Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

Can someone explain to me how the balance indicator works?

For example:

I have Gehringer with a 3R balance on my team. It is Fenway Park '41 and he is hitting in front of some big hitters (Foxx, Dimaggio, Greenberg, Jackson, Yastremski - not in that order).

He is destroying left hand pitching with a .352avg, but barely has a .192 avg vs right hand pitchers. I would think the balance indicator would mean he would hit right handers better. I know there are other factors, but should the difference be that extreme?

I see that often where a player has a even more extreme balance and hit opposite armed pitchers better. Why is that?

In the StratFan magazine it was once described as an overall indicater of hitting ability takes in to account not only BA but power as well. Though no hint of what exactly that meant or what weight was given to what stats/factors. In the end the article concluded it was a broad indicator of general offensive ability or something like that.

For example a hitter may have more HRs, doubles, etc on one right side but more singles and walks on the left side. Is that card a balance R or a balance L or an E? Like everything strat it is based on a super secret mathematical formula.

If you found out what the formula was they would have to kill you and they care too much about their customers to take that risk. :lol:

There seems to be a reasonable correlation between balance rating and the Batter Runs numbers on DD (for a neutral park). It appears that 1 point of "balance" is about equal to 3 runs for most hitters.

Yeah, the balance rating is like the stealing letter rating, it doesn't actually matter in gameplay. The only thing that matters is that Gehringer has a 700 OPS vs. L and a 900 vs. R, or whatever it might be.

(And -- again like the stealing letter rating -- it's dangerous to use it as a substitute for looking at the details. The balance rating definitely seems to overrate HR power and ballpark homers, at the expense of on-base.)

at least one interesting guy:
Buck Leonard and his 4R.
OBP is nearly identical. His SLG is massively different, as are his BPHR, and hits. Vs lefties, he walks a lot more. Vs R, he hits, and hits hard.

There are a few guys in the set who have power one way, and better on base the other way. The balance rating tends to skew towards the power.

Ken Smith is a good example of walks versus singles as he is "E" balanced.

yep...i ignore the balance rating. no substitute for counting the cards. especially for a leadoff guy like gehringer. he has xbhs vs righties hence the 3R if i remember right.

Rettenmund 70. 5L

Nevermind. Was able to look up the card, and verily, he destroys lefties with abandon, while gets on against righties with much the same zeal, but none of the same destruction.

Sometimes it is the small sample size and player getting hot or cold. If you had like 1,000 or 5,000 at bats I am sure they would mimick their cards pretty closely.

I like to platoon with Bobby Avila at second base. In a 200 mil league, he bats 100+ times, not a big sample. One season he was awesome against lefties and had a pretty high average, yes against righties it was significantly less.

Next season he sucked against everyone, again 100+ at bats. At that point you are stuck with the roll of the dice. He got hot one season and cold da next. If I let him bat against everyone, his averages would get much closer to reality.