Defensive ratings are subject to adjustment based upon playing time. Generally these adjustments are simple hard caps based on innings played, but the system for range ratings is significantly more complicated. Since I frequently get questions about the range adjustments I’ve posted a summary here.
Instead of a simple hard capping system (e.g. less than X innings no higher than Y range), low playing time (PT) players are mapped into a smaller scale than the normal 0-10 (K thru A range). This means that lower PT players have to exceed the performance of their peers with more PT in order to achieve the same range rating. It also allows the lower PT guys who are “off the scale” (raw range ratings better than “A”) to exceed the upper end of the reduced scale and achieve higher ratings than what would be allowed under a hard capping system.
The playing time value we use is a calculation I’ll refer to as “adjusted innings”, which breaks down to:
(games played at position) + (innings played at position) + (bonus for innings logged at similar positions) pos similar --- -------- 1b 2b,3b,ss 2b 3b,ss 3b 2b,ss ss 2b,3b lf cf,rf cf lf,rf rf lf,cf
The bonus cannot be greater than the number of games + innings at the primary position.
Upper bound for the scale is determined by a step function, starting at 6.0 for 216 “adjusted innings” and increasing 0.125 for every 27 additional “adjusted innings”. Here’s an abbreviated chart with some of the key values:
upper PT bound ---- ------ 216 6.000 324 6.500 432 7.000 540 7.500 648 8.000 756 8.500 864 9.000 972 9.500 1080 10.000
There is one additional hard cap for players under 216, set at the fractional value below 216 (e.g. a guy who was 80% to 216 would be hard capped at an 8).
Finally, there is a bonus for playing good defense at similar positions. For any player who has their range rating reduced by PT adjustments, if they have a higher raw range rating in more innings at similar position(s) then his adjusted range rating is increased by one. For CF/SS their defense at the other position(s) has to be 3 grades higher.
Here’s an example of the good defense bonus, using Endy Chavez from the 2009 card set:
Chavez recorded a raw range rating of 12 in 197 innings in LF, 1 in 38 innings in CF, and 14 in 400 innings in RF. Chavez received a +1 bonus in LF and CF because of the 400 innings in RF.
Awesome stuff, thank you very much for posting. I love the work you do and the IBL Game.
The defensive bonus system has changed, see this post for details.
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