Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

i think i know that the pitcher's hold rating and the catcher's arm rating are added together and subtracted from the base stealers top number? my question, is it the same deduct for stealing 2b and 3b? also, is there a max deduct number? ex. arm -4, hold -6 = -10. would this be the number deducted? what factors can alter this number? trying to determine if its a moot point at some point when trying to prevent stealing? also, are the 2 deducts equal or does one change and the other static?

Yeah I read somewhere that the MAX combined you could get out of a combo (a pitcher with -6 arm and a catcher with -4 arm) is -5. So no matter if you have this -10 combo, it will only give you the -5.

Not sure where I got that, but I believe this to be true.

This paragraph states how it works (-5 max). It can be found at: http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/btf/pages/basesim/somrules.htm

When using either rating number, first add together the catcher's throwing arm rating and the pitcher's hold rating (found at the top of the pitcher's card), The total of the two numbers must not exceed the range of -5 to +5. For example, if the catcher's throwing rating was -3 and the pitcher's hold rating was -4, the total of -7 would be reduced to -5 . However, if the runner is "held on" subtract from the prior total the following, an additional -2 when using the first rating and -4 when using the second rating number. THIS NUMBER MAY NOT EXCEED -5. In order to demonstrate the entire calculation assume the following: the runner being held on, assume a catcher's throwing arm rating of -4 and a pitcher's hold rating of -3. If the dice roll total was 8 (two six-sided dice), the baserunner established a good lead and must steal. First total together the catcher' a throwing arm rating (-4) and the pitcher's hold rating (-3). Since (-7) is greater than the maximum deduction , reduce to (-5). Then subtract (-2). His chances for a successful steal would be 1-12 [19 + (-5) + (-2) = 12], If the initial dice roll was 5, the baserunner did not get a good lead. If the offensive manager still wanted to attempt a steal of second, his chances would be 1-5 [14 + (-5) + (-4)=5]. IF THE BASERUNNER IS NOT HELD ON, THE SAFE STEAL RATING (NUMBER IN PARENTHESIS) MAY EXCEED 20, IF A RUNNER IS HELD ON, THE MAXIMUM RANGE IS 1-19,