Monday, May 4, 2015
Coach Rehiring
Generally, the approach that I take in determining whether to rehire, or do a rehire and promotion of a particular coach who is willing to be rehired, is to look at how he ranks in his primary rating for his role with other coaches in the world for that particular level and role from the previous season. You can look at last year's coaches across the world via the "Coaches" report. If his primary rating ranks within the top half (or ideally, top ten) of last season's coaches for the level/role you are considering him for, then he is a good candidate for rehiring and possibly promoting.
Coach Ratings
There are seven different coaches in HBD. Three are common to all major and minor league levels (bench coach, hitting coach, and pitching coach), three are specific ONLY to the major league level (bullpen coach, first base coach, and third base coach), and one is shared across all levels (the fielding instructor).
The consensus among most veteran HBD players is that the fielding instructor is the most important coach because he helps with the development of the fielding skills (glove and arm accuracy) of all players in your organization. Fielding is sometimes an undervalued asset in HBD, so those owners who "get it" in terms of valuing fielding skills appropriately in conjunction with hitting skills for position players will have a step up over their opponents who pay little to no attention to defense.
From the "help" page for coach ratings, here is a description of the ratings for coaches.
- This is the coach's
hitting IQ rating. The higher the rating, the more he'll help your players
develop their batting skills.
- This is the coach's
pitching IQ rating. The higher the rating, the more he'll help your players
develop their pitching skills.
- This is the coach's
fielding IQ rating. The higher the rating, the more he'll help your players
develop their fielding skills.
- This is the
coach's baserunning IQ rating. The higher the rating, the more he'll help your
players develop their baserunning skills.
- This is the coach's
patience rating. The higher the rating, the easier it will be for him to
tolerate and coach younger players. Of course, if he's really good in the other
areas, his lack of patience may be acceptable.
- This is the coach's
strategy rating. The higher the rating, the more likely he'll succeed as a
bench coach. Bench coaches are important, because they can improve/hurt the
day-to-day management operations of a minor league franchise as well as affect
in-game decision making (even at the big league level if the manager gets
ejected). They generally have different managerial settings than the ones
you've set, for instance.
- This is the coach's
discipline rating. The higher the rating, the more focused he'll be on the
fundamentals such as bunting, throwing strikes and hitting the cutoff man. Of
course, this means he'll spend less time on some of the other important aspects
of his role.
- This is the coach's
loyalty rating. The higher the rating, the more likely the coach is to re-sign
with your club.
Another way to look at coach ratings would be to break down which ratings are most important to each of the seven coaching roles in an organization.
Fielding Instructor - fielding IQ is primary, and the patience and discipline ratings would be secondary. Since the FI works with all levels, you would want the secondary ratings to be adequate (ideally 50+).
Hitting Coach - hitting IQ is primary, and the patience and discipline ratings would be secondary. I like to have (patience + discipline) > 100. The lower in the organization you go, the higher you want the patience rating to be since the youngest players are typically in the lowest levels of the organization.
Pitching Coach - pitching IQ is primary, and the patience and discipline ratings would be secondary. I like to have (patience + discipline) > 100. The lower in the organization you go, the higher you want the patience rating to be since the youngest players are typically in the lowest levels of the organization.
Bench Coach - the strategy rating is primary, and all the other IQ ratings are secondary, as the bench coach in the minor leagues will "help" the hitting, pitching, and fielding coaches at each level. The same guidelines apply for the patience and discipline ratings are noted for the hotting and pitching coaches.
Bullpen Coach - basically, he's an assistant pitching coach at the major league level, with pitching IQ as the primary rating.
First and Third Base Coaches - like the bullpen coach, these two only apply at the major league level. Baserunning IQ is their primary ratings, but hitting IQ is a secondary rating as the 1B and 3B coaches also act as assistant hitting coaches.
The consensus among most veteran HBD players is that the fielding instructor is the most important coach because he helps with the development of the fielding skills (glove and arm accuracy) of all players in your organization. Fielding is sometimes an undervalued asset in HBD, so those owners who "get it" in terms of valuing fielding skills appropriately in conjunction with hitting skills for position players will have a step up over their opponents who pay little to no attention to defense.
From the "help" page for coach ratings, here is a description of the ratings for coaches.
- This is the coach's
hitting IQ rating. The higher the rating, the more he'll help your players
develop their batting skills. - This is the coach's
pitching IQ rating. The higher the rating, the more he'll help your players
develop their pitching skills. - This is the coach's
fielding IQ rating. The higher the rating, the more he'll help your players
develop their fielding skills. - This is the
coach's baserunning IQ rating. The higher the rating, the more he'll help your
players develop their baserunning skills. - This is the coach's
patience rating. The higher the rating, the easier it will be for him to
tolerate and coach younger players. Of course, if he's really good in the other
areas, his lack of patience may be acceptable. - This is the coach's
strategy rating. The higher the rating, the more likely he'll succeed as a
bench coach. Bench coaches are important, because they can improve/hurt the
day-to-day management operations of a minor league franchise as well as affect
in-game decision making (even at the big league level if the manager gets
ejected). They generally have different managerial settings than the ones
you've set, for instance. - This is the coach's
discipline rating. The higher the rating, the more focused he'll be on the
fundamentals such as bunting, throwing strikes and hitting the cutoff man. Of
course, this means he'll spend less time on some of the other important aspects
of his role. - This is the coach's
loyalty rating. The higher the rating, the more likely the coach is to re-sign
with your club.Another way to look at coach ratings would be to break down which ratings are most important to each of the seven coaching roles in an organization.
Fielding Instructor - fielding IQ is primary, and the patience and discipline ratings would be secondary. Since the FI works with all levels, you would want the secondary ratings to be adequate (ideally 50+).
Hitting Coach - hitting IQ is primary, and the patience and discipline ratings would be secondary. I like to have (patience + discipline) > 100. The lower in the organization you go, the higher you want the patience rating to be since the youngest players are typically in the lowest levels of the organization.
Pitching Coach - pitching IQ is primary, and the patience and discipline ratings would be secondary. I like to have (patience + discipline) > 100. The lower in the organization you go, the higher you want the patience rating to be since the youngest players are typically in the lowest levels of the organization.
Bench Coach - the strategy rating is primary, and all the other IQ ratings are secondary, as the bench coach in the minor leagues will "help" the hitting, pitching, and fielding coaches at each level. The same guidelines apply for the patience and discipline ratings are noted for the hotting and pitching coaches.
Bullpen Coach - basically, he's an assistant pitching coach at the major league level, with pitching IQ as the primary rating.
First and Third Base Coaches - like the bullpen coach, these two only apply at the major league level. Baserunning IQ is their primary ratings, but hitting IQ is a secondary rating as the 1B and 3B coaches also act as assistant hitting coaches.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Pitcher Ratings
The primary performance ratings for pitchers are control, left and right splits, and the P1 through P5 pitch ratings.
Similar to how hitting ratings all work together, so do the pitching ratings, though it is not quite as "fuzzy".
Let's start with control. That defines how many walks a pitcher will surrender. Typically, I will prefer to look for pitchers with a control rating of 70 or higher, though you can get away with a lower control rating provided the pitcher is strong in the other primary ratings such as the L/R splits and the P1-P5 pitches. But I typically won't go lower than 50 at a bare minimum, and I'll only go that low if I have exceptionally high splits (80 or better).
Next is splits. The higher, the better. One thing to keep in mind . . . around 60% of the hitters you will typically face over the course of a season will be right handed hitters. This means that the vs R split should be valued a little higher than the vs L split. Typically, I will try to avoid going lower than a weighted average of 60 for splits when looking at a pitcher for my Major League pitching staff. By "weighted average", I mean (vsL * .4 + vsR * .6). And the lower I get towards 60, I'd better have especially high ratings for control and/or the P1-P5 pitches.
Finally, there are the P1-P5 pitches. These are sometimes to toughest to quantify as they are a bit fuzzy. Starting pitchers (and long relievers) will typically have 3 or more pitches on his card (the pitches that he doesn't have will have ratings of 0, which isn't really a bad rating, it just means he doesn't have that pitch). Short relievers will often only have 2 pitches (P1 and P2), but will sometimes have a P3.
For starting pitchers, I like to see a P1 >= 80, a P2 >= 70, and anything beyond that (P3, P4 and possibly P5) >= 50. Most guys with 4 or 5 pitches will often have a P4 and/or P5 less than 50, possibly even less than 40. You're not always going to be able to find 80-70-50-50-50 pitchers, so you just want to do the best you can and not get too hung up on being a few points off on any or all of those).
For relief pitchers, it's very similar. P1 >= 80, P2 >= 75 or so. Anything P3 and beyond, you just want to stay away from low numbers.
Some people value velocity and ground ball ratings, but more often than not, they should be seen as secondary ratings. Ground ball ratings probably carry a little more weight than velocity, especially if you play in a hitter's park with positive home run ratings. A high ground ball rating means fewer fly balls, which means less home runs allowed in a hitters park. It also means that you probably want to have a good infield defense, otherwise more ground balls could translate into more opportunities for errors from your shortstop and second baseman.
One last comment about ratings for pitchers, and that's on the durability and stamina ratings. Starting pitchers (and long relievers) will almost always have lower durability (< 35) and higher stamina (> 60) ratings. Short relievers will be just the opposite: higher durability and lower stamina.
Similar to how hitting ratings all work together, so do the pitching ratings, though it is not quite as "fuzzy".
Let's start with control. That defines how many walks a pitcher will surrender. Typically, I will prefer to look for pitchers with a control rating of 70 or higher, though you can get away with a lower control rating provided the pitcher is strong in the other primary ratings such as the L/R splits and the P1-P5 pitches. But I typically won't go lower than 50 at a bare minimum, and I'll only go that low if I have exceptionally high splits (80 or better).
Next is splits. The higher, the better. One thing to keep in mind . . . around 60% of the hitters you will typically face over the course of a season will be right handed hitters. This means that the vs R split should be valued a little higher than the vs L split. Typically, I will try to avoid going lower than a weighted average of 60 for splits when looking at a pitcher for my Major League pitching staff. By "weighted average", I mean (vsL * .4 + vsR * .6). And the lower I get towards 60, I'd better have especially high ratings for control and/or the P1-P5 pitches.
Finally, there are the P1-P5 pitches. These are sometimes to toughest to quantify as they are a bit fuzzy. Starting pitchers (and long relievers) will typically have 3 or more pitches on his card (the pitches that he doesn't have will have ratings of 0, which isn't really a bad rating, it just means he doesn't have that pitch). Short relievers will often only have 2 pitches (P1 and P2), but will sometimes have a P3.
For starting pitchers, I like to see a P1 >= 80, a P2 >= 70, and anything beyond that (P3, P4 and possibly P5) >= 50. Most guys with 4 or 5 pitches will often have a P4 and/or P5 less than 50, possibly even less than 40. You're not always going to be able to find 80-70-50-50-50 pitchers, so you just want to do the best you can and not get too hung up on being a few points off on any or all of those).
For relief pitchers, it's very similar. P1 >= 80, P2 >= 75 or so. Anything P3 and beyond, you just want to stay away from low numbers.
Some people value velocity and ground ball ratings, but more often than not, they should be seen as secondary ratings. Ground ball ratings probably carry a little more weight than velocity, especially if you play in a hitter's park with positive home run ratings. A high ground ball rating means fewer fly balls, which means less home runs allowed in a hitters park. It also means that you probably want to have a good infield defense, otherwise more ground balls could translate into more opportunities for errors from your shortstop and second baseman.
One last comment about ratings for pitchers, and that's on the durability and stamina ratings. Starting pitchers (and long relievers) will almost always have lower durability (< 35) and higher stamina (> 60) ratings. Short relievers will be just the opposite: higher durability and lower stamina.
Hitter Ratings
The five primary ratings for hitters are contact, power, left and right splits, and batting eye. There is no one right combination of these five ratings as they all work together to define what kind of hitter the player will be.
A typical lineup is going to have a mix of different kinds of hitters. You will have players who are good at getting on-base, hitters who make good contact and hit for good average, guys who hit for power, etc.
With that in mind, it's difficult to say what is a good rating to have in any one particular category, as you can have a very high rating in one category but poor ratings in the other four, and overall, your guy is just not going to be a productive offensive player. Conversely, he can have a fairly poor rating in one category, but if he is exceptionally strong in two, three or all four of the other ratings, he may be an excellent contributor in some manner to your offense.
To get a much better understanding of what combination of ratings define certain kids of hitters, your best bet will often be to look at a previously completed season in your world, look for hitters who are near the league leaders in some category (on base percentage, batting average, slugging percentage, etc.), look at their ratings for the five primary categories, and try to understand the correlation between those ratings and the statistics they produce.
A typical lineup is going to have a mix of different kinds of hitters. You will have players who are good at getting on-base, hitters who make good contact and hit for good average, guys who hit for power, etc.
With that in mind, it's difficult to say what is a good rating to have in any one particular category, as you can have a very high rating in one category but poor ratings in the other four, and overall, your guy is just not going to be a productive offensive player. Conversely, he can have a fairly poor rating in one category, but if he is exceptionally strong in two, three or all four of the other ratings, he may be an excellent contributor in some manner to your offense.
To get a much better understanding of what combination of ratings define certain kids of hitters, your best bet will often be to look at a previously completed season in your world, look for hitters who are near the league leaders in some category (on base percentage, batting average, slugging percentage, etc.), look at their ratings for the five primary categories, and try to understand the correlation between those ratings and the statistics they produce.
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