes in the following categories:

• Contact
• Gap Power
• Home Run Power
• Eye/Discipline

If the player is not tenured, I reset all his ratings if his Contact rating has gone up by more than +1, or if any of the other three ratings have gone up by more than +2.

If the player is a “dead man walking”, I reset only the ratings that have gone up; I don’t reset any of the ratings that have gone down.

Resetting Fielding Ratings

Unlike hitting ratings, my fielding ratings are only based loosely on stats, and are therefore subjective. I try to keep tabs on when the game is decimating someone’s fielding ratings, and if he is still in his “tenured” period as a hitter, I may reset his fielding ratings when it seems appropriate. Feel free to notify me if you think your boy deserves a fielding reset.

Minimum Ratings

Some players suddenly lose their ratings at a defensive position during the season via OOTP’s Player Development/Career-Destroying system. “How could my guy go from being a 6 to a 0 in one month?” is a reasonable question, and it turns out it has a reasonable answer. There are “prerequisites” for a rating as each position; if the player dips below the minimum requirement in any one area, he loses his entire rating for the position. These are the minimums:

MINIMUM COMPONENT RATINGS FOR RATING AT A POSITION

I will sometimes restore a player’s rating by adjusting the one area (usually error rating) that has disqualified him, but I will generally only do this if the player is not in his declining years.

Minors to MLB or vice-versa

A player’s ratings are based on his career statistics at the level he played during a given year. For instance, if he played primarily in the minors in real life in 1927, his ratings that year would be based on his career Double-A totals; if he played primarily in the majors the next year, his ratings that year would be based on his career MLB totals. For many players this means their “base” ratings might change a few times during their career.

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