Player Tendencies
Reasonable limits
DMB is a strategy game that is designed to provide you with a
real baseball experience. It's not like many video games that
give you so much control that you can easily play games and produce
statistics that bear little or no resemblance to real big-league
games. As a result, there are reasonable limits on the impact
of player tendencies.
It's not possible, for example, to set a tendency that tells a
certain player to attempt a steal every time he reaches first base
with second base open. There isn't a player in history who has done
that, and it's just not realistic to allow that to happen in your
DMB games. Similarly, it doesn't make sense to allow a runner with
a Poor jump rating and a Poor steal rating to attempt 50 steals a
season.
It is possible, however, to set a player's Stealing tendency to
Most Frequent. By doing so, you're telling the computer manager to
give that player the green light more often than
it normally would for a player with his ratings.
How much more often? It varies from tactic to tactic, but it's
generally in the range of 20-40%. In other words, you can't use
player tendencies to double or triple the rate at which a player
attempts to steal, take extra bases, bunt for hits, and so on. Game
situations and player ratings are still the most important factor
in how the computer manager makes decisions.
On the other hand, it's not all that unusual for a real-life
player to go several seasons without trying to steal a base or drop
down a bunt. So it is possible to assign a Never tendency, and the computer manager will honor
that request.
Offensive tendencies
Most of these tendencies have the same meaning as in the context
of manager tendencies, so we won't
describe them again here.
Bunting. As is the case with all
tendencies, a player's bunt rating is still the most important
factor in determining how often the computer manager asks a player
to bunt, but you can use the three bunting tendencies to increase,
decrease, or eliminate bunt attempts by this player.
Setting the Bunting for a hit tendency to Never only stops a batter from attempting a bunt in
non-sacrifice and non-squeeze situations. If Sacrifice and Squeeze
bunting tendencies are not set to never as well, it is still
possible for a batter to get a bunt single if he beats one out in a
sacrifice or squeeze bunt situation.
Similarly, if you set Sacrifice bunting to Never but do not do the same for Squeeze
bunting, it is possible for a hitter to sacrifice in squeeze
situations. This is why the batter would compile sac hit
statistics.
Hit and run. DMB players don't have a
hit and run rating, but the computer manager does look at a
player's skills to determine how often he should be asked to
execute a hit and run play. Strikeout-prone hitters are less likely
to be called upon, while contact hitters and slower runners (who
are prone to grounding into double plays) are more likely to
participate in a hit and run play. You can use the hit and run
tendency to increase, decrease, or eliminate the hit and run play
when this player is batting.
Stealing. As is the case with bunting,
this tendency is quite straightforward. The computer manager will
continue to rely on the ratings of the players involved (jump and
steal for the runner, hold for the pitcher, throwing for the
catcher) and the game situation to decide when a steal attempt
makes sense. You can, however, use this tendency to increase or
decrease the attempt rate for a player, or eliminate steal attempts
altogether.
Running. This tendency governs how
many chances the computer manager will take on the base paths. When
the computer manager makes a running decision, it compares the
chances of gaining the extra base safely to a minimum threshold
based on the game situation.
The chances of gaining the extra base are determined by the
nature of the batted ball, whether the runner was going on the
pitch or on contact, the running rating of the runner, and the
throwing rating of the outfielder.
The minimum threshold is based on the game situation and whether
it makes more sense to play for one run (as in the late innings of
a close game) or a big inning. Depending on the number of outs and
where the runners are situated, the value of taking the extra base
can be high or low, as can be the cost of getting thrown out. The
computer manager takes these factors into consideration when
deciding how high the chances of success need to be to justify
taking the risk of getting thrown out.
The Running tendency controls the minimum threshold. If you
choose "less frequent" or "least frequent", the minimum threshold
rises. That causes the computer manager to send the runner only
when the chances of success are higher. If you choose "more
frequent" or "more frequent", the minimum threshold is lowered, and
the computer manager will take more chances with this runner.
Setting the Running tendency to Never
means that the runner will always be held if there is any chance he could be thrown out. Because taking an
extra base is automatic for even the worst runners on some batted
balls (e.g. very deep flies), especially if the hit and run is on
or the runner goes on contact with two out, players with a Running
tendency of Never will run from time to time. But you won't see
them trying to advance when the outcome is uncertain.
NOTE: The Running tendency does
not apply to situations where a batter tries to stretch a single
into a double or a double into a triple. In those cases, the
batter/runner makes his own decision and is not influenced by any
manager or player tendency.
While it's true that you can dramatically reduce the number of
outs your players make on the bases by assigning the Never
tendency, that doesn't necessarily mean it's good strategy. You may
miss out on high percentage opportunities to score a runner from
third on a fly ball or from second on a single, and if the other
hitters don't cash those runs in, your team will leave more runners
on base. You may also hit into more double plays if your runners
aren't taking advantage of running opportunities.
Taking pitches. This tendency enables
you to increase or decrease the likelihood that your best hitters will have the green light to swing with
three balls and no strikes. It doesn't
affect any other counts. And you don't need to use this tendency to
prevent your weaker hitters from swinging at 3-0 pitches because
the computer manager never gives the green light to weaker
hitters.
Pinch hitting tendencies
There are four tendencies in the category of "Remove for pinch
hitter" that govern how often this player should be lifted in
different situations:
NOTE: Player tendencies were
introduced in version 9. In previous versions, different manager
profile settings called "can be PH for" enabled you to indicate
that a player should never be replaced by a pinch hitter against
left- or right-handed pitchers. Those settings no longer exist, and
when you convert a DMB database to version 10 format, they are
assigned to the "versus LHP" and "versus RHP" player tendencies
instead.
-
the "In a platoon" tendency applies
only if this player is in the starting lineup and a platoon partner
is listed in the depth chart at his position. To prevent a player
from being removed for a platoon partner, choose Never. (You can achieve this same effect more easily
by removing the platoon player from the depth chart.)
-
the "In blowouts" tendency applies
only in the late innings of a game in which one team has a very big
lead.
In all game situations other than blowouts, the computer manager
uses a pinch hitter only if he is rated to be better than the
scheduled hitter against the current
pitcher. This assessment takes into account the handedness
and the left/right splits of both the batter and the pitcher.
The player tendencies for pinch hitting indicate how much better
the pinch hitter needs to be. A "least frequent" setting tells the
computer manager to pinch hit less often; that is, only when the
pinch hitter is much better than the scheduled hitter. A "most
frequent" setting tells the computer manager to pinch hit more
aggressively; that is, even when the pinch hitter is only a little
better than the scheduled hitter.
Pinch hitting in blowouts is a different matter altogether. In
these situations, the goal is not to gain an advantage, it's to
replace the team's better players to reduce their risk of injury.
In blowouts, the computer manager generally replaces a better
player with a weaker one, so the relative strength of the players
is not a concern. Instead, the blowout pinch hitting tendency
influences the computer manager decisions about (a) how big a lead
is needed for the game to be treated as a blowout and (b) how early
in the game it will begin to remove players.
In blowout situations, the "In blowouts" tendency takes
precedence over the other pinch hitting tendencies. If a player's
tendencies are set to Never for the three
non-blowout situations, he can still be replaced by a pinch hitter
in a blowout.
Pitching tendencies
Most of these tendencies have the same meaning as in the context
of manager tendencies, so we won't
describe them again here.
Using relievers, Using closers. These settings indicate how
aggressively the computer manager should go to the bullpen
with this pitcher already in the game.
They have no any impact on how often this pitcher is brought into
the game in the first place.
The Never setting for "Using
relievers" and "Using closers" doesn't really
mean never. It would be highly unrealistic to ask a pitcher
to stay in the game no matter how tired he gets or how hard he's
being hit. The computer manager always reserves the right to lift a
tired or ineffective pitcher regardless of your tendencies, though
it will stick with an ineffective pitcher longer if you choose
"less frequent", "least frequent", or "never".
Instead, a setting of Never tells the computer manager to keep
this pitcher in the game until he gets tired, until he loses
effectiveness, or until the opposing team creates a meaningful
threat, whichever comes first. With this setting, the computer
manager won't go to a setup man or closer just because that
potential reliever is a better pitcher.
TIP: If you want a closer to be
used as often as possible, set the team's
manager tendency for "Using closers" to
"most frequent". Or, if you want a little more control, set the
"Using closers" tendency for some of the team's starting pitchers
and middle relievers to "most frequent".
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