Power Pros Forum

Hmmm... well, I'm really just jumping on the bandwagon here, but I thought it would be a fun thing to do on the forums since I haven't really been all that active lately. So, first come first serve, put your desired name, position, B/T, and play style (Power, accuracy, movement or all-around for pitchers; power, contact, speed, fielding, or all-around for fielders).

Have at it.

I'll do it!

Justin Epley
3B
L/R
Contact hitter

Look at this trend I started!

Yeah, it was a good idea.



Justin Epley
Trajectory: 2
Contact: D(8)
Power: F(50)
Run Speed: E(6)
Arm Strength: E(7)
Fielding: F(5)
Error Resistance: F(5)

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"Hey, Justin!"

I turned around to see my best friend and teammate, Scott Morris, jogging towards me. With his round, freckled face pulled into a cheerful grin, I couldn't help but smirk as he neared.

"You ready?" he asked.

"I always am," I replied. Scott laughed, and we headed over to meet up with the rest of the team. Everyone was in high spirits, as most newcomers to the Gulf Coast League, a rookie league, are. I hardly recognized a good portion of them, but I had plenty of time to fix that in the 50-some game season that awaited me. After a relatively easy warm-up, Scott went to get on his catching gear while I and the other seven infielders took our positions for fielding work. The team's other third baseman stood next to me, and introduced himself is Mike Conway. Once he fielded an easy high chopper and threw it to first, I was up.

The coach tossed the ball up and swung, sending an average-speed ground ball right at me. I struggled to get a good read on it, and on top of that, I was unfamiliar with the infield. Without moving, I scanned my brain for my options:

A. Charge it
B. Freeze
C. Run slightly right and forward, fielding it at an angle
D. Go home (I don't recommend this)

I'll go with A. Charge it

I took off directly towards the ball. As I ran, I adjusted my speed to time the hop just right. Sticking my glove out to grab the ball just as it came back up off the ground, I waited to hear the thud of the ball landing square in the center of my glove. Instead, it came from a different location.

"Gah!" I yelled. Pain rushed to my jaw, and my hand flew up to rub it. I realized the ball was at my feet, so I put my injury aside and threw to first.

As I walked back to my position, coach called out to me. "Y'all right, Epley?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a bad hop," I replied, hoping not to let his opinion of me slip too much. He nodded and turned to hit to the other infielders.

"Tough play," Mike said as I took my place behind him. "I hate those. Chin alright?"

"Yeah, it hurts a little, but I'm more worried about how stupid I looked out there," I explained.

"Don't worry about that too much," Mike said reassuringly, but then he added with a playful grin, "you looking stupid makes my job a lot easier." I smiled back, and the rest of fielding practice went smoothly.

------------------------------

Evaluation

Competition's Coach Eval: 11/100(+1)
Competition's Scout Eval: 0/100
Your Coach Eval: 8/100(-2) - Need to get this higher than the competition's (Mike) in order to start.
Scout Eval: 0/100 - Need to get this higher than the competition's in order to advance to AA.

Abilities

Trajectory: 2 - 5/10
Contact: D(8) - 5/10
Power: F(50) - 5/10
Run Speed: E(6) - 5/10
Arm Strength: E(7) - 6/10(+1)
Fielding: F(5) - 4/10(-1)
Error Resistance: F(5) - 3/10(-2)

Team Chemistry
11%(+1%)

What All This Means...

I had some fun coming up with the way this would work, and I'm pretty excited about it. I incorporated Coach and Scout eval, similar to MLBPP Success Mode, but rather than starting be set by a specific number, I decided to make it dynamic and use the team's other third baseman as the "man to beat."

Abilities are pretty straightforward, they will increase when they hit 10/10, or decrease when they reach 0.

A third thing I decided to add was team chemistry, which will increase when you decide to do social activities with your teammates. More team chemistry means better team performance, which leads to more wins, which leads to more scouting. This way, being a loner and spending all your time practicing won't necessarily be the best way to go. It'll take the right combination of practice and friendship to succeed here.

Hope you enjoy this, and I'll get your next decision up soon.

Bummer....

Though I really like how you're doing this!

Thanks! I do too.

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A couple hours later, when practice was over, I was approached by Scott, Mike, and two others I didn't recognize.

"Hey, Justin, this is Matt West," Scott said, motioning to a tall, lanky, baby-faced guy with short brown hair, "and this is Colin Zumoor," he added, pointing to an average-sized, scruffy looking man with a dark 5 o' clock shadow. Matt waved, and Colin extended his hand to mine.

"I catch, like your buddy Scott over here," he told me as we shook hands.

"What he means to say is he'll be backing me up," Scott joked. Colin punched him playfully and I rolled my eyes. This was typical Scott, treating new people like they were lifelong friends, and I was always shocked at how well it worked. I made a mental note to be a little more social.

"So, anyway," Scott started, "we were gonna head over to Nino's*, get some pizza. You coming?"

DECISION TIME!

A. Stay at the field and work on hitting
B. Stay at the field and work on fielding
C. Stay at the field and work on running
D. Go home and rest
E. Go to the local gym to work out
F. Go with

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*Nino's Restaurant and Pizzeria is the #1 rated pizzeria in Fort Myers, Florida, where the Gulf Coast Red Sox play. I'm doing my research.

Um... Hm... I'll have to go with F. Go with, final answer.

May 29th at 5:30 P.M. through May 30th at 9:00 A.M.

We arrived at Nino's about 20 minutes later. We sat down, and a waitress came by to take our order. We got two large pepperoni pizzas, as well as our respective drinks, and got to work on the food.

"Matt, what position do you play?" I asked.

"Pitcher," he replied, without looking up from his pizza. I was starting to catch on to the fact that he was somewhat shy, so I turned to Scott on my right.

"How's the pitching looking?" I questioned.

"Not bad, there's this one guy named Sam that throws mid-90's; everyone else is somewhere in the 80's. The fielders?"

"It's alright, I'd have to say the best hitter I've seen is that huge first baseman, I'm not sure of his name. He's got a lot of pop in his bat and I overheard some coaches talking about maybe pulling him up to double or even triple-A. Other than that, not really much going on from an hitting standpoint. The fielding seems to be pretty steady."

As we finished up our meal, we continued, with mounting excitement, to chat about the upcoming season, a short 50-some gamer. We all laid down our cash on the table, splitting the check evenly, and parted ways. I hopped on the first bus that came by the nearest stop, and rode it to within a few hundred feet of my new apartment. I fumbled with the keys for a moment and then stepped inside, taking in the my new home. It was fairly simple, a couch, a small kitchen, a TV, a bedroom and a bathroom. I came to the sudden realization that with my meager salary of $850 a month, and this apartment requiring over half of that, I was clearly going to need a part-time job. The next morning, I grabbed the paper and checked local listings, finding 4 suitable options...

DECISION TIME!

A. Burger King entry-level employee - $10/hour
B. Pizza Hut (some cooking, some delivery) - $7/hour + some tips
C. Applebee's waiter - $3/hour + tips
D. Janitor at the local high school - $8/hour, boost to power attribute

------------------------------

General
Mood:
Vitality: 80/100 (-30 from practice, +10 from food)
Money: $4,991 (Starting value, minus cost of food)

Evaluation
Competition's Coach Eval: 11/100
Competition's Scout Eval: 0/100
Your Coach Eval: 8/100 - Need to get this higher than the competition's in order to start.
Scout Eval: 0/100 - Need to get this higher than the competition's in order to advance to AA.

Abilities
Trajectory: 2 - 5/10
Contact: D(8) - 5/10
Power: F(50) - 5/10
Run Speed: E(6) - 5/10
Arm Strength: E(7) - 6/10
Fielding: F(5) - 4/10
Error Resistance: F(5) - 3/10

Team Chemistry
16%(+5%)

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As you can see, I added mood (which is essentially motivation/condition), vitality and money. Wow, this is getting pretty in-depth.

By the way, the first game will be played on June 4th.

Wow, this is looking awesome!

But, I'll go with D. the Janitor job, since I get some power boosting.

Is it alright if I steal some ideas here, d-tigers?

I wish I had a chance to do this, this looks really fun.

maccrash21: You could be next on mine after BrewersFuzz!

Sure, I'm glad my ideas are good enough to be stolen.