Broken Bat - Help: GB/FB Ratios for Pitchers and Batters

Forum >> Help >> GB/FB Ratios for Pitchers and Batters

Post ID	Date & Time	Game Date

#62949	02/08/2019 10:28:02 am	Jul 21st, 2039
michaeltodd2 Joined: 02/20/2018 Posts: 325 Paradise Valley Cubs II.2	Okay, time to flash my newbie(relative) credentials...can someone please explain what to look for with pitcher's and hitter's GB/FB ratios? Isn't it for pitchers you want a higher number of ground balls, so your looking for higher numbers, maybe around or over 1.0, the higher the better? Power hitters, i would presume you would want more FB's?? But i really have no idea for sure? Anyone care to share their opinions, or can someone give me the lowdown on all this? Thank you.

#62950	02/08/2019 11:17:35 am	Jul 21st, 2039
lostraven Joined: 07/02/2016 Posts: 1269 Corvallis Ravens II.1	Pitchers: Broadly speaking, for baseball in general, teams often prefer a groundball (GB) pitcher to a flyball (FB) pitcher. Of course, there are exceptions and caveats. Speaking of this game specifically, for example, you might be an extreme FB pitcher like Dunbar (career 0.73 GB/FB)—often typified by low Movement—whose other skills are so strong they can still make up for the ton of home runs per game (HR/9). In Dunbar's case, historically, he's been able to still strike people out with high velocity and pinpoint control. However, he's a Jekyll and Hyde pitcher still; he'll have super dominant games and games where he just doesn't have it. Conversely, you may have an extreme GB pitcher (think something like career 1.3x+ GB/FB) who either because of a poor defense behind him or deficiencies elsewhere in his build still is a crappy pitcher. That said, a broad rule-of-thumb (again, there are always exceptions) is throwing GB pitchers (~1.0x+) who are backed by solid defense—particularly a strong MI and CI—is a winning combination. Batters: Like pitchers, batters (broadly speaking) have tendencies because of their swing mechanics, power potential, etc. be more prone to hitting balls on the ground, line drives, or towering moon shots. In this game, again, the ~1.0 GB/FB is your middle ground. Some of the most extreme groundball hitters in this game can be 2.0+ GB/FB. Conversely, some of the best home run (HR) potential comes out of bats with GB/FB less than 1.0 (anything below ~0.7 starts getting to be very FB-hitterish). However, just because a batter has say a 0.60 GB/FB in the minors doesn't exactly mean they'll hit HR all day; the power needs to be there, and some players, even with power and low GB/FB (looking at you, Hamby) will baffle with power outages. On the other side of the coin, you may have a high GB/FB batter with zero power and who simply doesn't like to steal bases. (Generally speaking, if a player hits GBs, you'd prefer them to have the propensity to steal bases.) I hope that helped. There are more points to be made about GB/FB, but those are the main points, again emphasizing there are always exceptions to those points.

#62952	02/08/2019 11:35:02 am	Jul 21st, 2039
Seca Joined: 05/05/2014 Posts: 5198 Waterloo Dinosaurs Legends	Nice post by Lostraven. Ground balls are bad for batters and good for pitchers. Both here and IRL. Lots of articles about modern players adjusting their swings to hit more balls in the air. The only situation in BrokenBat where you'd prefer a ground ball to a fly ball is runner on 2B, nobody out (1 out if you are lucky getting PB or WP). Even then it had to be hit to the right side of the infield. In every other less-than-2-out situation it's better to put the ball in the air and avoid a chance at a double play. (There are way more infield plays at the plate here than IRL). As lostraven said, if a guy has power, FB > GB usually means more HR production. GB > FB guys usually more doubles / gaps. If you check the Legends HR leaderboard, the "worst" guy there is .72. The elite HR hitters are in the 0.5s - 0.6s. Fly ball pitchers and ground ball hitters can be successful, but in my experience have a much higher bust rate than the reverse.

#73739	05/21/2020 10:17:19 am	Aug 14th, 2045
michaeltodd2 Joined: 02/20/2018 Posts: 325 Paradise Valley Cubs II.2	I received this answer when i first started playing Broken Bat a couple years ago. Reading it again today, i find it a treasure trove of information.

#73741	05/21/2020 1:03:35 pm	Aug 14th, 2045
Rock777 Joined: 09/21/2014 Posts: 9591 Haverhill Halflings III.1	I do tend to consider a really low GB/FB to be great of power hitters, but maybe not so great for guys with little power. If they can't get it over the fence, a fly ball is an easy out. I still don't prefer extremely high GB/FB for any batters, but a GB/FB close to 1.0 for a speedy low power hitter can be a good thing.

#73762	05/21/2020 8:47:39 pm	Aug 19th, 2045
Splinter_9 Joined: 08/30/2019 Posts: 69 Inactive	For real life pitchers. A pitcher with a high ground ball ratio will generally have a higher batting average against him. He will usually tend to be less of a strikeout pitcher. But to score on him, you need to string together a couple of hits. If these guys walk alot of batters, they're in trouble. A pitcher with a high fly ball ratio will generally have a lower batting average against him. However, 1 swing and they can give up runs. They tend to be more of a strikeout pitcher. Walks aren't great for these guys either, but its probably not quite as bad. Its two different ways to get the job done. They just need differing other factors to be successful.