[actionjackson]

Per our discussion in PM, my top 33 in OPS (as many as I could squish in), so far through 7 seasons, plus breakdown of RL debuts, and RL career OPS+, through the 2021 season:

N.B.: I now turn off Real Life Splits, because so many guys from 1871 through 2021 are not in that file. That will give guys who are much stronger against one side, a leg up on the competition. It's either that, or use the splits from 40ish years of ball, while ignoring the 110 years that aren't available, yet. Those splits may make it into OOTP24, but as of right now, they only go back to 1981.

Frank Thomas v2.0, 1990, 156
Billy Hamilton v1.0, 1888, 141
Ross Barnes, 1871, 167
Trevor Story, 2016, 112
Pete Reiser, 1940, 128
Mike Schmidt, 1972, 148
Cesar Cedeno, 1970, 123
Barry Bonds, 1986, 182
Ellis Burks, 1987, 126
Carl Yastrzemski, 1961, 130
Willie Stargell, 1962, 147
Smoky Joe Wood, 1908, 110
Bibb Falk, 1920, 113
Ed Morgan, 1928, 119
Gene Tenace, 1969, 136
Steven Souza Jr., 2014, 99
Eddie Bressoud, 1956, 96
Ken Singleton, 1970, 132
Shin-Soo Choo, 2005, 122
Len Koenecke, 1932, 124
Mickey Mantle, 1951, 172
Nick Castellanos, 2013, 116
Tom York, 1871, 119
Brian Giles v2.0, 1995, 137
Dusty Baker, 1968, 116
Wally Moon, 1954, 118
Rafael Devers, 2017, 120
Harmon Killebrew, 1954, 143
Tyler Naquin, 2016, 102
Sammy Sosa, 1989, 128
Jake Wood, 1961, 83
Scott Rolen, 1996, 122
Andre Thornton, 1973, 123

Caveat: The Inaugural Draft thing changes some of these figures, depending on when guys came in. I'll take that into account, with what the player did IRL from his debut in my game forward. I won't do it for guys that came in after 1901, because they'll be their age at debut, or one year younger. Don't ask me why, but RD brings these guys in to debut a year before they really did. I don't mind, really. Gives the dominant ones a chance to be even better. Some guys showed up in the Inaugural at their debut age, or sooner, so there's no need to look at them, either.

Thomas same
Hamilton same
Barnes, 1874, 151
Story, 2017, 110
Reiser same
Schmidt, 1979, 153
Cedeno same
Bonds, 1992, 200
Burks, 1993, 132
Yaz same
Stargell, 1977, 140
SJ. Wood, 1911, 113
Falk, 1923, 118
Morgan same
Tenace, 1977, 135
Souza Jr. same
Bressoud same
Singleton same
Choo same
Koenecke same
Mantle, 1968, 143
Castellanos same
York, 1872, 119
Giles, 1996, 136
Baker, 1973, 115
Moon, 1960, 116
Devers same
Killebrew, 1963, 145
Naquin same
Sosa, 2001, 138
J. Wood same
Rolen, 1997, 122
Thornton, 1975, 123

There are three 19th century guys in here. The vast majority are 20th century guys, with a few 21st century guys sprinkled in. The vast majority of these guys should be hitting well. Souza Jr., Bressoud, Jake Wood, and Naquin made me do a double take, but I don't have much of a problem with the other 29. Story's a tough nut to crack, because we don't know how much the OPS+ category is punishing him, for playing all of his home games in Coors Field (remember the RL Stats only run through 2021). Smoky Joe Wood slightly preceded Babe Ruth IRL, in the two way player category. Dude's a freakshow. For the most part, we're looking at hitters that should be making leaderboards. I don't think many of these will last too long, as the game goes forward, but who knows? Maybe the offensive environment will pick up a bit, too. The latest draft is very pitcher heavy, without much in the way of position player strength, so it may be a while yet.

It's not as off as you or I thought it was, but it does seem a bit different from past versions. Different in the fact that reeeally good hitters are getting smacked down, while "interesting cases" are emerging out of nowhere. Some of that can also be put down to development taking over for recalc, and creating a monster. I have no idea why Pujols has been pummelled in both of our games, so far. I had Leo Kavanagh, and Tillie Shafer emerge as superstars in 16, while Griffey Jr., and Kershaw weren't their usual dominant selves, so this kind of voodoo's been around, even during versions that we felt were more "accurate". I'm beginning to wonder if Player Development isn't a much stronger force, within seasons now, than it has been in the past. That could explain a few of our flops with RL studs. The new setting there makes me think that might be our Huckleberry, but this game has so many moving parts now, that it's difficult to put a finger on a single factor.