Two-way players
 

This is a question probably best-suited for the devs ( Markus, et al ), but I'm happy to hear any data around it.

In a league draft, there's a player with the following ratings:

Pitching:

• Stuff: 40 / 70
• Mov: 50 / 70
• Ctrl: 30 / 65
• Pitches: Cutter (50/60), Changeup (55/80)
• Vel (mph) 92-94
• GB % 65%
• Stamina 40
• Hold 35

Hitting:

• Con: 45 / 70
• Gap: 55 / 70
• Pwr: 25 / 35
• Eye: 30 / 45
• Ks: 45 / 75
• Speed 65
• Steal 60
• Running 65
• OF: Range (60), Error (55), Arm (65)

So he can be a lights-out closer (at least in our league) or an amazing Ichiro-style contact/gap hitter, right?

But I'd like to use him as a two-way player, and that's where I have a few questions:

1. What can I do to help him develop BOTH skill sets?
2. Can the OOTP game engine handle a player who comes in from RF to close out a game?
3. If so, how would I set up my team to best utilize that?
4. If not... why not? :)

Thanks in advance!
- JSB

Just enable 2 way players in the league or game settings (forgot where exactly).

This guy poses a problem though, because he projects to be an everyday player and a reliever. And in game, the engine does not allow you to move a player currently in the lineup to the mound. He has to come in from the bench to pitch.

That's how it's been for me tinkering with a 2 way player, maybe someone else can elaborate, corroborate, or blast me to hell.

Moving from a position to the mound is a challenge, because they would not get any warmup time. I'm pretty sure in MLB the only times that ever happens is in a blowout when they bring a position player on to pitch. If you're playing games out manually you can do that, but there's no way automatically to handle it (it was hard enough getting the basic 2-way players to work, never mind specialist cases).

For that player above, I would probably start him in the minors to develop that pitching. Maybe if you're lucky he'll add a 3rd pitch. Or if not, maybe throwing him 4-5 innings every 5-6 days as a sort of spot-starter still could give him some use and get some innings. He has at least a modest stamina, so while he doesn't have the 3rd pitch, I would expect he should still be able to get through a lineup twice without getting destroyed.

I tried while playing out a game manually and was unable to find a way, so I just thought you couldn't do it. What am I missing?

The 2 things I looked at were:

1. In the substitutions page, in the available pitchers list, the "+" button is grayed out for the player if he's already on the lineup.

2. When changing his position within the lineup, pitcher is not an option.

Might this have to do with using a DH?

Yeah, it would function the same way as any other double-switch. So in a DH game, you would have to remove the DH first to be able to throw a position player in to pitch.

It's always been the biggest OOTP mystery to me what effect does a really bad 3rd pitch have.

Thanks!

Oh it puzzles me as well. I'm a believer that a bad third pitch hurts in game. that being said I would love to see a feature where a player drops that third pitch all together or changes to another pitch, how some pitchers drop a curveball for a slider or vice versa.

I would think that he could not warm up in the bullpen, as to why he can't move from field to the mound.