2023 Franchise Fidelity to Reality Roster Project (Official Thread)

[Quag]

Welcome to the second ever release of my “Franchise Fidelity to Reality” roster set! Last year was a HUGE success w/ over 5K downloads and tons of positive feedback. I am excited to bring the project back once again this year with some new wrinkles to help take it to the next level.

Meet the Team

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·ViatorLion10: Project creator, chief auditor, in-game editor
·Sports Gaming Rosters (aka Big_Gargamel): Base roster creator, player likeness and equipment coordinator
·JWDixon: MLB/MiLB data gathering, system development, in-game editor
·Tiboss300: Prospect data gathering, in-game editor
·GabeTODT: In-game editor
·Matt Thompson: ProspectsLive collaborator

What’s New This Year

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·WAR integration into overall calculations
·WAR and age-related positive regression-based potential system
·Integration of projections into current ratings
·Revamp of prospect potential system based on overall grade and age (more balance and consistency)
·Behind the scenes QoL changes (should decrease human errors and allow for better fine tuning and auditing)
·More details available here: https://youtu.be/Bc9bVWChBuM

My Vision

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For years, I have been trying to achieve the best possible franchise experience. Full minors rosters added enjoyment to my experience, however, they often created huge problems for franchise longevity due to unbalanced potentials amongst prospects and MLB players. I then tried out other creators who attempted re-rate both overalls and potentials for MLB and MiLB players. I give these creators a ton of credit because I now realize how much effort goes into this process. That being said, I saw a vast room for improvement in a multitude of areas, so therefore, I set out to put my own little spin on things and create the most balanced and realistic roster available.

What sets this roster apart from all the others?

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One of the things I wanted to focus on the most was trying to best recreate in-game every player’s unique style and level of play. To achieve this, I needed to get testing in-game to see what attribute values could replicate what statistics.

So that’s exactly what I did. I spent hours testing how variable values of attributes would lead to different outputs for statistics. I was then able to create standard curves from this testing so I could extrapolate how a player’s real-life statistics could be quantified into an in-game rating. From what I can tell, this is a feature unique to only my roster set. Others certainly use real life statistics to generate ratings, but none that I have found try to replicate those real-life numbers in-game.

After these ratings have been generated, I also go through an auditing process. No system is perfect, and I know that. Sometimes players can fall through the cracks and be heavily over/underrated. This auditing process allows me to catch these players and to adjust them accordingly. These changes are only made to truly replicate a player’s actual value in real-life and I try to keep them at a minimum when possible.

The second aspect that I wanted to heavily focus on in the depth of prospects. I was never a fan of rosters that prioritized AAA/AA filler players over top prospects who are in the low minors. Not to mention, sometimes lesser-known prospects can often be the most intriguing, and therefore, the most fun to play with in-game. That is why I decided to include every team’s top 30 prospects. This allows for significant depth in terms of franchise management, as well as it helps to really set apart strong farm systems from weak farm systems. Again, this is the only roster to my knowledge that goes in-depth from #1 all the way to #30.

The last thing that is unique to this roster set is a tiered potential system. This is by no means something that only I do, however, my tiered system is broken up into various roles that players can fill. Players are assigned certain roles based on their level of play and projected future level of play, and thus are assigned a pertinent value.

The end result should be a roster that has a high number of “average” players in the mid-70s with decreasing numbers of guys in the 80s and 90s along w/ guys in the low-70s and even upper-60s that will be on MLB rosters at times. This should lead to long-term stability of franchises and a strong bit of realism for hardcore sim players.

Full list of features

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·Re-rates of all attributes, overalls, and potentials for every player on 40-man rosters and former MLB players on MiLB contracts (~1400 players)

oPowered by real-life statistics and advanced metrics (Statcast and Fielding bible)

·Inclusion of every team’s top 30 prospects with the most accurate archetypes, current overalls, and potentials (900 players)

oPowered by MLB Pipeline and ProspectsLive.com

·Simple re-rates and potential re-works of roster filler players (~500 players)
·In-depth pitch reworks for MLB players to best replicate repertoires and pitch effectiveness

oPowered by Statcast and Fangraphs

·Tiered potential system to balance potentials across the league and allow for franchise longevity

Methodology
Statistics from the past three seasons are gathered for every single player to be edited. I believe baseball to be a long game, and that the longer you play, the more your true ability starts to show. Therefore, I do not weight the performance of any one season over the other. A player’s average performance over a three-year period as well as projections for the upcoming season will be used to generate his attributes.

As far as potentials go, I don’t aim to have a certain percentage of players fall in certain categories. I let a player’s performance and projections determine their value alone. To determine potentials, I build off of the value a player has already demonstrated on the field and then using a standard regression curve to determine how much more they can develop based on their current age. A breakdown of roles and expected overalls can be found below:

Pos Players	SP	RP	Potential
Elite	Elite		95-99
Superstar	Ace	Elite Closer	90-95
All-Star	Top Rotation	Top Closer	86-90
Great	SP 2/3	High Leverage	82-85
Above Avg.	Mid Rotation	Mid-Late RP	78-81
Avg.	SP 4/5	Regular RP	75-77
Role	5th SP	Low Leverage	72-74
AAAA			69-71
AAA			64-68

Position player attribute values
·Contact: Batting average

oLeague average: 60

·Power: ISO

oLeague average: 65

·Vision: K%

oLeague average: 42

·Discipline: BB%

oLeague average: 60

·Clutch: BA w/ RISP

oLeague average: 60

·Durability: Combination of GP and IL time

oLeague average: 67

·Speed: Sprint speed

oLeague average: 50

·Arm strength:

oCatchers: Pop time

oIF/OF: Arm Strength via Statcast

·Arm accuracy:

oCatchers: Based on a combination of runners CS% and throwing errors

oInfielders: Based on number of throwing errors and total throwing chances

oOutfielders: Based on a combination of OF assists, throwing errors, and ARM value

oLeague average: 70

·Fielding:

oCatchers: Runs extra strikes/Pitches

oInfielders/Outfielders: Outs above average/Opportunities (remove throwing errors from outs above average calculation)

·Reaction:

oCatchers: Same as fielding

oInfielders: Outs above average/Opportunities (remove both throwing and fielding errors from outs above average calculation)

oOutfielders: OF jump

·Blocking: Blocks/(Blocks + PB + WP)

oLeague average: 65

·Stealing/BR aggressiveness: SBA/H

oLeague average: 40

Pitching attribute values
·Stamina: IP/App

oLeague average for SP: 73

oLeague average for RP: ~20

·Per 9 attribute: Corresponding per 9 values

oLeague average H/9: 60

oHR/9: 55

oK/9: 65

oBB/9: 65

·Clutch: H/9 w/ RISP

oLeague average: 60

·Pitch control: Location+ from Fangraphs

oLeague average: 60

·Pitch movement: Stuff+ from Fangraphs

oLeague average: 60

·Pitch considerations:

o“Sinkers” have more vertical break and “two-seam fastballs” have more horizontal break

o“Change-ups” have more vertical break and “circle change-ups” have more horizontal break

o“Splitters” are “change-ups” that have exceeded velocity maximums

o“Two-seamers” or “sinkers” are “circle change-ups” that have exceeded velocity maximums

o“12-6 curveballs” have more vertical break, “sweeping curveballs” have more horizontal break, “curveballs” have very similar vertical and horizontal break

o“Knuckle curveballs” are “curveballs” or “12-6 curveballs” that have exceeded velocity maximums

o“Slurves” are “sweeping curveballs” that have exceeded velocity maximums

Prospect editing
·Attributes are determined based on scouting grades for different skills

oFor hitters: This will include a specific grade for every skill

oFor pitchers: This will only include pitch and control/command grades, which are then combined to generate per 9 grades

oFor pitchers: Pitch control is determined by control/command grades, while movement is determined by the overall pitch grade

oFinal attributes are not meant to perfectly replicate grades. Instead, each player has a specific archetype that is created. Therefore, development in franchise will be critical. Players w/ 60 hit tools are not guaranteed to be 60-grade hitters in the MLB. You actually have to develop that tool still (which is a nice little unique feature)

·Current overalls are determined via a combination of MLB ETA, scouting overall (based on attribute grades and current minor league level), and performance (based on wRC+ or xFIP at certain minor league levels)
·Potentials are determined based on a combination “overall” grade and current age to generate a value used for a standard curve
· Below is a rough chart of what overall grades correspond to what overalls, however, this is free-flowing and players can move up or down based on different factors

Position Players Starting Pitchers Relief Pitchers “Overall” Grade Potential Elite Elite 75 95-99 Superstar Ace pitcher Elite closer 70 90-95 All-Star Top of rotation Top closer 65 86-90 Great SP 2/3 High leverage 60 82-85 Above Average Mid rotation Mid-late RP 55 78-81 Average SP 4/5 Regular RP 50 75-77 Role (Below Average) 5th SP Low leverage RP 45 72-74 AAAA player 40 69-71 AAA player 35 64-68

New Draft Pick Editing in Franchise

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In order to maintain roster integrity as franchise goes on, I’ve found it necessary to edit incoming draft picks to make sure that newly drafted players do not completely outshine pre-established prospects. Doing this is relatively simple:


-Decrease every draftees potential by 4 points
-Limit max overalls by ages (18 = 60, 19 = 62, 20 = 64, 21 = 66, 22 = 68, 23+ = 70)
-Knock down every draftees vision by 20 points
-Decrease SP stamina by 5 and RP stamina by 10


All of this should keep potentials and necessary attributes in line with the entire roster

Final Comments
I want to thank each and every last one of you who download these rosters and give them a try. This project is a lot of work, but the end result makes it worth it. I am so glad to have a full team working together this year as it only helps make the final product that much better.

WE. ARE. LIVE

File name: Franchise Fidelity to Reality
Username: ViatorLion10

If you like the rosters and would like to donate a little bit, I would be massively appreciative, though it is by no means required:

Venmo: @Anthony-Quagliano


Come chat with us on discord: https://discord.gg/6Baz2hwhpS


I wish you all the best this season!

Peace, love, and baseball

[JWDixon120]

If you’d like to see a player preview of your choice for this years roster, head on over to our Discord and guess the mystery player in the Player-Previews channel!

https://discord.gg/pXRaZS9w

[jcblayze]

Here's a preview of how the rosters will look. The Cubs full 94 man.

https://sportsgamingrosters.com/2022...n-roster-page/

Strive to have opening day MLB, close to accurate AAA, and all top 30 prospects for each team.

Check the bottom of that page to see what CAP's will be added to the roster.

This is just on my end. The ratings editors are going to knock it out of the park.

Please don't sleep. We've been prepping for months.

[Quag]

Woo! My exams are finished and I'm ready to get rolling with the rest of the team.


Full details posted in main message. Keep it here and on the discord for continual updates on our progress!

[bostonboy_003]

Cant wait! Legit waiting to buy the game until these rosters drop.

[theoriginal561]

Looking forward to this again. Really curious how you handle speed ratings again. Seeing how J Rod, Alek Thomas, Oneil Cruz, and a few others who at least had really high sprint speeds but were rated between 50-60 vs other guys who do have the elite sprint speeds having 80+. I know 3 year average. But I'm curious to see where they all fall this year.

[JWDixon120]

Quote: Originally Posted by theoriginal561

Looking forward to this again. Really curious how you handle speed ratings again. Seeing how J Rod, Alek Thomas, Oneil Cruz, and a few others who at least had really high sprint speeds but were rated between 50-60 vs other guys who do have the elite sprint speeds having 80+. I know 3 year average. But I'm curious to see where they all fall this year.

This year speed ratings are based on last years statcast ft/s data only with some exceptions.

All other prospects or players without that data are given speed ratings based on Scouting Reports. When you look at guys like J Rod’s reports from last year, before he had data, he only had a 50 Run Grade.

But all the guys you listed above are 90+ speed.

[theoriginal561]

Quote: Originally Posted by JWDixon120

This year speed ratings are based on last years statcast ft/s data only with some exceptions. All other prospects or players without that data are given speed ratings based on Scouting Reports. When you look at guys like J Rod’s reports from last year, before he had data, he only had a 50 Run Grade. But all the guys you listed above are 90+ speed.

Thank god. I assumed that's what it was based off of. I'm just surprised the data would be so far off. Like I can't imagine a guy like Julios' speed would double essentially. Like if you're scouting these guys you would think you could see it when he runs. I always assumed speed grades were easier to grade out than any other ability.