Ratings Overview

  • A player's skill in various aspects of baseball is reflected in their ratings, including Batting, Pitching, Fielding, and other categories.
  • Current ratings indicate the player's current level of skill, while potential ratings represent their maximum potential.
  • Leagues can choose the format and precision of the ratings displayed, allowing customization for evaluating players.
  • Number ratings range from 1 (worst) to 100 (best) by default, with options to change the range to 10-90 or 20-80.
  • Letter ratings correspond to specific ranges: A (85-100), B (70-84), C (55-69), D (40-54), and E (1-39).

Current Ratings

  • Current Ratings reflect a player's current skill level, with higher ratings indicating greater ability in that specific area.
  • The rating scale is not linear, meaning the difference in ability between ratings of 50 and 60 is smaller than the difference between 60 and 70.
  • Starting from ratings of 50 or higher, the higher the number, the larger the difference in skill.

Potential Ratings

  • Potential Ratings represent a player's maximum skill level they can reach at their peak.
  • These ratings do not change over time, so for veterans, the potential rating shows their best potential rather than their current performance.
  • Young players and prospects' potential ratings are particularly important since they have not yet reached their peak.

Summary Ratings (Overall and Potential)

  • All players have summary ratings: Overall (an aggregate of their current ratings) and Potential (an aggregate of their potential ratings).
  • The Overall and Potential ratings consider all individual ratings, with weightings based on their value and influenced by the player's position and the league's simulation model.
  • Position players have summary ratings for Hitting and Fielding, while pitchers have summary ratings for Pitching and Fielding.
    • Hitting includes Discipline (DI), Contact (CN), Batting (BA), Slugging (SL), and Speed (SP).
    • Pitching includes Power (PO), Finesse (FI), Control (CO), and Specialty (SY).
    • Fielding includes Range (RA), Glove (GL), Arm (AR), and Hold Runner (HR) for pitchers only.

Normalization of Ratings

Normalization is the adjustment of players' effective ratings based on the league's average ratings to ensure consistent overall results across leagues using the same simulation model.

Why normalize?

  • Several factors can cause variation in average player ratings across leagues:
    • Age of the league
    • League's financial system (e.g., salary cap limit)
    • Quality and quantity of free agents a team recruits each season
    • Random factors involved in team creation
    • Normalization maintains a relatively consistent run-scoring environment across leagues. This ensures that top batters' performance in new leagues is similar to those in older leagues, and likewise for pitchers in low and high salary cap leagues.

How Does Normalization Work?

  • Players' average ratings are evaluated throughout the season, considering only those who receive playtime.
  • The relative impact of each rating is determined by comparing it to the league's average. For example, a player with a 70SL rating in a Free Agent Era league, where the average is also 70SL, should perform similarly to a player with 65SL in another Free Agent Era league with an average of 65SL.

Related Links

Batting Ratings
Pitching Ratings
Fielding Ratings
Other Ratings