All of these formulas were derived from research based on FanGraphs leaderboards and countless hours of research done by myself and jag123jg. I’ve reworded most of the descriptions just ‘cuz it’s my thread but most of the core values stay the same — these are not hard and fast rules, and you can rate players however you want; this is just our recommendations for realistic updates. Additionally, it’s noted that minor adjustments can and should be made based on your personal judgment or things you’ve seen/heard. For example if a pitcher is known for his stingy control, but his BB/9 doubled in the past year, maybe adjust his control up so it’s more in line with his career stats. We’re going almost entirely off of 2017 stats for these updates, but it’s recommended that you at least look at the past 3 years worth of data to get a realistic understanding of where a player should stand.
For all of these, please note that we are using MLB stats only. For players with limited or no major league service time, we don’t have enough data to derive accurate formulas. All formulas were based on players with set minimums of 100 PA and 50 IP in the current season, which gave us pretty sizable samples to base our data off of.
Here we go y’all.
Pitcher AbilitiesTop Speed — FanGraphs has moved their Pitch F/X data to the splits section, under “Pitch Type Splits”. Look at a player’s maximum velocity and round up to the nearest MPH. Note that most pitchers average well below their max velo (typically 3-4 mph, but sometimes more), and this is reflected in game especially in poor condition, so please make sure you get an accurate number here.
Control — Based on BB/9! The figures on the left is BB/9, on the right is the corresponding Control stat.
0.60 and below — 250
0.61 - 0.80 — 240
0.81 - 1.00 — 230
1.01 - 1.20 — 220
1.21 - 1.40 — 210
1.41 - 1.60 — 200
1.61 - 1.80 — 190
1.81 - 2.00 — 180
2.01 - 2.20 — 175
2.21 - 2.40 — 170
2.41 - 2.60 — 160
2.61 - 2.80 — 150
2.81 - 3.00 — 140
3.01 - 3.20 — 135
3.21 - 3.60 — 130
3.61 - 3.80 — 125
3.81 - 4.00 — 120
4.01 - 4.30 — 115
4.31 - 4.50 — 110
4.51 - 4.75 — 105
4.76 - 5.00 — 100
5.01 - 5.40 — 90
5.41 - 5.80 — 80
5.81 - 6.20 — 70
6.21 - 6.60 — 60
6.61 - 7.00 — 50
7.01 and above — 40
Stamina — For starting pitchers, use innings pitched per start (preferably from a season where they only started) to determine stamina. The formula is (26 x IP/S) for starters. For any relievers, generally stay in the following ranges:
Swing man — 80-120 (These are pitchers who both start and relieve regularly.)
Middle relief — 50-80 (Most will be in the 50-60 range.)
Closer/Setup — 30-50 (Most will be around 40.)
Pitches — Again, use FanGraphs’ pitch f/x data to find these. Some important notes are:
— For sliders, the difference between SLD, H-SLD, SLV, and V-SLD is often in the movement or the speed difference off the fastball, so be careful when looking at those.
— For curveballs, there are several types (CB, DCB, SCB, and KNCB); the data usually separates knuckle curves (KC) from other curves (CU), but be careful to give the pitcher the right type of curveball. (For example, Clayton Kershaw throws a drop curve, and A.J. Griffin throws a slow curve.)
— For sinkers, please use 2SFB or SIFB rather than the game default SNK or H-SNK. These should generally be left alone, though they could be used if a pitcher’s changeup has a lot of horizontal fade.
— If a pitcher throws a pitch a lot of the time, it may be a good idea to give them 2 of that pitch so this is reflected in the game. You can also use Power P/Brk Ball P (more on that later.)
I generally use batting average against based on Jag’s formulas (found below), though there’s a lot of subjectivity as well. 2SFBs generally are level 1, maybe 2, but 3s are very rare, as are level 7 pitches.
You could also use Pitch Value data, or movement data to get the corresponding level for each pitch.
BA against.........Breakingball level
.275+..........1
.250-.275.....2
.220-.250.....3
.180-.220.....4
.140-.180.....5
.100-.140.....6
Special AbilitiesBlue Abilitiesw/RISP 4 — The league average LOB% is around 74%. Give this ability to pitchers whose LOB% is above 80%.
VS LH Batter 4 — Give this to a pitcher when LHB average is about .030 lower than RHB average. (For example, a pitcher whose BAA is .220 for lefties, and .252 for righties)
Poise 4 — Give this to pitchers who are in the top 5-10 at their position, or who have a lot of red abilities to balance.
Fastball Life 4 — Give this to pitchers whose fastball (FA, FT, etc.) has a batting average against of .230 or lower.
Spin 4 — Give this to pitchers whose offspeed (SL, CU, CH, etc.) have at least ½ of pitches with a .230 batting average against or lower.
Release 4 — For pitchers whose CS% is over 30% or who allowed less than 10 SB in a season of 100+ IP. This doesn’t get given out a lot.
Recovery 4 — Literally every pitcher needs to have this. No question.
Groundball P — Give this to pitchers whose GB% is 50% or higher.
Safe Pitch — Give this to pitchers whose HR/9 is 0.65 or lower.
STR Finisher — Give this to closers whose save percentage is 90% or higher, and who had at least 20 saves in the season.
Dr. K — Give this to starting pitchers with a K/9 of 9.00 or above, and relievers with a K/9 of 11.00 or above.
GD Pickoff — This doesn’t get given out a lot. Pitchers with a good pickoff move, or who picked off 3+ players in a season.
GD Delivery — Pitchers who have a consistent arm motion
GD Reflexes — Pitchers with good fielding ability, or who field a lot of comebackers cleanly.
Lucky — Pitchers who won 15 or more games in back to back seasons. This doesn’t get given out much
Battler — Pitchers who show a lot of emotion on the mound, are known for emphatic celebrations (i.e. Fernando Rodney), etc.
Poker Face — Pitchers who rarely show emotion on the mound, or who rarely show fatigue (could be begging to stay in).
Intimidator — Give this to the top 10 or so pitchers (starters and closers) in the league. We have a list
Gyroball — ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ this doesn’t actually get used
Consistency 4 — If a pitcher is known for consistency, or is one of the top pitchers in the league.
Durability 4 — If a pitcher never gets injured, or never misses a start.
Green AbilitiesPower P — When a pitcher mostly throws fastballs (including cutter), i.e. Jansen, Britton, Colon
Brk Ball P — When a pitcher mostly throws breaking balls, i.e. Dickey
GD Pace — Under “Pitch Info Plate Discipline”, give this to pitchers whose Pace is 22.0 seconds or below.
Red Abilitiesw/RISP 2 — When a pitcher’s LOB% is 68% or below.
VS LH Batter 2 — Give this to a pitcher when LHB average is about .030 higher than RHB average. (For example, a pitcher whose BAA is .252 for lefties, and .220 for righties)
Poise 2 — For really bad pitchers, or someone with a lot of blue abilities to balance.
Fastball Life 2 — Give this to pitchers whose fastball (FA, FT, etc.) has a batting average against of .280 or lower.
Spin 2 — Give this to pitchers whose offspeed (SL, CU, CH, etc.) have at least ½ of pitches with a .280 batting average against or lower.
Release 2 — For pitchers whose CS% is below 25% or who allowed more than 13 SB in a season of 100+ IP. This doesn’t get given out a lot.
Recovery 2 — No
Flyball P — For pitchers whose GB% is 38% or below.
Fat Pitch — For pitchers whose HR/9 is 1.75 or above.
Choke Artist — Pitchers who consistently struggle in the second or third time through the order (more than usual), or closers who blow a lot of saves and/or were removed from the role
Slow Starter — Starters who struggle in the first or second inning.
Walk — Pitchers who walk a ton of hitters, don’t give this out much
Unlucky — Pitchers who lose a lot of games. This doesn’t get given out a lot
Hot Head — Pitchers who tend to get angry and yell at umpires, opposing players, etc.
Consistency 2 — Pitchers who generally alternate very good and very bad starts, or are streaky
Durability 2 — Pitchers who are constantly on the DL. Could be given to pitchers who have had Tommy John surgery, certainly if they’ve had it multiple times or had other injuries after coming back.
Shuuto Spin — Could be given to pitchers with an unreliable or exceptionally bad fastball
Sandbag — Pitchers who are known for losing focus, or whose WHIP is above 1.5
Hitter AbilitiesTrajectory — Based on season HR total.
1 TRJ — 0-2 HR
2 TRJ — 3-19 HR
3 TRJ — 20-32 HR
4 TRJ — 33+ HR
Contact — Based on aar0nat0r’s formula.
.000~.169=1
.170~.184=2
.185~.199=3
.200~.214=4
.215~.229=5
.230~.244=6
.245~.259=7
.260~.274=8
.275~.289=9
.290~.304=10
.305~.319=11
.320~.334=12
.335~.349=13
.350~ .374=14
.375+ = 15
Power — Based on Jag’s formulas. I generally just use ISO, but HR% and AB/HR can be found in Baseball-Reference if you wanna get really in-depth.
Code:
HR% AB/HR ISO Power
>7.9% <10.5 .350+ 250+
>7.5% 10.5-11 .335+ 240
>7% 11-11.5 .320+ 230
>6.5% 11.5-12 .305+ 220
>6% 12-13 .290+ 210
>5.75% 13-14 .275+ 200
>5.5% 14-15 .260+ 190
>5.25% 15-16 .245+ 180
>5% 16-18 .230+ 170
>4.75% 18-19 .220+ 162
>4.5% 19-20.5 .216+ 154
>4.25% 20.5-22 .210+ 148
>4% 22-23 .205+ 143
>3.75% 23-24.5 .200+ 139
>3.5% 24.5-26 .195+ 135
>3.25% 26-28 .190+ 131
>3% 28-30 .180+ 127
>2.75% 30-32 .168+ 123
>2.5% 32-35 .154+ 120
>2.25% 35-40 .144+ 117
>2% 40-45 .135+ 114
>1.5% 45-60 .130+ 105
>1.25% 60-75 .115+ 95
>1% 75-110 .100+ 85
>.6% 110-150 .085+ 75
>.4% 150-200 .070+ 70
Run Speed — Based on the Statcast Sprint Speed leaderboard found here:
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sprint_speed_leaderboard15 SPD = 29.5 ft/sec or above
14 SPD = 29.1 - 29.4
13 SPD = 28.6 - 29.0
12 SPD = 28.0 - 28.5
11 SPD = 27.6 - 27.9
10 SPD = 27.3 - 27.5
9 SPD = 27.1 - 27.2
8 SPD = 26.7 - 27.0
7 SPD = 26.2 - 26.6
6 SPD = 25.9 - 26.1
5 SPD = 25.5 - 25.8
4 SPD = 25.0 - 25.4
3 SPD = 24.5 - 24.9
2 SPD = 24.0 - 24.4
1 SPD = 23.9 or below
Arm Strength — We have different formulas for catchers, infielders, and outfielders.
For Catchers — Use rSB (under fielding), added to 8, and adjust from there.
For Outfielders — Use rARM and ARM (averaged) and add to 8, and adjust from there.
For Infielders — Jag uses Fan Scouting Report, there really isn’t a good way to measure this so just eyeball it (positions help too, like a 3B will generally have a stronger arm than a 2B).
Fielding — Use an average of RngR and rPM added to 8. For catchers, just eyeball it or base on DRS numbers. You can also use UZR.
Error Resistance — Use ErrR added to 8. For catchers, roughly use the following stat: (GS / PB+E). So for example, if a catcher made 100 starts, and made 5 errors with 5 passed balls, they would have 10 E RES.
Special AbilitiesBlue AbilitiesClutch Hit 4 — Batters whose Batting Average w/RISP is .030 higher than regular AVG, and have 70 or more RBI in a season.
Clutch Hit 5 — Batters whose Batting Average w/RISP is .060 higher than regular AVG, and have 90 or more RBI in a season.
VS Lefty 4 — Batters whose batting average vs. LHP is .050 higher than RHP
VS Lefty 5 — Batters whose batting average vs. LHP is .100 higher than RHP
Contact Hitter — Batters who are known for contact hitting, or have 190+ hits in a season.
Power Hitter — Batters who have 30-35 or more home runs in a season.
Spray Hitter — When a player hits to all fields.
Push Hitter — (Found in Batted Ball) When a player has 28% Oppo% or above.
Pull Hitter — When a player has 45% or higher Pull%.
Hot Hitter — For players who are among the top hitters in the league, or have a batting average of .300 or higher.
Tough Out — For players whose K% is 17.0% or lower.
GD Bunt — When a player is good at sacrifice bunting, or has bunted for a hit a few times.
Bunt Master — A player who is an exceptional bunter, who consistently sacrifices and bunts for hits.
GD Infield Htr — When a player has a lot of infield hits, or is notably fast
GRT Infield Htr — Given to players with exceptional speed.
GD B2B Hitter — When a player has a lot of multi-hit games.
Firstball Hitter — When a batter is known for hitting the first pitch, or has an AVG .085 higher on the first pitch than normal
Table Setter — When their batting average is .030 higher with nobody on than normal.
Bases Clearer — When a player has a lot of grand slams, or a .360+ average with bases loaded.
Walk-off Hitter — When a player has hit 2+ walk-offs in a season
Rally Hitter — Not really used
GD Pinch Hitter — Given to batters who excel at pinch-hitting, or have a high average (.300 or above)
Intimidator — One of the elite hitters in the league. We have a list (again)
Refined — Rarely used, but if a player is a legendary hitter like Ichiro with 2500 or more career hits, consider this
Stealing 4 — When a player has a wSB of 1.0 or higher.
Base Running 4 — When a player has a UBR of 1.5 or higher.
Throwing 4 — When a player rarely makes throwing errors
Durability 4 — When a player rarely gets injured, or plays all 162 games (@ rougned odor)
Consistency 4 — When a hitter is known for consistency, or is one of the elite hitters in the league
Gold Glover — Give this to Gold Glove winners from the past 3 seasons.
Barehand Catch — Given to mostly infielders, who are good at making barehand plays.
Spider Catch — Given to outfielders who are good at robbing home runs (usually 2 or more in a season)
Cannon Arm — Given to all outfielders with A arm strength or 10+ outfield assists in a season
Pivot Man — Infielders who excel at turning double plays; could also use rGDP (> 2.0) or DPR (> 1.0)
HD 1st Slide — Players who slide into first base head-first (Brett Gardner)
Tough Runner — Players who collide into the catcher. This is illegal now, but yanno…Anthony Rizzo
Breakup DP — Players who excel at sliding to break up double plays, or are good at “takeout” slides
Trash Talk — When a player is known to trash talk opponents, only affects catchers
GD Block — Not really given out, but when a catcher can be collided with and hang onto the ball
GD Catcher — Top 10 catcher in the league, or is known for handling pitching staff well, or being a good pitch-framer. I give this to any catcher above 5 framing runs on statcorner
GRT Catcher — Top 3 catcher in the league, or an exceptional game-caller or pitch-framer. I give this to any catcher above 10 framing runs on statcorner
Green AbilitiesPatient Hitter — BB% of 10.5% or higher
Aggressive Hitter — BB% of 6.0% or lower
GD Eye — BB% of 13.0% or higher
Slugger — Players who hit a lot of home runs, or tend to swing for the fences. Definitely give this to anyone with 45+ home runs in a season
Slap Hitter — Players who rarely hit home runs or try for base hits
Aggressive STL — 25 or more steal attempts in a season
Cautious STL — Very few (maybe 2 or 3) steal attempts in a season
Aggressive RUN — Kinda subjective, when a player tries to take the extra base a lot
Aggressive FLD — When a fielder makes a lot of diving plays and highlight catches (running into the wall, HR robbery, etc.)
GD/PR Small Ball — Not given out a lot, but when a player is notable for bunting a lot or never bunting
Red AbilitiesClutch Hit 2 — Batters whose Batting Average w/RISP is .030 lower than regular AVG.
Clutch Hit 1 — Batters whose Batting Average w/RISP is .060 lower than regular AVG.
VS Lefty 2 — Batters whose batting average vs. LHP is .050 lower than RHP
VS Lefty 1 — Batters whose batting average vs. LHP is .100 lower than RHP
Timely Whiff — Given to batters with a K% of 25% or higher
Throwing 2 — When a player makes a lot of throwing errors; does not apply to catchers unless they have a ridiculous amount of them
Durability 2 — Gets injured a lot or has had major injuries more than once
Consistency 2 — Very streaky hitter, someone who’s been in major slumps and also major hitting streaks before
Stealing 2 — When a player has a wSB of -1.0 or lower.
Base Running 2 — When a player has a UBR of -2.0 or lower.
Error Prone — When a player has low E RES or makes a lot of errors
Other SpecialsStar — When a player is very popular, or has made several All-Star teams. We have a list, again
Sparkplug — Rarely given out, maybe when a player is known to have a lot of influence on the team
GD Morale /
PR Morale — Not given out a lot, when a player is notably liked/disliked by teammates.