Drafting

Martindale55 · 05-07-2022, 05:45 PM

Looking for tips for drafting better. I've read up on the forums and watched some of SGT Mushrooms videos. However, seems like my top of my draft class end up being busts every year at the most bench players. If I get a star, it's usually from my players I draft in the teens. For example, my 1 pick at 27 was 80 overall projection by my scout had good hitting skills. Now start of this season he is only 20 overall projection.
I use heavily favor tools scouts. I use their rankings rather than Osa scouting rankings. I look for high Work ethic and intelligence first. Skip on low rankings of these players and skip on fragile players.
I've tried play throughs where I managed call ups and downs in the minors 100% and I've tried letting my Asst. GM do it. I run max scouting budget(24million(. 30% minor, international and amateur. 10% on majors. I run max development budget (36 million) too.

MikeS369 · 05-07-2022, 09:22 PM

You just never know if someone will pan out no matter what round you draft them.

Like you I look for a good work ethic, adaptability, intelligence, low greed and durability. I look for guys that excel in a certain aspect whether defense or high contact, avoid K's or good eye. Look for pitchers with good movement. Usually though even those ratings are not very high.

omg_pwnasaurus · 05-07-2022, 09:37 PM

In addition to what you have mentioned, I typically search for at least one excellent carrying trait, if he's a 70-80 at avoiding k's or something or has one outstanding tool, incremental growth at some of the other tools will create an impact player and I feel like you typically see that growth more than someone with 40's and 45's across the board. Typically.

andyhdz · 05-07-2022, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martindale55

Looking for tips for drafting better. I've read up on the forums and watched some of SGT Mushrooms videos. However, seems like my top of my draft class end up being busts every year at the most bench players. If I get a star, it's usually from my players I draft in the teens. For example, my 1 pick at 27 was 80 overall projection by my scout had good hitting skills. Now start of this season he is only 20 overall projection.
I use heavily favor tools scouts. I use their rankings rather than Osa scouting rankings. I look for high Work ethic and intelligence first. Skip on low rankings of these players and skip on fragile players.
I've tried play throughs where I managed call ups and downs in the minors 100% and I've tried letting my Asst. GM do it. I run max scouting budget(24million(. 30% minor, international and amateur. 10% on majors. I run max development budget (36 million) too.

That's baseball.

Sweed · 05-08-2022, 10:22 AM

A link to my thread on drafting in v21. It will give you an idea of how I organize and draft in my game. Not much has changed between versions on how this works. The scouting reports accuracy in v22 (haven't done my first draft yet in v23) doesn't degrade as quickly as it did in v21. In v21 I had to rescout many players to keep them at "very high". In v22 it seemed once they got to "very high" they stayed there until the draft. This was in a league where the draft was revealed 90 days prior.

https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=319942

A quote that may also help from a thread in the v22 forum.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweed

I started this thread on how I scout in v21.

https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=319942

Still pretty much the same though the timing is different in v22. In v22 once scouted to very high or high the levels seem to last longer. IE not much re-scouting is needed compared to v21.

Short version is
build filters to find draftable players
put on shortlists
scout shortlists
end up with approx 300 prospects on my board

More detail in the linked thread.

And to your original points about busts? Yeah, I'm afraid in baseball that is the norm and not the exception.

MathBandit · 05-08-2022, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweed

A link to my thread on drafting in v21. It will give you an idea of how I organize and draft in my game. Not much has changed between versions on how this works. The scouting reports accuracy in v22 (haven't done my first draft yet in v23) doesn't degrade as quickly as it did in v21. In v21 I had to rescout many players to keep them at "very high". In v22 it seemed once they got to "very high" they stayed there until the draft. This was in a league where the draft was revealed 90 days prior.

https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=319942

A quote that may also help from a thread in the v22 forum.

And to your original points about busts? Yeah, I'm afraid in baseball that is the norm and not the exception.

To make sure I understand correctly, is your "Draft Board" shortlist 'just' every player that meets all the minimums and has a High/Very High rating? As in, do you prune further when deciding to put someone on the Draft Board, or just lump all the playable players there and wait until Draft Day to figure out who you want from that list?

MathBandit · 05-08-2022, 10:31 AM

And sorry - one more followup. Do you find that with your criteria for hitters you miss out on players who either have for example a bad Eye or Avoid Ks but are otherwise great hitters? Or defensive wizards at SS/CF who have low Power (or again low Eye or Avoid Ks) but a bat that plays fine alongside GG defense?

Pelican · 05-08-2022, 10:54 AM

Sweed’s thread is really helpful for comprehensive draft prep. Of course to each his or her own, when it comes to filters. I favor college players, particularly pitchers, because they have less variability and are much closer to playing in the major leagues. To me, the SEC is probably equivalent to AA or at least A+ in terms of competition. A guy who succeeds there and is now 21 or 22 is only a few steps from the major leagues. And I have found that even in college there are some “diamonds in the rough” who still have room to improve. Look at Josh Winder, SP for the Twins, who I just added to my fantasy team. Good underlying skills, and keeps getting better at each level.

Granted that limiting myself to college players oversimplifies the process, and ignores some young studs. I have expanded this approach to include junior college players, and even guys with only one year of college, if their underlying metrics are very good. It does create something of an odd organization, with lots of guys in their early to mid twenties, versus a bunch of teenagers who were international draftees, great raw skills; but many years from being ready for prime time, and few players in the middle to fill those low A and rookie teams (at least, until the young international players can move to those levels). It’s a work in progress.

The best argument against my approach is the large number of high school stars who have scholarships lined up at top colleges, but cannot resist signing for a big bonus and foregoing college. Statistically those high school guys are a greater risk than the college guys. No matter how good a scout may be, it’s hard to project what an 18-year-old will look like at 25.

Sweed · 05-08-2022, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MathBandit

To make sure I understand correctly, is your "Draft Board" shortlist 'just' every player that meets all the minimums and has a High/Very High rating? As in, do you prune further when deciding to put someone on the Draft Board, or just lump all the playable players there and wait until Draft Day to figure out who you want from that list?

Every player that meets the minimums, gets scouted to H-VH, is put on the actual Draft Board shortlist. It is not hard to get everyone to that scout accuracy level over 75 days so, everyone does end up on the board.

Then during the draft you can filter for "draft board = Yes" and you have your entire board up in the draft to select from.

You can then also switch that "yes" to "no" and have all of the players in the draft that are not on your board visible minus your board. Even if you don't specify these guys to be scouted they still are and you may be able to pull out an unexpected player as you go along. This is something I have done in the later rounds as my board gets picked over. Though picks I have taken that were not on my board are few and far between it is still there as a way to go back to see if there is someone you may have missed. But by this time
I am into players that "pick and hope" whether on my board or not.

Almost forgot. You can also add a "shortlist" column to your view, use no filters, and see all of the players with a "yes" or "no" in said column. This way you could sort by whatever means you choose and see your Board players compared to all others in the same table.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MathBandit

And sorry - one more followup. Do you find that with your criteria for hitters you miss out on players who either have for example a bad Eye or Avoid Ks but are otherwise great hitters? Or defensive wizards at SS/CF who have low Power (or again low Eye or Avoid Ks) but a bat that plays fine alongside GG defense?

Sure, that does happen. But as in my answer above there is still the opportunity to review players not on my board. Having said that I rarely make an exception on my acceptable skills but, a 3 in control is going to be a "no-go" for me 100% of the time. I hate walks. In late rounds I have taken guys that throw 101+ even if movement is below my specs on a flyer

Or maybe a guy with power potential of 7+. I mean if I'm at round 18+ it's not like the guys on my list are sure things.

The main thing for me is going in with a list of 300 or so players. Everyone of those players has a skill I value (not elite, MLB minimum quality will do) and the rest meet a minimum I can tolerate.

MathBandit · 05-08-2022, 12:39 PM

Perfect, thanks! I'll give your method a go when I start up my main sim this week.

andyhdz · 05-08-2022, 12:55 PM

Sgt mushroom has an excellent video on YouTube that shows how he drafts and it's very similar to sweeds method. I tried it and while I'm not saying I'm not drafting all stars round after round I no longer feel my drafts are just random.

MathBandit · 05-08-2022, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyhdz

Sgt mushroom has an excellent video on YouTube that shows how he drafts and it's very similar to sweeds method. I tried it and while I'm not saying I'm not drafting all stars round after round I no longer feel my drafts are just random.

Thanks, but I'll pass. This probably isn't the place for this (nor will it be a popular opinion I'm sure) but I've *personally* never found his analysis to be worthwhile.

mytreds · 02-21-2023, 11:08 PM

Don’t try to get Mike trout in every draft. Try to trade for prospects using above average AAA players that struggling clubs can use right away.

mytreds · 02-21-2023, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MathBandit

Thanks, but I'll pass. This probably isn't the place for this (nor will it be a popular opinion I'm sure) but I've *personally* never found his analysis to be worthwhile.

I don’t want to dog pile- I’ll just say I’ve played OOTP longer than Mushroom and find his advice subpar as well. YMMV. IMO there are users here on the forums with better advice for practically everything about this simulator.

Bobfather · 02-21-2023, 11:25 PM

I keep it super simple, highest potential, later rounds filtered by need.

FlyTheW1104 · 07-11-2023, 11:43 AM

I know I'm late to the part but to me there seems to be an pretty dubious obsession with heavily favor tools scouts. When you sign one, you are also signing up for numerous... and I mean numerous draft busts/ intl FA busts. Do yourself a favor and grab a neutral scout. They still proect a large handful of players to be successful in the bigs without feeding you bust after bust after bust.

I have signed idk how many excellent intl FA's by going with a neutral scout and only taking guys who I have high scouting accuracy on. In the amateur draft you should have high scouting accuracy on just about everyone.

05-07-2022, 05:45 PM	#1
Martindale55 Bat Boy Join Date: Jan 2022 Posts: 7	Drafting Looking for tips for drafting better. I've read up on the forums and watched some of SGT Mushrooms videos. However, seems like my top of my draft class end up being busts every year at the most bench players. If I get a star, it's usually from my players I draft in the teens. For example, my 1 pick at 27 was 80 overall projection by my scout had good hitting skills. Now start of this season he is only 20 overall projection. I use heavily favor tools scouts. I use their rankings rather than Osa scouting rankings. I look for high Work ethic and intelligence first. Skip on low rankings of these players and skip on fragile players. I've tried play throughs where I managed call ups and downs in the minors 100% and I've tried letting my Asst. GM do it. I run max scouting budget(24million(. 30% minor, international and amateur. 10% on majors. I run max development budget (36 million) too.

05-08-2022, 10:54 AM	#8
Pelican Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2021 Location: Wilmington, Delaware Posts: 2,885	Sweed’s thread is really helpful for comprehensive draft prep. Of course to each his or her own, when it comes to filters. I favor college players, particularly pitchers, because they have less variability and are much closer to playing in the major leagues. To me, the SEC is probably equivalent to AA or at least A+ in terms of competition. A guy who succeeds there and is now 21 or 22 is only a few steps from the major leagues. And I have found that even in college there are some “diamonds in the rough” who still have room to improve. Look at Josh Winder, SP for the Twins, who I just added to my fantasy team. Good underlying skills, and keeps getting better at each level. Granted that limiting myself to college players oversimplifies the process, and ignores some young studs. I have expanded this approach to include junior college players, and even guys with only one year of college, if their underlying metrics are very good. It does create something of an odd organization, with lots of guys in their early to mid twenties, versus a bunch of teenagers who were international draftees, great raw skills; but many years from being ready for prime time, and few players in the middle to fill those low A and rookie teams (at least, until the young international players can move to those levels). It’s a work in progress. The best argument against my approach is the large number of high school stars who have scholarships lined up at top colleges, but cannot resist signing for a big bonus and foregoing college. Statistically those high school guys are a greater risk than the college guys. No matter how good a scout may be, it’s hard to project what an 18-year-old will look like at 25. Last edited by Pelican; 05-08-2022 at 10:57 AM.

05-08-2022, 12:55 PM	#11
andyhdz All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Fresno, CA by way of Texas Posts: 1,754	Sgt mushroom has an excellent video on YouTube that shows how he drafts and it's very similar to sweeds method. I tried it and while I'm not saying I'm not drafting all stars round after round I no longer feel my drafts are just random. __________________ *************************************** It's your game. Play it how you like it. ***************************************

02-21-2023, 11:08 PM	#13
mytreds All Star Starter Join Date: Nov 2019 Posts: 1,115	Don’t try to get Mike trout in every draft. Try to trade for prospects using above average AAA players that struggling clubs can use right away. __________________ “Baseball isn’t statistics; it’s Joe DiMaggio rounding second.” “Once, centuries ago, it was the beloved national pastime of the Americas, Wesley. Abandoned by a society that prized fast food and faster games. Lost to impatience.” “ The term ‘WAR’ should be replaced by ‘WAG’. WAR isn’t an actual measurement; it’s just a wild-ass guess” -Bill James RIP National League 1876-2022 Floreat semper vel invita morte. I make custom ballparks.

02-21-2023, 11:25 PM	#15
Bobfather All Star Starter Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Boston Ma. Posts: 1,551	I keep it super simple, highest potential, later rounds filtered by need. __________________ I play out every game—one pitch mode.

05-07-2022, 09:22 PM	#2
MikeS369 All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2020 Location: USA Posts: 651	You just never know if someone will pan out no matter what round you draft them. Like you I look for a good work ethic, adaptability, intelligence, low greed and durability. I look for guys that excel in a certain aspect whether defense or high contact, avoid K's or good eye. Look for pitchers with good movement. Usually though even those ratings are not very high.

05-07-2022, 09:37 PM	#3
omg_pwnasaurus Major Leagues Join Date: Jul 2020 Posts: 325	In addition to what you have mentioned, I typically search for at least one excellent carrying trait, if he's a 70-80 at avoiding k's or something or has one outstanding tool, incremental growth at some of the other tools will create an impact player and I feel like you typically see that growth more than someone with 40's and 45's across the board. Typically.

05-08-2022, 10:31 AM	#7
MathBandit All Star Starter Join Date: Feb 2021 Posts: 1,445	And sorry - one more followup. Do you find that with your criteria for hitters you miss out on players who either have for example a bad Eye or Avoid Ks but are otherwise great hitters? Or defensive wizards at SS/CF who have low Power (or again low Eye or Avoid Ks) but a bat that plays fine alongside GG defense?

05-08-2022, 12:39 PM	#10
MathBandit All Star Starter Join Date: Feb 2021 Posts: 1,445	Perfect, thanks! I'll give your method a go when I start up my main sim this week.

07-11-2023, 11:43 AM	#16
FlyTheW1104 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2022 Posts: 63	I know I'm late to the part but to me there seems to be an pretty dubious obsession with heavily favor tools scouts. When you sign one, you are also signing up for numerous... and I mean numerous draft busts/ intl FA busts. Do yourself a favor and grab a neutral scout. They still proect a large handful of players to be successful in the bigs without feeding you bust after bust after bust. I have signed idk how many excellent intl FA's by going with a neutral scout and only taking guys who I have high scouting accuracy on. In the amateur draft you should have high scouting accuracy on just about everyone.