TLDR: How did the Devs handle Billy Hamilton's speed in game?
Like many of you, I'm waiting for the OSFM Rosters to come out. And like many of you, I've been playing exhibition games with teams I don't normally think to play. Today, I played with the Reds and Billy Hamilton. I'm bored at home with the Red Sox game on in the background, so I figured I'd channel some of that boredom into a rambling post about speed, Billy Hamilton, and how they play in my favorite game.
By many accounts, Billy Hamilton possesses speed that far surpasses anyone in the league. Though he was more mysterious in the minors (hearing those crazy stories, and seeing the occasional Youtube clip only made his legend grow), he (or his speed, at least) seems to be as advertised. The anecdotes floating around about just how fast he really is beggar belief.
These stories will sound really familiar to anyone who watches the MLB Channel at 3 in the morning, when old men with false teeth tell old stories with questionable accuracy about Mickey Mantle or Ty Cobb. But supposedly, he stole second in the time it took for the catcher to flip the ball back to the pitcher, and made a game-saving catch at the outfield wall while playing shortstop:
As far as more quantifiable legends go, Hamilton can run from home plate to 1st in a record-breaking 3.3 seconds. He successfully stole 155 bases between A and AA ball (in 132 games). He had an inside the park home run timed at 13.8 seconds.
Then, he does this today:
Long and short of it is that he's earned every bit of the 99 Speed/99 Steal he received. But how is his speed in comparison to other players? Well, Dee Gordon owns the next-highest attributes, receiving a 96 Speed/99 Steal. This article timed him at 3.79 seconds from home to first.
Now, Billy Hamilton isn't going to get from home to first every time at that record-breaking 3.3-second speed. And maybe Dee Gordon can run faster than the 3.79 seconds that the article suggested. But when we're talking about someone who every scout, pundit, and players lauds like he's the second coming of Jesus H. Henderson, I started to wonder about how someone with truly game breaking attributes would do, and how SCEA could handle that.
I don't know (functionally) what 3 "ticks" of the Speed Attribute translates to in the Show. I tried using a stop-watch and timing home to first using replay, but it was really, really subjective. Maybe it'd only be noticeable on runs from home to second, or something. But I searched for players with that "next level" speed.
MLB the Show 14's 90-99 Speed List:
Mike Trout (91 SPD/92 STL)
Jacoby Ellsbury (93 SPD/95 STL)
Carlos Gomez (90 SPD/99 STL)
Michael Bourn (93 SPD/94 STL)
Jean Segura (90 SPD/95 STL)
Starling Marte (91 SPD/99 STL)
Eric Young Jr. (92 SPD/94 STL)
Leonys Martin (91 SPD/92 STL)
Dee Gordon (96 SPD/99 STL)
Rajai Davis (93 SPD/99 STL)
Jarrod Dyson (91 SPD/99 STL)
Juan Pierre (91 SPD/90 STL)
There are only 12 players with a Speed rating of 90 or above, so "elite" speed really is "elite." Again, I think this is something that SCEA does really great: showing how unique some players and some attributes really are.
So I was wondering, does game-changing speed like Billy Hamilton's make the top end of speed go higher? Or does it push down everyone else?
The only other place I had to go was the previous year's ratings. (Note: the "Steal" rating wasn't around last year; it was "Base Running Ability," which gave wildly different numbers.) I popped in last year's disc and sampled a few players from the above list.
MLB The Show 2013 Speed Samples
Mike Trout (93) (-2)
Jacoby Ellsbury (93) (0)
Carlos Gomez (81) (+9)
Starling Marte (81) (+10)
Dee Gordon (99) (-3)
Basically, I have no idea. If I had to guess, I'd figure that Billy Hamilton became the new "absolute" speed, and Dee Gord0n was bumped down a couple notches. If someone came out of AAA tomorrow and beat Hamilton in a foot race, I'd imagine the same thing would happen again.
But as far as absolutes go? Could they raise the "99" without breaking the simulation? I mean, is 2014 The Show's Billy Hamilton's 99 Speed faster than 2013's Dee Gordon's 99 Speed? If they did, and if the "new" 99 represents this crazy, once-in-a-lifetime speed, isn't it potentially game-breaking if a gamer edits players (or builds through a speed demon RttS player) to be "equal" to that 99 speed rating?
Or, behind the scenes, does the game accept numbers above the 99 rating (sorta how OOtP "hides" ratings if they're actually above the "absolute" highest rating number)?
To go back to the play he made today, is there any way that SCEA could allow someone to score on a tag up from 3rd when the pop-up barely left the infield? Would that be "fair"? Would it be fun? Or would everyone who played online with the Reds be a Cheeser?
I have no idea, I just thought it'd be interesting to find out how the devs handled someone like Billy Hamilton and the possibility of having an attribute that though it's REAL, would almost break the game's fielding or base-running systems. It seems like it'd be a really difficult problem to solve; balancing the need to make the game "real" while still making the most "fun" or "enjoyable" game.
I mean, just look at this guy run.
/ramble. God, I love baseball.
Like many of you, I'm waiting for the OSFM Rosters to come out. And like many of you, I've been playing exhibition games with teams I don't normally think to play. Today, I played with the Reds and Billy Hamilton. I'm bored at home with the Red Sox game on in the background, so I figured I'd channel some of that boredom into a rambling post about speed, Billy Hamilton, and how they play in my favorite game.
By many accounts, Billy Hamilton possesses speed that far surpasses anyone in the league. Though he was more mysterious in the minors (hearing those crazy stories, and seeing the occasional Youtube clip only made his legend grow), he (or his speed, at least) seems to be as advertised. The anecdotes floating around about just how fast he really is beggar belief.
These stories will sound really familiar to anyone who watches the MLB Channel at 3 in the morning, when old men with false teeth tell old stories with questionable accuracy about Mickey Mantle or Ty Cobb. But supposedly, he stole second in the time it took for the catcher to flip the ball back to the pitcher, and made a game-saving catch at the outfield wall while playing shortstop:
As far as more quantifiable legends go, Hamilton can run from home plate to 1st in a record-breaking 3.3 seconds. He successfully stole 155 bases between A and AA ball (in 132 games). He had an inside the park home run timed at 13.8 seconds.
Then, he does this today:
Long and short of it is that he's earned every bit of the 99 Speed/99 Steal he received. But how is his speed in comparison to other players? Well, Dee Gordon owns the next-highest attributes, receiving a 96 Speed/99 Steal. This article timed him at 3.79 seconds from home to first.
Now, Billy Hamilton isn't going to get from home to first every time at that record-breaking 3.3-second speed. And maybe Dee Gordon can run faster than the 3.79 seconds that the article suggested. But when we're talking about someone who every scout, pundit, and players lauds like he's the second coming of Jesus H. Henderson, I started to wonder about how someone with truly game breaking attributes would do, and how SCEA could handle that.
I don't know (functionally) what 3 "ticks" of the Speed Attribute translates to in the Show. I tried using a stop-watch and timing home to first using replay, but it was really, really subjective. Maybe it'd only be noticeable on runs from home to second, or something. But I searched for players with that "next level" speed.
MLB the Show 14's 90-99 Speed List:
Mike Trout (91 SPD/92 STL)
Jacoby Ellsbury (93 SPD/95 STL)
Carlos Gomez (90 SPD/99 STL)
Michael Bourn (93 SPD/94 STL)
Jean Segura (90 SPD/95 STL)
Starling Marte (91 SPD/99 STL)
Eric Young Jr. (92 SPD/94 STL)
Leonys Martin (91 SPD/92 STL)
Dee Gordon (96 SPD/99 STL)
Rajai Davis (93 SPD/99 STL)
Jarrod Dyson (91 SPD/99 STL)
Juan Pierre (91 SPD/90 STL)
There are only 12 players with a Speed rating of 90 or above, so "elite" speed really is "elite." Again, I think this is something that SCEA does really great: showing how unique some players and some attributes really are.
So I was wondering, does game-changing speed like Billy Hamilton's make the top end of speed go higher? Or does it push down everyone else?
The only other place I had to go was the previous year's ratings. (Note: the "Steal" rating wasn't around last year; it was "Base Running Ability," which gave wildly different numbers.) I popped in last year's disc and sampled a few players from the above list.
MLB The Show 2013 Speed Samples
Mike Trout (93) (-2)
Jacoby Ellsbury (93) (0)
Carlos Gomez (81) (+9)
Starling Marte (81) (+10)
Dee Gordon (99) (-3)
Basically, I have no idea. If I had to guess, I'd figure that Billy Hamilton became the new "absolute" speed, and Dee Gord0n was bumped down a couple notches. If someone came out of AAA tomorrow and beat Hamilton in a foot race, I'd imagine the same thing would happen again.
But as far as absolutes go? Could they raise the "99" without breaking the simulation? I mean, is 2014 The Show's Billy Hamilton's 99 Speed faster than 2013's Dee Gordon's 99 Speed? If they did, and if the "new" 99 represents this crazy, once-in-a-lifetime speed, isn't it potentially game-breaking if a gamer edits players (or builds through a speed demon RttS player) to be "equal" to that 99 speed rating?
Or, behind the scenes, does the game accept numbers above the 99 rating (sorta how OOtP "hides" ratings if they're actually above the "absolute" highest rating number)?
To go back to the play he made today, is there any way that SCEA could allow someone to score on a tag up from 3rd when the pop-up barely left the infield? Would that be "fair"? Would it be fun? Or would everyone who played online with the Reds be a Cheeser?
I have no idea, I just thought it'd be interesting to find out how the devs handled someone like Billy Hamilton and the possibility of having an attribute that though it's REAL, would almost break the game's fielding or base-running systems. It seems like it'd be a really difficult problem to solve; balancing the need to make the game "real" while still making the most "fun" or "enjoyable" game.
I mean, just look at this guy run.
/ramble. God, I love baseball.
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