HOW TO: Using Player History
Ever wish BaseHit had a cheat sheet? Some place you could go for advice on how to evaluate players or build a winning team? Maybe you’re thinking about making some major changes to your roster and aren’t sure how to go about it. Well you’re in luck, because all of that and more is explained in the new 'How To' pages.
The Power of Player History
Every player has a "History" page on their player card, where you can see a season-by-season progression of their ratings and salary. For active players, those ratings are displayed based on your scouting investment. Retired players are shown at full scouting.
The player history page is extremely useful when judging how soon a player may start to decline. You can watch a player’s development since the day he appeared in a draft list. This can also help you determine how many miles he has left in the tank.
30-32 is a good age to start watching most stats. However, some guys are built like Adrian Beltre, others like Matt Harvey. And some pitchers actually become more effective with a loss of PO. These guys are always more balanced than a normal one or two skill stud.
For example, many people assume that PO will start to drop off by the age of 30. But a certain pitcher may not have maxed out his PO until the age of 28. This could indicate a late-bloomer who will be useful into his mid to late 30’s.
All you have to do to make an educated guess on a player’s career arc is to take a look how his ratings have changed over his existence. If everything is still going up, he probably has a lot of good years left. If you see a major stat is in decline, you should approach that player with caution.
The ratings history can be affected by scouting, so your next stop should be sure to learn the strategies and tricks for getting more money into scouting and other front office allocations.