Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthropoid
When and how would the computer decide to insert one of these guys (or a 4th if I listed such) as a pinch hitter? I'm assuming that, a pinch hitter is a substitute for the guy at bat, so from that point on in the game, the pinch hitter must play in the position of the replaced batter, right? So if a catcher is hurt, or is otherwise not good for batting for some reason (??) what use is a pinch hitter who has no experience playing as catcher?
Same thing really for the pinch runner. How does the computer decide to use these guys?
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From my experience (not a lot of 'real' baseball, but a fair amount with the game now...):
Pinch hitters are usually used to replace pitchers who are due to be replaced at the start of the next inning but will have to bat first. For instance, let's say your SP is due to be replaced after the top of the fifth inning because he's tired, but he's due to bat in the bottom of the fifth. The game would replace him with a PH for the half-inning, and then replace the PH with the new pitcher at the top of the 6th.
With positional players, it tends to only replace them with a PH if they were doing really poorly, and if you had a replacement who could play his position. It wouldn't normally put a PH in for a catcher, and if you did it did it'd probably replace him with a replacement catcher in the same manner as above before they take to the field again.
This is usually the case in my experience. For instance the AI will take a shortstop off for a pinch hitter, then substitute the PH with a guy who can play shortstop if the PH couldn't himself (and to be fair, if you've got a PH who can play SS, why is he not playing SS?
).
In the case of pinch runners, I've very rarely seen them used in the game (as in real life). The parameters seem to be the same: Either the runner was injured at some point during a play and got to a base but can't run very well, or you've got an excellent base stealer who's weak offensively and want to use him late on in games to try and steal some runs.