Defense, different positions, and new positional ratings?

[DMan77]

Hey all,

I've seen bits and pieces of posts about how playing a player at a different defensive position can train or unlock numbers at that new spot...

I was hoping maybe someone could give me a break down of how that works? If you play someone out of position does that new position ranking grow all season? Will it eventually cap? What controls or influences how a player might do at a new spot?

Really I'm just hoping for a crash course on what folks do, what they look for, how long they let someone go, etc...

Thank you in advance!

[waittilnextyear]

Originally Posted by DMan77

If you play someone out of position does that new position ranking grow all season?

Yep. It's wise to look at the component ratings before trying it though. If a player has all single digit infield attributes, then making them learn the infield is dumb, not worth it, and will take a very long time to max out at a very low number. There are many versatile players that can play INF/OF though.

The growth does happen during the season, but the gains are somewhat irregular. Different players "learn" at different rates. You may go several games without gaining a point. You may go several games where the learning is pretty rapid...about 5 points of learning per game played is the maximum rate. This happens for players with really strong component ratings and also for players that are older/more veteran (I'm not 100% certain about that last part but I believe I've seen it mentioned before).

Originally Posted by DMan77

Will it eventually cap?

Yep. A "perfect" rating at a position is ~125. Most players will never sniff at that. Most players will run into lower caps than that and won't improve beyond the cap no matter how much additional experience they gain.

Originally Posted by DMan77

What controls or influences how a player might do at a new spot?

The component ratings control this. These ratings also cap at about 125.

OF Range is really important for making a good center fielder. Range is important for the corners also, but not quite as limiting there. OF Arm is more important for RF. Players with middling (or downright bad) component ratings are best in LF and may train up to serviceable there.

For the infield, INF Arm is most important for 3B and also very important for SS. A high Turn DP rating is a good thing to have for an aspiring 2B/SS. A high INF Error rating (meaning fewer errors) helps at any position. Range is most important for SS, but good to have all over.

Some other details to consider...there are almost no lefty throwing players that have played 2B/SS/3B (I think one of the Negro League players in the game is a lefty though) so training won't help for lefty throwers at those spots. You can certainly have a lefty thrower at 1B, however. There's also a "hidden" component for the 1B rating in that taller players can achieve higher ratings there. If you have a player with poor component ratings, but he's like 6'5" or taller, then he can unlock a pretty decent 1B rating. If you want to put a 5'8" guy at first base you can, but he'd better have really solid component ratings and if he does, he's probably much more valuable elsewhere. I think each extra inch of height is worth about 5 points of defensive rating at 1B.

Originally Posted by DMan77

Really I'm just hoping for a crash course on what folks do, what they look for, how long they let someone go, etc...

For most players it usually takes a full season to train up at a new position (some a bit longer, some a bit shorter) depending on the rate of learning. This can give you something to "play for" when your team is out of the playoff hunt. That's when I do most of my training, unless it's a really quick learner. When I say "quick learner" I'm really referring to players like Andrelton Simmons, Lou Boudreau, and other players with really top notch component ratings. These guys train up the fastest.

You also might want to look around the forums for the positional calculator. It's a really neat Excel spreadsheet where you can punch in the component ratings for any player and it'll calculate what the maximum defensive ratings at each position would be given maximum training. I forget where I found it, but I believe the spreadsheet was posted in the PT 19 forum and possibly something DonkeyKongSr originally posted?

[Magus978]

I'll put up the calculator I have here. Probably the same one as the PT 19 one.

Mediafire link...but one extra click won't hurt you

If someone has an issue with me hosting it on my Mediafire thing, I'll take it down.

Position Ratings Calculator

[DMan77]

Wow guys thank you both so much, this is a big help! Looking forward to trying this out with a few players.

Thanks again!