The Career of Bob Lambert (OOTP 11 Dynasty)

[51ichiro51]

For this dynasty, I'm using the game "Out of the Park Baseball 11", which is a text-based sim. I'll be following a player's career from draft day 2010 until whenever he decides to retire. I'm using a mod for OOTP that includes MLB + full minors, Japanese, Korean, Mexican, and several real-life independent leagues. That means this universe is huge and takes a while to sim. But on the plus side, fringe players, aging veterans, and players coming back from injury will have plenty of chances to claw their way back to the big leagues.

There was about 1500 players in the draft, so I narrowed my choices down to people who grew up in Seattle (where I grew up). This is the guy I chose:



Bob Lambert, a 17-year old kid from Ingraham High School in Seattle. I wasn't impressed by his small stature, but when I saw his ratings, I was sold:




His stuff and control need work at the moment, but the movement on his pitches is outstanding for a kid of his age, and they're projected to get even better. If things go right, this guy could be an all-star.

As far as his personality, OOTP rates players on 6 personality traits, ranging from 1 to 200. Here's Bob's:

Leadership Ability: 88 (Normal)
Desire for Winner: 11 (Very Low)
Loyalty: 178 (Very High)
Greed: 72 (Low)
Work Ethic: 74 (Low)
Intelligence: 103 (Normal)



OK, let's begin!


JUNE 15, 2010
Billy Beane apparently loved what he saw in Bob, and decided to draft him in the first round! Oakland had the 11th pick, and while it would have been very cool for Bob to be in the top 10, pick #11 is very very impressive.

Now the negotiation begins. Bob's asking for a 7.42 million signing bonus, so the talks could potentially take a while.


JUNE 18, 2010
Well, never mind. Billy Beane worked his magic and in just 3 days worked Bob's agent all the way down to a 5.95 Million signing bonus. (only 5.95 mil?! The poor guy! How will his family get through the long winter?) Bob is now currently assigned to the Rookie-League AZL Athletics. Their season starts on June 27.



JUNE 26, 2010
The AZL Athletics open their season tomorrow in Peoria to face the AZL Mariners, and Bob's been named opening day starter! It's interesting that Bob, having grown up in Seattle, is going to face the Mariners organization in his first pro appearance. That's just the way it goes sometimes.

Bob will face starter Nolan Gallagher, Seattle's 4th Round pick in the 2007 draft. He missed all of 2009 (I'm assuming some sort of injury), and is looking to get his career back on track.


JUNE 27, 2010
AZL Athletics @ AZL Mariners

Inning-by-inning notes (I wont do this for every game, just special occasions like this.

Spoiler

1st INNING
RF Bradley Hanson stepped up to the plate to wait for Bob's first professional pitch. Catcher Miguel Mendoza called for a sinker, Bob nodded, and let it fly. High and outside, 1-0. Next pitch was another sinker, this time well inside the strike zone and shot up the middle for a single. But a fielder's choice and a double play later, Bob was out of the inning.
A's 2, M's 0

2nd INNING
Bob gave up 4 walks and a hit, allowing 3 runs and giving up the lead. Unfortunate, but it's still early in the game.
A's 2, M's 3

3rd INNING
The A's tied it up, making it 3-3. Bob gave up a walk, a hit, and a wild pitch to make things kind of scary, but solid defense kept the M's off the board and the game tied.
A's 3, M's 3

4th INNING
The top of the 4th was messy, and the A's got 4 runs, putting the score at 7-3. Bob gave up another 2 hits, but kept them off the board again.
As 7, Ms 3

5th INNING
Another wild pitch for Bob. This one hurt him, because the runner went to second and ended up scoring.
As 7, Ms 4

6th INNING
Apart from a bloop single, the inning was quick and easy. Bob's at exactly 100 pitches now.
As 7, Ms 4

7th INNING
Retired the first 2 batters, but a hit later and Bob was out of the game, having thrown 107 pitches. Shaky first start, but he leaves with the lead.

Bob's line: 6.2 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 5 BB, 2 SO, Win (1-0)

[51ichiro51]

AUGUST 1, 2010
It's been about a month since Bob threw his first professional pitch. He just turned 18 four days ago. Here's his gamelog for the past month:



and the Arizona League Standings:

[Scott]

Following...Congrats on Win #1.

[51ichiro51]

SEPTEMBER 1, 2010
Bob has been promoted to the Vancouver Canadians (short-season-A)!


Here's his gamelog for the AZL Athletics. They missed out on the playoffs, so with their season over, these are the final totals:




SEPTEMBER 12, 2010
Vancouver missed the playoffs too, so Bob's time with them this year was just a quick 3 games.



Here's his total stats so far this year:

[51ichiro51]

2010
END OF SEASON

Turns out Bob didn't advance any further in 2010, so those previous stats are his final stats for the 2010 season.

Other news from MLB:

-The Tampa Bay Rays beat the San Francisco Giants in the World Series.

MVP:
AL: Miguel Cabrera (DET)
NL: Albert Pujols (STL)

CY YOUNG:
AL: Cliff Lee (SEA)
NL: Chris Carpenter (STL)

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:
AL: Dustin Ackley (SEA)
NL: Logan Morrison (FLA)

(Interesting note: a couple days after Miguel Cabrera won the MVP, he got slightly injured when "his kid ran into him with his bike". Uh...what?)



2011
June 23


First the bad news. Bob is opening the season back in Rookie League. I had hoped he would have advanced further than that, but I guess they must have some good reason.

The good news: His ratings are getting better, just like I hoped they would. Here they are:

I'm tracking his progress too. You can see his improvement.

His control is still pretty low, but he's gained a couple mph, and his slider is developing nicely.

[yougo1000]

isn't this itp?