My NeL Player Profile Project

[ldambrosa]

Josh also needed little intervention from me. In this world, he never hit 30 HRs but still managed a lifetime 300+ homes and a lifetime slugging % of .524.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by ldambrosa

Thanks, Luckymann! I have taken an interest to the Negro leagues recently. I am playing a game now, and took a different approach to yours. I have all the historical settings set to bring in players on their real life teams. I do NOT have real-life transactions turned on, but otherwise pretty close to full historical settings. The big exception is I turned OFF the Color Barrier check box for the majors, and turned OFF Negro League rules for that league. then let it play out. The first Negro League player to stand out was Oscar Charleston. He eventually made my world's Hall of Fame. His stats below.

I pretty quickly realized two major problems with the Negro League players. The obvious one is that their ratings are generally way below where they should be. The second, less obvious flaw, is that most of the players' injury rating are real high, so they end up almost never playing a full season. I get that the NeL played less games. Perhaps in future the injury ratings could be based on percentage of games played? It appears they are based on number of games played.

Eventually I started modifying players individually in the editor as you did, however always keeping development on. For current stats, I used the current and previous two years stats and manually entered them. Baseball reference is great for this; you can highlight 3 years of stats and a pop-up will appear with totals and averages for just those seasons. I did the same for potential ratings, picking the best 3 contiguous seasons in the future.

Anyway, I've included a few screen shots of some of my NeL players' results just for comparison. I've noticed certain players just do not perform well no matter what you do. Cool Papa Bell seems to e one of those. Surprisingly, Christy Mathewson seems to be another, but that's a topic for another day :-)

Thanks for sharing. Yes, don't get me started on the predestination of players in OOTP. Randy Johnson is another that comes to mind for constant underperformance and high injury rate, as is Pedro. Of the NeLers, Cool Papa and Turkey seem to do poorly more often than not in my experience, while Josh and Oscar fare better and import well.

[luckymann]

"The Cuban Babe Ruth".

Pretty straightforward for Cristo. A hefty growth curve topping out at about 110%. MLEs don't mark him down as much as some of the others.

[luckymann]

El Diablo.

The MLEs weren't kind to Willie, lopping 40 points off his BA / 90 off his SLG. I stayed somewhat conservative with POT set at a smidge over 110%, but could easily have pushed it up a notch. Feel free to do so yourself.

[luckymann]

Currently just starting out in my Bucs save and pitched a no-no in his rookie season.

Some of the pitchers can get a bit hinky. Whereas in the screenshot below from the Test Environment, his STU and MOV are only average and his CONT really strong, check out the next screenshot, from that MLB universe of 1925.

Same stats used. Vastly different results. Haven't been able to figure out why, other than a suspicion it is due to relativity. In 1925, most of the pitchers had pretty ave STU ratings, more seen as finesse pitchers. Which left Chet and his ilk more power pitchers by comparison.

My notes for him read as follows:

• Outstanding finesse pitcher with good control.
• Wide repertoire of pitches inc: live-running FB; sweeping curve; overhand sinker; good scroog. Later learned cutter.

Which is how I've graded him here: FB 78/111; SINKER 66/98; CURVE 78/131; CUTTER 40/91; SCROOG 90/127. VELO 89-91.

But as you can see in the final screenshot, the game has moved him about a bit. VELO up a notch. GB, too. All of which has pushed his OVR / POT a level higher as a result.

So look for him to profile as per the test screenshot, but don't be surprised if he moves toward the Bucs one if that's the type of environment you're using him in.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by ldambrosa

I've noticed certain players just do not perform well no matter what you do. Cool Papa Bell seems to e one of those. Surprisingly, Christy Mathewson seems to be another, but that's a topic for another day :-)

In my PBL, which is a DEV-only save, CPB's potential contact rating has fallen from 78 to 44 in less than a year, with him just age-24. It's not the first time I've had problems with him and won't be the last, I'm sure. Good to know I'm not imagining it...

[luckymann]

AKA Dolly.

Not one of the better-known NeL hurlers, but a handy 3-pitch type nonetheless.

[luckymann]

His mother calls him Herbert.

Underrated, super quick and elite defensively. A relatively recent addition to my Bucs save, which is where the screenshot for him below comes from.

[luckymann]

Trying to stay ahead of my Draft Pools for the EL, so as I do them for it I'll add them here even though these are lesser-known guys with perhaps a more limited interest.

Ameal was known for his competitive nature and is a highly underrated hitter and solid backstop who also played decent OF.

Treated pretty kindly by the MLEs and, as is the case with most of these journeymen types, I've maxed out his POT at around 105%.

[luckymann]

"Superman".

A useful type who could pretty much play any IF position and had a strong arm. Not such a great hitter but when he hit 'em, they stayed hit. The perfect utility man, which is how he was used for the most part.

Started young so CURR is low.

[luckymann]

A bit of a surprise "Ace" Adams made the MLE list and is a bit suspect given a huge disparity in HR allowed between the raw stats and MLE. This is where the averaging out seems the best policy, but I have erred ever so slightly toward the MLEs for his MOV ratings and GB%. Quite handy with the bat and played some time in the outfield, mainly at RF.

[luckymann]

Gets (IMHO) unfairly roughed up by the MLEs and so I have offset this a little with a 115% POT. Was a pretty decent line-drive hitter and excellent defensive 3B.

[luckymann]

Another one who must have only just made it into MLE calculations. In fact he's one of the rare players whom the MLEs upgrade the stats of. So, perversely, I've topped his POT at 105% to compensate. One for all but the completionists among you to perhaps skip. But watch his PWR, which imports well-nerfed.

[luckymann]

A nice-looking utility type and no more. Started super young so a slow-burn trajectory. Decent IF ratings so those numbers at 3B and SS will improve somewhat with time played at these positions.

[luckymann]

Runs like a flash but a bit of a slap hitter.

[luckymann]

Highly underrated catcher and, later, outfielder who Jim Riley claims once gave fielding tips to Tris Speaker. Hit his straps late for St. Louis, hitting above 300 in both his age-38 and age-39 seasons, his last two full years in the game.

MLEs cruel him a bit, and so - along with his late blossoming - I have corrected this a tad with a 112% POT.

[luckymann]

Another guy who can tend to sneak under the radar, but who was undoubtedly in the upper echelons of NeL talent.

MLEs hold this up with just a slight markdown, and I settled at 110% for his POT. I have ignored his early phase as a pitcher.

Imports into the game as Chester Brooks, but SH has that as his nickname.

[luckymann]

OK just to keep us on our toes, this guy went by "Piper" (his birthplace in Alabama) but was christened Lorenzo, which is how he is imported. Piper, AL is not in the game's world DB, so I have used nearby West Blocton.

Another well-regarded type that few would have heard about.

A tricky one because the MLEs smack his BA / OBP but not his SLG. So I kept an eye on that and made the necessary adjustment. Started quite late so given a relatively flat trajectory.

[luckymann]

His premature death robbed us of a full picture, but suffice to say he was elected to the Cuban HOF in 1945. Not much pop, but boy could he rake.

MLEs like him, barely touching his raw stats. I have followed suit.

[luckymann]

Beware - there is again some confusion with him in the DB, where I think he imports as "Butch" or perhaps even there are two versions, I can't quite recall.

Had a touch of the wilds about him, otherwise a good moundsman.