Power Pros Forum

In my use of OOTP, I discovered a lone baseball player named Scott Burrell in the Blue Jays Farm System circa 1990. He looked pretty good in the first test sim I did, and he was very, very good. He posted a 2.38 ERA in Triple-A in 12 starts before being called up to the show where he continued his success; striking out seventy-eight batters and maintaining a sub 3.10 ERA in 20 starts. Seeing stats like that... well, it made me do some research into the player. It turns out that Burrell was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in his senior year of High School, but decided to go to college to pursue a basketball career. In college though, he was drafted by the Jays and he gave baseball a shot. Now, OOTP isn't an accurate portrayal of "what could have been", but it may give us some insight into what Burrell's MLB career may have been like.

I won't control any team in this simulation. I'll strictly watch Scott closely and post updates on how he does at certain levels of the game, etc. . . injuries will also be set at very low, to insure those nasty injuries don't ruin his baseball career!

I would be interested to see how Herb Score would turn out if you could do this with him, too.

He's Pat Burrell's older brother!

After the draft, Mr. Burrell got a call from the press. They wanted to know what he thought of being drafted by the Mariners.

Scott Burrell: It's like any other day of my life. I get up and exercise and try to have a better day than the previous one.

Reporter: Do you have any expectations?

SB: I want to play in the Majors by 1990.

Reporter: Oh okay, cool! Thanks!


Here's a look at Burrell's scouting report with 20-80 ratings:



Burrell is currently the fourth starter on the Mariners.

Wow, he's pretty good! 101+ MPH!

GEES,AND HES IN MINOR LEAGUE!?

Well, after putting up decent Spring Training numbers, Burrell was made the fifth starter on the Mariners. Who is in front of him? Left-handed pitcher Randy Johnson. Johnson struck out over forty batters in twenty innings of work during the Spring, while Burrell only managed to blow the ball past eighteen in nine and a half innings of work.

Scott did manage to increase his popularity though. He was caught mingling among Mariners fans in Arizona in some of the local bars! He posed for a ton of pictures and signed many autographs increasing his popularity level to POPULAR.

Only? Johnson struck out 2 batters an inning and Burrell came pretty dang close to that. So according to OOTPB, this guy is almost Randy Johnson caliber coming straight out of the draft!

Suuuuure. This game is a bit of an exhaggeration.

Hopefully he can keep it up. I think he has potential to be better than Randy. Since he's younger and all.

Anyway, here's the update for April and May:


As the fifth starter on the Mariners, he's putting up ace-like numbers. I'm tempted to jump right in and assign him the ace spot. That only causes problems though. And as dominant as Burrell is, he's not leading the American League in any major pitching categories. What a shame.

@Bobby_Baseball: I'm using a database designed by someone else, not the creators of OOTP. Therefore, the game isn't creating these results.

Who made the database? If it was a guy who's username was something like BaseballGuy85 or something internet-y like that it can't be relied upon much.

Who could this guy be in real life?

Well, Burrell had a disappointing month of June. He went 1 and 1 and with an ERA of 5.86 in six starts. The Mariners' defense saved Burrell though because his FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) was 8.20 for June. What does tomorrow hold for the pitcher? Well, he's expected to rebound and pitch well down the stretch. If he does not, however, he may be looking at a career change. Nobody wants a pitcher with an FIP of 8.20.

Stats thus far:

This is just another example of someone who starts out well and then burns out. His prior months, I'm guessing, were flashes in a pan. He reminds me of one of Boston's bright pitching prospects...

Clay Bucholz...

Even with that poor month, he's still 7-1 with a 3.92 ERA. I wouldn't worry yet.

Burrell has another bad month in August. Fortunately for him, the fact that he mingles with the fans keeps him on the MLB Club. The Manager of the Mariners suggested he wanted to try a demotion to Triple-A to see if his young arm could regain some of the confidence that made him successful earlier on in the year. According to that very same manager, the fact that Burrell would have to clear waivers makes it impossible -- someone would surely claim him. As for the Mariners though, they are leading the AL West. They do not have it sewn up completely yet, but they are six games ahead. Their magic number is twenty-two, but they are four for six in their last ten games.



Burrell had this to say on his performance:

"I think I'm doing pretty good for my rookie season. There are a bunch of other guys doing much worse than me, and everyone knows it. It's because I'm on Seattle, huh? We have all-stars like Ken Griffey Jr... we are expected to compete and fortunately we are. You guys have to realize I won the Rookie of the Month award back in June, so I am pretty darn good. If you can't comprehend my awesomeness, then that is your problem. The fans, the media, and my teammates love me. Only those sabermetricians and stat-heads hate me. Yes, I'm talking about you, Mr. George William "Bill" James."