FenwayMac Variety Hitting and Scoring Sliders

[FenwayMac]

Hello All!

Fenwaymac Variety 1.0 is currently located in the slider vault. The main purpose of the sliders is to find a way to balance out the hit type percentages (1B,2B,3B,HR) as well as HOW runs are scored (singles, doubles, triples, sac flies, walks, home runs). Typically MLB singles average about 61-65%, doubles 18-24%, triples about 2-3% and home runs somewhere between 11-15%. There are fringe MLB team exceptions that fall outside of the average, but overall these percentages are about right.

What I had found from a previous franchise was that after a 60-game sample, my franchise average were highly out of balance. A vast majority of hits were singles (about 65%, and home runs (nearly 19%), and very little in between. Because of this, my variety of scoring seems often come off of a couple of singles and a long blast, or a string of solo home runs. My team led the league, by far, in home runs, yet my batting average was only .255, which made it fall somewhere nearly the bottom third of the league. The lack of variety of hit types and scoring began to feel pretty stale.

Because of this, I decided to try my hand at slider tweaking in an effort to balance hitting and scoring variation. The results have been very encouraging. Averages per hit type have fallen closely within range of actual MLB averages, and the scoring variety is…well…more varied. The game once-again feels intense and realistic, and every pitch matters.

Here is a breakdown of the sliders, with the full set listed at the end of this post.

The Basics

For general sliders I use:

Hitting level – All Star
Hitting Interface – Zone
Hot/Cold Zone – On
PCI – On (your choice. Also I use the “outline” PCI
Camera – Custom (based off of Catcher 2)
Pitching level – HOF
Pitching type – Meter
Hot/Cold zones – ON, and highly recommended.

Not sure if I missed anything, but hit me up with questions if you want to know more.

HUM Hitting:

See end of post for full HUM hitting sliders. These are based on higher contact (7) offset by lower power (4) to keep the ball in the park a bit more and increase extra base hits. I have now played over 110 games with the set and the averages look really, really good. I typically have posted at every 10-game milestone, so take a look through the thread to see how the averages have settled in as the sample size has grown. My team has an anomaly in David Ortiz inflating the power numbers somewhat, but overall the hit variety and feel of the scoring has been fantastic.

CPU Hitting:

It seems most feel that the computer is fairly anemic this year. These sliders attempt to correct that, by raising the CPU batting average, while adding hit type and scoring type variety. I only have 20 games under my belt with the set below, but they seem to be settling in percentage and scoring type-wise, plus the CPU BA has come up as well. The main concept here is raising contact for the CPU (6), to increase hits and variety, but lowering timing (4) to increase miss-hits and strikeouts. Solid hits is also raised (4) to increase extra base hits. Again, the sample size here is fairly small at this point, but the feel of the game is indicating that these are headed the right direction. Just pitch with caution!

Below are the full sliders I am using. These are somewhere in the slider vault under FenwayMac Variety 1.0 if you just want to plug and play. Also, please feel free to hit me up with any specific questions or thoughts. It’s your feedback that help make these as solid as possible!

Human Contact - 7
Human Power - 4
Human Timing - 5
Human Foul Frequency - 5
Human Solid Hits - 3
Human Starter Stamina - 5
Human Reliever Stamina - 3
Human Pitcher Control - 3
Human Pitcher Consistency - 3

CPU Pitching difficulty: HOF or All
Star
CPU Contact - 6 (all star)5 (HOF Pitching Only)
CPU Power - 5 (all star)6 (HOF Pitching Only)
CPU Timing - 4 (all star)3 (or 2, HOF Pitching Only)
CPU Foul Frequency - 5
CPU Solid Hits - 4
CPU Starter Stamina - 5
CPU Reliever Stamina - 3
CPU Pitcher Control - 3
CPU Pitcher Consistency - 3
CPU Strike Frequency - 4
CPU Manager Hook - 5
CPU Pickoffs - 5
Fastball Pitch Speed - 5 (your preference)
Offspeed Pitch Speed - 5 (your preference)
Fielding Errors Infield - 4
Fielding Errors Outfield - 6
Throwing Errors Infield - 4
Throwing Errors Outfield - 4
Fielder Run Speed - 4
Fielder Reaction - 6
Fielder Arm strength Infield - 4
Fielder Arm Strength Outfield - 4
Baserunner Speed - 5
Baserunner Steal Ability - 8 (your preference...I would set it at 12 if I could)
Baserunner Steal Frequency - 5
Wind - 6
Injury Frequency - 5

[FenwayMac]

in regards to "separation" from the two competing teams, here are my first 21 games scores

Red Sox - Opponent

3 - 0
2 - 6
2 - 3
9 - 2
4 - 1
0 - 1
5 - 8
5 - 8
2 - 1
3 - 4
6 - 2
1 - 3
3 - 2
0 - 3
10 - 4
9 - 6
3 - 11
5 - 6
6 - 3
10 - 2
3 - 2


Margin of victory 1 run = 7 games or 33.3%
Margin of victory 2-3 runs = 8 games or 38.1%
Margin of victory 4-5 runs= 2 games or 9.5%
Margin of victory 6+ runs = 4 games or 19.1 %

MLB (through 6/9/16)

Margin of victory 1 run = 484 games or 27.1%
Margin of victory 2-3 runs = 604 games or 33.7%
Margin of victory 4-5 runs= 384 games or 21.5%
Margin of victory 6+ runs = 306 games or 17.1%

As you can see, almost 3/4 of my games turn in to save situations compared to 60% MLB. 4-5 run margins are way more prevalent IRL, while runaway games are very similar.

While I have definitely had some close finishes, 2/3 of my games at least have a bit of breathing room for either team.

[NolanRyansSnowmonkey]

FenwayMac, glad to see you are getting good results. I am keeping a close eye on how these adjustments are turning out for you. I plan on making adjustments also very soon. I need a few more games under my belt to soothe my analytical mind lol.

As of right now, I plan on using almost exactly what you posted. It's as if you read my mind. My small list of issues seem to be in line with yours.

My infield errors have been eating me alive. For my first 10 games I had very few. Then I had 6 in one game. (somehow I found a way to win that game lol). Since then they have been too high. I plan on dropping to 4 also. My fielding % is. 957. I must be doing something wrong. A lot of them aren't throwing errors though, so not sure what I'm doing.

I got thrown out at home trying to score from second on a base hit to the outfield - twice - on two consecutive pitches. One was with Elvis Andrus running, and based on how the ball was hit, he should have scored fairly easily. There have been too many other times that I've been gunned down as well. I was glad to see you bring this up also.

I feel the same way also about CPU home runs. I'll be keeping a close eye on this. (Edit: Upon further review my pitching has been better than I thought when it comes to HR by percentage. I'm only giving up 11.1% HR as percentage of hits. That would rank me 3rd in 2016, and 8th if inserted into 2015. - Much better this time around).

The only thing that isn't the same for us is baserunner steals. I have been very successful stealing second. I was questioning whether I was too successful actually. I'm at an 88% success rate. That's too high, unless you're the 2016 Red Sox lol. But with Rangers I should be in the 70's. Its actually interesting that you have been experiencing the opposite, using the same sliders. I am sure it will start to even out more for me. A few times I didn't even get a throw from the catcher.

Thanks again for posting. Hopefully some more people will post their thoughts and results.

Keep us updated on your progress! As soon as I make changes I'll put some results up here.

I think this is the link you were referring to for box cores:
http://dynasties.operationsports.com...id=1&sport=mlb

[FenwayMac]

Thanks for the link! I will post a box score later today to give a good idea of the results I am seeing.

As for the steals, Betts is at 82 and Bradley JR is at 80. Not a ton of speed there so that may be the issue, but also the catchers have just been lights out. even when they miss the target high or low, the defense seems to recover amazingly fast and apply the tag. I think you had mentioned that your best stealers are above 90 speed?

[Fcshuckers73]

Fenway, I see you changed base runner speed back to 5.......what do you have the fielder arm strengths at? Are you seeing enough hard contact with CPU solid hits at 3? Do you feel threatened by them (i.e. pitching around some batters to avoid them?)

[FenwayMac]

Here is a box score from today. I know, right after I tell you that you can space out scoring between opponents I have a close one, BUT this was a great game with a little bit of everything including back-to-back walks for runs? Nice. Also a nice walk off rally in the ninth off of the closer.

Atlanta Braves at Boston Red Sox
Jan 1,	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Atlanta (7-15)	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	5	9	1
Boston (13-10)	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	1	2	6	9	1
W: Koji Uehara (2-0) L: Arodys Vizcaino (0-1)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			ATL	BOS
ATL	1	Johnson grounded to right. Aybar scores	1	0
ATL	1	Garcia grounded out to Pedroia. Inciarte scores	2	0
ATL	2	Castro homered to center	3	0
BOS	3	Pedroia walked. Holt scored	3	1
BOS	3	Shaw walked. Swihart scores	3	2
BOS	6	Bogaerts lined to right for a single. Pedroia scores	3	3
ATL	7	Smith grounded to center for a single. Beckham scores	4	3
ATL	8	Garcia homered to left	5	3
BOS	8	Ortiz homered to center	5	4
BOS	9	Holt lined to left for a single. Ramirez scores. Jackie Brridadley Jr advances to th	5	5
BOS	9	Swihart hit a sacrifice fly to Smith. Bradley Jr scores	5	6

Atlanta Braves
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
BATTING: 2B: Pedroia, J Bradley Jr HR: Ortiz RBI: Pedroia,Bogaerts, Ortiz, Swihart, Shaw, Holt SF: Swihart
BASERUNNING: CS: Betts, J Bradley Jr (grrrr)
FIELDING: E: Holt

Boston Red Sox
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
BATTING: HR: Garcia Castro RBI: Johnson, Smith, Garcia 2, Castro
FIELDING: E: Beckham

Atlanta Braves
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
S Wright	8.0	8	5	4	0	1	2	4.79
K Uehara	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1.13

Boston Red Sox
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
M. Wisler	6.0	4	3	3	5	0	0	5.14
J. Johnson	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3.31
B. Matusz	1.0	1	1	1	0	0	1	0.71
A. Vizcaino	0.0	3	2	2	0	0	0	3.60
E. O'Flaherty	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.79

[NolanRyansSnowmonkey]

Quote: Originally Posted by FenwayMac

Thanks for the link! I will post a box score later today to give a good idea of the results I am seeing. As for the steals, Betts is at 82 and Bradley JR is at 80. Not a ton of speed there so that may be the issue, but also the catchers have just been lights out. even when they miss the target high or low, the defense seems to recover amazingly fast and apply the tag. I think you had mentioned that your best stealers are above 90 speed?

My two players with the most steals are:
82 speed 73 stealing.
87 speed 66 stealing.

I'm sure my success rate cannot continue. Baseball runs funny sometimes. And with you getting caught a lot I am sure mine will begin averaging out. Hopefully.

But - in a similar vein, my catchers are throwing out 71% of runners, when the CPU actually a decides to steal. Which is way too high.

[NolanRyansSnowmonkey]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fcshuckers73

Fenway, I see you changed base runner speed back to 5.......what do you have the fielder arm strengths at? Are you seeing enough hard contact with CPU solid hits at 3? Do you feel threatened by them (i.e. pitching around some batters to avoid them?)

I can't speak for Fenway, but my CPU solid his are at 3 and I still have to be very careful. The middle guys in the lineup are still big threats, and I've walked them trying to keep them from squaring one up. They will still crush mistakes out over the plate. I've learned to be very careful with them on 2-0, 3-1 counts. With solid hits at 3, for me, it just increases hit variety. More bloopers that fall in, etc. I still have to paint the black at this setting.