Strat-O-Matic's Shohei Ohtani problem

Shouldn't the most realistic baseball simulation game figure out a way for you to use Shohei Ohtani the way the Angels are using him? Why can't he be used on the same team as a pitcher and a hitter? Come on SOM, this is literally what you do.


How much should Shohei Othani's card cost if you can use him as a pitcher and a hitter and he puts up similar to his career numbers in 2021?

Special player - should have two cards and appropriate cost for both - but only one roster spot. You draft him you get the cost of both players, this way you don't have ohtani facing Ohtani which would be silliness. Hal may be challenged with the DH and this player - could be a real messy boxscore lol

Why can't he be used on the same team as a pitcher and a hitter?

This is a reasonable question - that avoids Ohtani v Ohtani .

Shouldn't the most realistic baseball simulation game figure out a way for you to use Shohei Ohtani the way the Angels are using him? Why can't he be used on the same team as a pitcher and a hitter? Come on SOM, this is literally what you do.


How much should Shohei Othani's card cost if you can use him as a pitcher and a hitter and he puts up similar to his career numbers in 2021?

Absolutely ridiculous that SOM can't figure this out. 100% agree this needs to be addressed. It sound like lazy programming...or they hope Ohtani retires tomorrow so they don't have to worry about it until the next Ohtani comes around.

Even back in '18 when he was taking off days before and after pitching, I felt like SOM should have been able to figure out a method to be able to use him as he was being used in real life.

His injuries the last two years gave them two more years to figure something out without actually having to deal with it.

Now that he is being used as both a full-time DH and a full-time (almost) SP, they have to come up with a solution. Lots of us fans will be unhappy if they don't.

It seems very simple, his value as a hitter is about 10 million based on current stats, his value as a SP is probably 4-5 million based on current stats. Make him a 15 million dollar player who can pitch every five days and DH every day (including when he pitches). He takes up one spot on the roster. Injuries take him out of both roles.

Instant happy customers.

Only one issue with the one card for Ohtani and it's with injuries. He is on pace for over 600 plate appearances which would be a MAX of 3 games. As a pitchers he is well below what is consider a 3 game MAX and would be a 15 game injury risk. Let's see how SOM handles that. Actually I don't see them coming up with anything acceptable. Then again they RARELY do. Yes it would be nice if they did.

He also had 4 games in RF and 1 in LF

This is an easy solution I think, if Ohtani is going to pitch and hit for himself, then no DH (would need that option worked out, perhaps a checkbox in lineup for using DH?), not even sure this is needed put Ohtani in at DH and if he is pitching then game engine would know.

For Ohtani to hit for himself, we already have pitcher hitting cards 1-8, make a new one, say 9 and would be for Ohtani only, seems simple to me on how to correct this. I'm sure its not that easy, but may be part of the solution.

As far as salary goes, perhaps he needs just 1 salary to reflect what he provides hitting + pitching, then this may resolve the 2 roster spots or cards needed.

Here's the question, do you think they are even working on it/ thinking about it?

Pricing the card/s is only part of the equation.

The rosters are affected: How do you count two roster spots? If you draft Ohtani first, let’s say, are you getting two number one picks then? (Answer: Yes, you are). How does the rest of the league view this? Should the cards be separated so that you have to draft him two times? Can he pitch against his own hitter card if taken by different teams?

The draft is affected: Do you still need 25 separate players by name on your team, even though Ohtani fills two roles? In effect, you are carrying one extra spot on your roster then.

The game play is affected: If he gets hurt, you are now short two roles at once, plus his pitcher’s card injury is tilted by a more prevalent hitter’s card injury.

This is just off the top of my head, I’m sure there are things I haven’t even considered.

Like the super-reliever “fix” there will be a bunch of unintended consequences. If managers have coding answers to all this in advance, it would probably be more helpful than simply banging shoes on the table.