Drafting and System movement

[mlb4life10]

Hello everyone.


I figured since there is a thread on all things franchise-related except for drafting and moving throughout the system, unless i didn't see it. I thought I would throw a couple of questions out there and get some thoughts on drafting strategy.


1) Do you ever draft players who are close to their potential for instance they are like 70/80? But they are no 24 or 25.



2) Do you scout for quantity or specific players?


3) Draft by needed or talent?


4) I am trying to figure out when is the best time to move my players out of A to AA and then AA to AAA.


I would love to get the perspectives from the MLB guru's.

[FSanchez12]

Re: Drafting and System movement

Well for me, I always draft for talent, I never draft for a need. Chances are, whoever I pick isn't going to be on the big league club in the next few years. I always try and pick a player that is 18-21 with a high end on the potential side. Sometimes I miss. sometimes I hit. I got very lucky in my 2017 draft with my Pirates.

Depending on how you play (you could always save the day before the draft, sim the draft and make mental/written notes on high potential players), you just gotta be lucky. The 1st/2nd rounds are when you're going to get the best shot to pick someone you truly scouted 100%, the rest is a crapshoot (similar to real life).

[AUTiger1]

Re: Drafting and System movement

Well for me, I always draft for talent, I never draft for a need. Chances are, whoever I pick isn't going to be on the big league club in the next few years. I always try and pick a player that is 18-21 with a high end on the potential side. Sometimes I miss. sometimes I hit. I got very lucky in my 2017 draft with my Pirates.

Depending on how you play (you could always save the day before the draft, sim the draft and make mental/written notes on high potential players), you just gotta be lucky. The 1st/2nd rounds are when you're going to get the best shot to pick someone you truly scouted 100%, the rest is a crapshoot (similar to real life).

I pick 18-21 based on potential. But I also try to make sure it's a player at a position I'm weak at. But I don't pick a 70 potential over an 80 potential just because it's a position of need. I can always make trades later.

[mlb4life10]

Re: Drafting and System movement

Thanks for the reply. I guess I should have been clearer on the 70/80. I meant they are already at 70 and their potential is 80. I never draft a 70 person.

[AUTiger1]

Re: Drafting and System movement

Thanks for the reply. I guess I should have been clearer on the 70/80. I meant they are already at 70 and their potential is 80. I never draft a 70 person.

I highly doubt you're going to find a 70 OVR player who's an 80 POT and in that 18-21 age range. Those guys don't exist, at least I've never seen it. The only way to get high OVR guys is to draft guys that are a bit over but have a lower POT. Something like 75 OVR/70 POT who's 24 years old.

[kenp86]

Re: Drafting and System movement

I have scouting set to auto. Ive tried to manually scout and i find that i get better drafts when its set to auto lol

I draft 80 potential players until theyre non left them move on down the potential scale. If im in the range of the 75 and 70 potentials and the 70 overall guy has better attributes, ill take him over the 75 guy

[bryan_nelson88]

Re: Drafting and System movement

Drafting wise, I always choose best player available and then a need. More often than not it's actually been both in one pick (I'm the Orioles and we've had a top 5 pick three years in a row now).

I have a system in place for my minor league guys: if they are 26 and older I have them in AAA (unless I switch their positions, then I move them down a level. 18 and 19 year olds are an automatic single-A for me, unless their OVR is high enough to where I'll call them up to Double-A during the middle of the season.

For scouting, I only scout two areas. I always have two International scouts and then it depends on what the top scouts look like. This most recent franchise I've had two international scouts and two central scouts, but in all of my other franchises I've had two international and two east. I then have them all scout the same position groups at the same time. After that I will scout one player per two scouts, so both international guys will scout my designated player (two days) and my east scouts will scout the same east player (two days). I have found that I am able to scout a TON of players doing this.

Hope any of this helps

[Jr.]

Re: Drafting and System movement

I highly doubt you're going to find a 70 OVR player who's an 80 POT and in that 18-21 age range. Those guys don't exist, at least I've never seen it. The only way to get high OVR guys is to draft guys that are a bit over but have a lower POT. Something like 75 OVR/70 POT who's 24 years old.

There are some. My #1 pick in my first draft was 74 OVR, 97 POT.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Operation Sports mobile app

[AUTiger1]

Re: Drafting and System movement

There are some. My #1 pick in my first draft was 74 OVR, 97 POT.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Operation Sports mobile app

Wow. Amazing.

[countryboy]

Re: Drafting and System movement

1) Yes I've drafted older players who were near or at their potential. I don't do it often, but I have occasionally due to how my roster is setup. Also even though those guys are older, if they play until 34 or 35 that is 10 years worth of service you get out of them.

2 & 3) Answering these together. Due to how limited the draft is and how small the rosters are in the Show, I draft based on need moreso than talent. Now granted in the first round, I typically look for the most talented player available that meets certain criteria that I place at a given position. Outside of that, I draft based on need. For example in this last draft I made it a priority to draft a catcher and left handed pitching because my organization needed both. I didn't have a catcher in the lower ranks that was progressing at a rate where they could be the everyday catcher in the next 3-5 years. I needed LH pitching because our organization was scarce on them.

4) There really is no proven method to promoting players. For me its all about stats/performance, but unfortunately Single A players do not accumulate stats so its hard to know when is the time to promote them. Of course during the season, injuries will help dictate when players are promoted due to filling roster needs. Then you can gauge how a player does at the next level above where they are currently to determine if a promotion is needed in the very near future.

[millertime98]

Re: Drafting and System movement

the draft is a pet peeve of mine in this game. I understand you can't have a lot of rounds in the game but what bothers me is the variety. I love to rebuild teams and with that comes high draft picks. Almost every single year there is a Blue Chip closer available. I like to build a strong bullpen first so that is a plus for me. However, sometimes I'm picking outside the top five and the only Blue Chip is a closer. I hate to pass up the "sure thing" so I end up taking him and have in the past used three Blue Chip drafted CP as my 7th, 8th and 9th guys. It seems rare to me that a stud OF is available. Almost every year there is a 20-24 yr old infielder who is a Blue Chip but only a 40's OVR and 5+ years away from the bigs. These guys very rarely get good enough before 28 so they are only useful in a trade if you want to make the trade meter balanced.
I also wish they could make some of the guys less predictable. Blue Chip guys who are 68 OVR and a year or two away from the bigs rarely if every under produce and never make it. Or a Blue Chip SP rarely struggles and stays in the minors or goes to the bullpen. I know I'm coming down hard on the makers of The Show but from someone who exclusively plays franchise and loves to rebuild, this is the one are of the game that really hasn't changed much if at all.

All that being said...If you made it this far into my rant I can save you 15% on your car insurance...
but seriously, in the early years of my rebuild I take the best available unless I have a glaring need. As things progress and I am picking later in the draft I expect to have maybe 3 players drafted ever really play for me. I rarely if ever pick older than 22. I use auto scouting. I do like that in 2017 and 2018 the later rounds have produced quality relievers and some position players. It seems in the past a player after the 3rd round was useless.

[JoseJoseph9119]

Re: Drafting and System movement

I edit classes as I see fit to fix certain problems. It takes some time, but it’s the only way to get the most out of this game.

All those 23-25 year old picks? There is no IFA in The Show so I use them as bases to create them. They must be playing in their home countries or a high level independent pro league anyway. I boost some of their OVRs up and create the IFAs of my franchise.

All those blue chip/A potential CPs? Most teams give almost every pitcher with a good arm and makeup at least a chance to start so I convert them to starters, boost their stamina ratings by 50-60, and edit their pitches a little(adding a changeup, trading velocity/break for control, etc) to reflect what would happen with a lot of these guys in real life. This has made for some solid starters as well as created the Andrew Millers of my franchise that the stock draft class is missing.

All those A potential position players with OVRs in the 40s and 50s? These ought to be the future rookie superstars like Acuña, Soto, Harper, Bryant, etc. but the draft generator is just FUBAR. I boost them as I see fit to make the future superstars of my franchise. The only issue is that the CPU doesn’t bring up prospects like it’s supposed to. But I just take that as how those GMs run their teams and make trades to even things out from time to time.

[millertime98]

Re: Drafting and System movement

I edit classes as I see fit to fix certain problems. It takes some time, but it’s the only way to get the most out of this game.

All those 23-25 year old picks? There is no IFA in The Show so I use them as bases to create them. They must be playing in their home countries or a high level independent pro league anyway. I boost some of their OVRs up and create the IFAs of my franchise.

All those blue chip/A potential CPs? Most teams give almost every pitcher with a good arm and makeup at least a chance to start so I convert them to starters, boost their stamina ratings by 50-60, and edit their pitches a little(adding a changeup, trading velocity/break for control, etc) to reflect what would happen with a lot of these guys in real life. This has made for some solid starters as well as created the Andrew Millers of my franchise that the stock draft class is missing.

All those A potential position players with OVRs in the 40s and 50s? These ought to be the future rookie superstars like Acuña, Soto, Harper, Bryant, etc. but the draft generator is just FUBAR. I boost them as I see fit to make the future superstars of my franchise. The only issue is that the CPU doesn’t bring up prospects like it’s supposed to. But I just take that as how those GMs run their teams and make trades to even things out from time to time.

Oh that's interesting. I guess there is at least 5 Blue Chip SP's every year but switching some of those CP's to starters could help speed things up. I hate that most of my franchises have the same teams picking at the top of the draft and never getting better. It is frustrating to watch a team like Tampa draft a stud and bring him up right away and then he never has less than a 5 ERA.

[moTIGS]

Re: Drafting and System movement

Does the way you promote guys through the minors actually make a difference? I haven't ever noticed it. Development seems pretty minimal regardless.

[bryan_nelson88]

Re: Drafting and System movement

Does the way you promote guys through the minors actually make a difference? I haven't ever noticed it. Development seems pretty minimal regardless.

Development is tied to performance. I keep 18-19 year olds in Single-A to get their OVR rating higher and then the next season promote them to Double-A. If they aren't producing at that level then I bump them back down.