Why won't my best base stealer attempt any steals?

[franky35]

I am playing the '69 game. By far, my best base stealer is Tommy Harper (steal rating AA, 6-8*, 19-15). I have him set to "steal more" and team stealing set to "normal." I have Harper batting 8th, in front of the pitcher. So far, he has only attempted 3 steals (1 succesful, 2 cs). I have three other teammates with more attempts despite much lower steal ratings and none of them are marked "steal more." Harper is on a pace for 15 attempted steals, compared to 91 attempts in 69. I don't get it. Any suggestions?

[cummings2]

I'm not familiar with the '69 game but... Who's hitting in front of Harper?

Is 2nd base taken when he makes it to 1st?

What's the added value of pitcher's hold and catcher's arm when he's been on? remember that if the pitcher's that have been on the mound have had strong holds and the catchers strong arms plus his being held then the 19 rolls very quickly can become 12,13 and with those odds for stealing with lead I'd hope that HAL pulls back from running

What's his OBP? -How often is he getting on base-

How many times are the pitcher's bunting him to 2nd? -as opposed to him stealing and then having the pitcher bunt him to 3rd-

-Keep in mind that although 6-8* is pretty good it doesn't guarantee a lead no matter what, not like Pierre of 05. Maybe some bad rolls there.

The fact that he's been caught twice...I don't know, either extremely bad luck with the SB roll or perhaps a botcvhed H&R att. is your leadoff rated B for H&R? -if that's the case make sure you fix those settings-

Sounds like it's early in the season though. Hope things change for you.

Good Luck

C2

[franky35]

thanks for the suggestions. I think the most likely explanation is the pitcher bunting, but even that doesn't really make complete sense. The pitchers usually see several pitches before executing a bunt.

He's been on first without a runner in front at least 20 times. He platoons, starting only against righties and the opposing catchers have mostly been mediocre. His first number is 19, but his no-lead number is still 15. I've got another player with a 16-11 rating that already has 6 steals and he isn't marked as "steal more." So it looks like he has had plenty of opportunities but he doesn't attempt. Is HAL afraid of a pitchout with the pitcher batting?

[Mean Dean]

SOM is not a pitch-by-pitch simulation. If you tell a batter to bunt, he's bunting from the beginning; he doesn't "take pitches" first, and unless the result of the bunt is a "1 and 2" count (in which case you do get the option to take it off at that point), he's going to either put down the bunt or make an out trying. There are no pitchouts.

I'd certainly think that, in addition to guys being on ahead of him, happening to face good holding pitchers/throwing catchers, etc.... this is probably mostly because he is hitting 8th. With zero or one outs, it probably figures "a pitcher is up, so let's bunt," and with two outs, it doesn't want a CS where the pitcher leads off the next inning.

[b:816e1b0460]Cummings[/b:816e1b0460]: Your post right below this is correct. So if the pitcher's hold and catcher's arm are 0, his chance without a lead is 11 (= 55%) and thus most likely no steal will be attempted. He will get the lead 44.4% of the time, and fail to get it 55.6% of the time.

[cummings2]

[quote:cec061f678]His first number is 19, but his no-lead number is still 15[/quote:cec061f678]

If memory serves me well with the defense holding the runner you subtract -2 from the "lead" number and -4 from the "w/o lead" number.

Maybe someone else can confirm this, just going off of memory here.

[franky35]

This is interesting. First, let me point out that Harper is the best stealer in the '69 game (tied with Bert Campaneris and better than Lou Brock or Joe Morgan, who, for you kids, were pretty good base stealers in their day). Also, as a reminder, I platooned him only against righties and batting 8th in front of the pitcher. Anyway, I went back through the first 40 games and found that all of Harper's 3 stealing attempts came when the pitcher was not at bat (either a pinch hitter was up or substitutions made the following hitter a non-pitcher). Then, I moved Harper to lead-off, leaving all the settings the same and Harper is attempting to steal practically every time he gets on.

So, I have concluded that HAL will never send the runner when the pitcher is batting. The lesson here is, don't put your best stealer in front of the pitcher, because he won't run.