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MukilteoMike
Joined: 08/09/2014
Posts: 3294

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
My guess is players' positions are completely random, but they should not originate at their worst suited positions. Eliminate the horrible assignments.

Here are the ones I think should be abolished:

Left handed throwers shouldn't be created as catchers or middle infielders.

Players with single digit arms shouldn't be catchers.

Anyone with a negative fielding scouting report shouldn't be a middle infielder.


I know we can train them for whatever position we want. It's silly when players originate at their worst positions, though.

While it would be helpful for us to eradicate those wacky assignments, I think the other big plus for changing that would be the improvements that would be made for the bot teams. Those can't seem to reconcile the misplaced players and would make them a little better than they already are.
admin
Joined: 01/27/2010
Posts: 4981

Administrator
Broken Bat Baseball
The algorithm for creating prospects and their position assignments has evolved a lot over the course of the game.

>My guess is players' positions are completely random

Not accurate - position assignments aren't completely random.

>Left handed throwers shouldn't be created as catchers or middle infielders.

There are very few new catcher/infielder prospects being created that throw left handed. This was changed 1-2 seasons ago as a result of forum discussions. Probably hasn’t filtered through every teams roster yet though.

>Players with single digit arms shouldn't be catchers.

Certainly something to consider.

>Anyone with a negative fielding scouting report shouldn't be a middle infielder.

As above.

The issue is that in high school (and often college) baseball, many players didn't play their big league positions. Because the big league player was so much better than the rest of the team, they were often played at short stop and pitched. So often times players come into the minor leagues and are re-positioned according to their skills and potential (just as you can do with your minor league in Broken Bat).

>While it would be helpful for us to eradicate those wacky assignments, I think the other big plus for changing that would be the improvements that would be made for the bot teams. Those can't seem to reconcile the misplaced players and would make them a little better than they already are.

Not exactly sure what you mean by the bot teams here. I think the bot player selection algorithm is probably a little overweighted towards defense/positions.


Steve
MukilteoMike
Joined: 08/09/2014
Posts: 3294

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
Maybe I'm seeing the results of previous algorithms. The majority of bot teams in my league have a combination of two infield "errors"--either a leftie or poor fielder, and that excludes first baseman because I think anything is possible/acceptable there.

I understand the high school guys could be playing at the wrong position, but that shouldn't be the case for anyone who is coming out of a different setting (college, foreign, etc). I'm not saying they should be at their optimum position; I just don't think the over 20 guys should be at a clearly negative place on the field when drafted.

Still love the game. I got hooked immediately.
Holmes
Joined: 11/07/2013
Posts: 1175

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
What Steve means is not necessarily that a real life player played at the wrong position in his youth but that there is a general tendency for players to move to less valuable defensive positions as they get closer to the majors. That doesn't only apply to high schoolers, but also to Latin Americans, maybe a little less to college players and least of all to Japanese pros, because they already come from a league comparable to AAA.
A disproportionate amount of drafted players or international free agents are shortstops, and many of them finally end up at 2B, 3B or in the outfield if their bats are good enough. On the other hand, few kids who are "only" DH/1B types on the high school level are spectacular enough hitters to ever be drafted at all.
Not sure if we can or should have that incorporated in our prospect generation.


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