by The Last Druid » Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:33 am
You've been a consistent support to me on my more controversial posts, so now it's payback time --purely in a positive sense!
My own personal small ball style is largely based on batting avg. and speed. I know the avg. is generally an overrated stat but it seems to me that doesn't apply so much to small ball.
First your park choice. I think Forbes 57, 54 and 65 are the best places to play small ball. Just maximizes your strengths and weakens power teams to the max. My completed teams average around .563 in these parks.
Emphasizing your strengths is more important than worrying about your weaknesses. So I don't waste a dime on guys like Kiner who are well worth their price in bomber parks but who aren't worth much at all in your park. Kiner's performance to date for you is a perfect example of why I shy away from him in small ball. Many of my most successful small ball teams are last in hrs. in the league. Lucky to hit 70 for the whole team.
Hitting, especially guys who have good extra base power is critical. OBP is important to me but only in the first and second slots in the order. After that it's hitting. Speed on the basepaths is critical, stolen bases are important but only in the sense that they get your runners held on.
I gotta get to work now so I'll have to be brief.
Kiner was a mistake imho. I would have gotten the cheaper Simmons to catch and platooned him. Don't like 2's at SS in small ball. Sisler is a good example of a guy to hit 3rd to 5th on your team, so I do like him for you. Collins is fine at 2B. Don't like J.R. at 3rd. Gwynn's okay but prefer Suzuki if you can get him. Don't like your staff that much, but Radatz isn't getting near enough work. PM me for help tweaking your team settings.