Problems with player development?

[Nolove626]

Is it just me, or does anyone feel like player development regressed back to the old days? The last few years I feel like MLB the show really made improvements on the player development front, but this year something seems a little off. I have been running some test franchises until OSFM drops and it seems like players are hitting a wall at 25. I thought okay maybe they just tuned this for this years game, but honestly even my younger (18-24) B and A rated players are not getting better as quickly as they have in the past. Case and point Tyler Austin on the yankees 25 and A rated potential actually got worse in a few categories despite having a solid season. Robert Stephenson of the reds 24 and 88 potential improving only slightly. I am interested to see other people's houghts on this years development, and see if anyone else is noticing a slower development curve his year?

[Nolove626]

Re: Problems with player development?

After doing some more research on this with some test franchises. Something is definitely off with the progression. I think this may be due to the fact that the performance based system weighs more heavily towards regression than progression. What I mean is that it almost feels like you are penalized harder for bad performance than you are rewarded for good performance. I could be wrong on this and may just be over thinking it, but it really seems as if players are just not getting better very quickly, but when they fall they fall off of a cliff.

[MattP598]

Re: Problems with player development?

I agree. Also which activity you choose doesn't seem to make a difference. I've had Mallex Smith, A rating, 24 I think, working on stealing for 2 months and haven't seen one bump at all, yet his contact vs. Righties is +8.

[Nolove626]

Re: Problems with player development?

I agree. Also which activity you choose doesn't seem to make a difference. I've had Mallex Smith, A rating, 24 I think, working on stealing for 2 months and haven't seen one bump at all, yet his contact vs. Righties is +8.

Yeah I've noticed this to. Training seems to have zero effect on development, and is all production based. My only problem with this is that none of the improvements in attributes are even remotely sustainable. I had mikail frack of the phillies with plus 4 contact against lefties, and the very next week he was minus 2. You mean to tell me he lost all ability to hit lefties in one week after crushing them all season? Seem wonky and going to make developing prospects with OSFM a random crap shoot.

[Nolove626]

Re: Problems with player development?

After doing another test franchise and aimming five years intoned the future I have realized development isn't completely random, which is disappointing. I liked somewhat having control over developments of my prospects by choosing what I wanted them to focus on.

[Bosox1389]

Re: Problems with player development?

This is the biggest issue for me in franchise as I run one with BOS and play every game but throughout the year I play a few other franchises where I manage and sim more so I can get into 10 seasons with a rebuild team.

I wasn't one to freak out over additions or lack their of, of franchise mode I just hoped they fix this issue because to me it ruins a franchise 8 years in when every MLB player is retiring at 34-35 after monster seasons yet there are D potential guys who are 38 who never sniffed MLB rated at 60 or less still in the league.

Their system needs a major overhaul in this area. However I did feel in '16 that training mattered so I wonder if there's a bug or issue with this years game.

In '16 I ran a DBACKS franchise and in year one I drafted a 20 yr old catcher with 78 potential and low 70s overall well he dominated the minors and potential grew into mid B range I brought him up in his first season and was my starter in his second season. He acquired 6 years service by 27. Only problem was he's 27 86 overall and 87 potential. And by the end of that season he was a 78 he fell off a cliff at age 27 regressed significantly in every category. Makes no sense. He's hitting his prime he should stay around 86 for 3-7 years after 27 maybe because he's a catcher it's more like 3-5 but then there should be a slight drop off. There's no reason for a 32 yr old perennial all star to drop over 20 points in one year.

This is one of many examples I had from last years game I hoped they had fixed. It seems like any cap players regress once they hit there 6 yr service time and are ready for free agents. It prevents long time MLB contributors. I want to be able to bring a young guy up at 21 if his play demands it and watch him develop for 9 years on my MLB team and keep him up there for 15 or so years not worry that in 5 he will start to regress

Anyway sorry for the long post/rant I just think if the only thing they fixed was this I'd be extremely happy with franchise for years to come


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[Nolove626]

Re: Problems with player development?

From what I am seeing it probably is a bug. It seems as if training is stuck on auto even if you assign it to a certain category.

[zukes]

Re: Problems with player development?

I haven't had a chance to dig into the game, nor the forums too much as I was on vacation, so I apologize if this has been or is being discussed elsewhere, but do players still rapidly decline in their later years during the season as a rule? I understand that this happens to some players, but look at David Ortiz last year. In the game he would lose ratings across the board to the point he was basically unusable by the end of the first season. In real life he had one of, if not the, season of his career.

[Nolove626]

Re: Problems with player development?

I haven't had a chance to dig into the game, nor the forums too much as I was on vacation, so I apologize if this has been or is being discussed elsewhere, but do players still rapidly decline in their later years during the season as a rule? I understand that this happens to some players, but look at David Ortiz last year. In the game he would lose ratings across the board to the point he was basically unusable by the end of the first season. In real life he had one of, if not the, season of his career.

To be honest with you, it seems completely random. Through my test franchises I have been focusing on Jose Bautista as my case study. He is 36 and A potential. In the three different test franchises I have done he has regressed to a 74 within one yet in two of the seasons, and in one season he hovered around an 86 and even improved in some attributes.

[consecutive27]

Re: Problems with player development?

This is the biggest issue for me in franchise as I run one with BOS and play every game but throughout the year I play a few other franchises where I manage and sim more so I can get into 10 seasons with a rebuild team.

I wasn't one to freak out over additions or lack their of, of franchise mode I just hoped they fix this issue because to me it ruins a franchise 8 years in when every MLB player is retiring at 34-35 after monster seasons yet there are D potential guys who are 38 who never sniffed MLB rated at 60 or less still in the league.

Their system needs a major overhaul in this area. However I did feel in '16 that training mattered so I wonder if there's a bug or issue with this years game.

In '16 I ran a DBACKS franchise and in year one I drafted a 20 yr old catcher with 78 potential and low 70s overall well he dominated the minors and potential grew into mid B range I brought him up in his first season and was my starter in his second season. He acquired 6 years service by 27. Only problem was he's 27 86 overall and 87 potential. And by the end of that season he was a 78 he fell off a cliff at age 27 regressed significantly in every category. Makes no sense. He's hitting his prime he should stay around 86 for 3-7 years after 27 maybe because he's a catcher it's more like 3-5 but then there should be a slight drop off. There's no reason for a 32 yr old perennial all star to drop over 20 points in one year.

This is one of many examples I had from last years game I hoped they had fixed. It seems like any cap players regress once they hit there 6 yr service time and are ready for free agents. It prevents long time MLB contributors. I want to be able to bring a young guy up at 21 if his play demands it and watch him develop for 9 years on my MLB team and keep him up there for 15 or so years not worry that in 5 he will start to regress

Anyway sorry for the long post/rant I just think if the only thing they fixed was this I'd be extremely happy with franchise for years to come


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

Yes, I noticed this last year too. Elite players had trouble accumulating the career numbers that they probably should have been able to reach due to retiring around 34, even though they still have good ratings and are putting up solid or even great numbers. Either that or they declined dramatically, earlier than they probably should have. The balance of yearly, league wide ratings and sim stats were not bad in my opinion even after simming many years into the future, but the regression and progression still did not seem right for the reasons you mentioned.

I cannot speak to this year's game because I do not own it. I am not going to jump to conclusions about it until people start posting more information about sim franchises several years into the future, but it seems unlikely much has changed. It would be awesome to have progression and regression sliders in future versions of the game. Being able to edit draft classes could help too, or just have sliders for them as well.

There may be some player editing that could be done to deal with these issues such as changing ratings, age, or service time. I occasionally increased some ratings for elite, older players whose ratings decreased too dramatically for my liking. This helped a little bit, but was a band-aid solution. I already spent a decent amount of time editing equipment for players on my team on top of time just playing the game and managing my roster. I did not really want to spend more time editing players and tinkering with these things. Overall, I still love the show and had a great time playing it last year. I would love to see them work out some of these kinks or give players more options for managing it themselves. That would take franchise mode to another level.

[Fours]

Re: Problems with player development?

On top of all this there's still the legacy issue of not enough prospects entering the draft. They age in the scouting pool and you eventually end up with not a single prospect under the age of 22, with most being 23 or 24. 15 years in most top prospects will debut in the bigs around age 28.

The archtypes are not improved either, height seems randomly selected between 5'7 and 6'5, not assigned on a curve. Meaning there are an equal number of 5'8 players as there are 6'.. and despite the promise of 'no monsters' the generated players look just as bad as ever and all need to be edited. Giant face bumps, huge eyes, noses sunk into the skull.. It's a horror movie.

There's also just as many prospects from the Netherlands as there are from the Dominican Republic.. it's a small thing, but demonstrates the lack of attention to detail.

Deep franchise rebuilders are disappointed again.

[zukes]

Re: Problems with player development?

To be honest with you, it seems completely random. Through my test franchises I have been focusing on Jose Bautista as my case study. He is 36 and A potential. In the three different test franchises I have done he has regressed to a 74 within one yet in two of the seasons, and in one season he hovered around an 86 and even improved in some attributes.

This is great! I can deal with random. When every player just declined at a set rate I just got to the point where I edited players every week or two.

[Nolove626]

Re: Problems with player development?

On top of all this there's still the legacy issue of not enough prospects entering the draft. They age in the scouting pool and you eventually end up with not a single prospect under the age of 22, with most being 23 or 24. 15 years in most top prospects will debut in the bigs around age 28.

The archtypes are not improved either, height seems randomly selected between 5'7 and 6'5, not assigned on a curve. Meaning there are an equal number of 5'8 players as there are 6'.. and despite the promise of 'no monsters' the generated players look just as bad as ever and all need to be edited. Giant face bumps, huge eyes, noses sunk into the skull.. It's a horror movie.

There's also just as many prospects from the Netherlands as there are from the Dominican Republic.. it's a small thing, but demonstrates the lack of attention to detail.

Deep franchise rebuilders are disappointed again.

This is a huge problem! But what's even bigger problem is I don't even want to get that far because none of my prospects pan out to fit my team because progression is random, and training doesn't improve he selected attributes

[thawkprime 21]

Re: Problems with player development?

I know old players tend to drop off fastest has anyone seen where a young player has a breakout season and goes up 15 points overall

[Nolove626]

Re: Problems with player development?

I know old players tend to drop off fastest has anyone seen where a young player has a breakout season and goes up 15 points overall

Not yet. I've seen a 3-4 overall increase which is an accumulation of attribute improvements. I'd like to add to this by saying that I think player morale is a big part of the issue. Archie Bradley 24 yrs old and high A potential is pissed off and barely getting better because he doesn't like the contract or coaching. All the same as the number 5 man in the d-backs rotation he only saw a 2 overall increase after the first year. On another note Tyler Skaggs of the angels had a similar year and went from (83 potential)79 to 84 overall with much bigger gains in attributes. Strange