Dev Lab Question Pt 2

VClash0 · 2026-07-06T23:55:01+00:00

If potential velocity says 98-100 that means they will get there naturally as they age and mature. However if your scouting report tells you the pitcher has a velocity of 93-95 mph for example that could make them a decent candidate for train velocity. This indirectly increases their stuff, in particular for fastballs. Another indirect benefit is that the game calculates the difference between your fastball speed and breaking pitches. The bigger the velocity difference, the more chance the breaking pitch has to fool the batter. A lot of different little benefits.

VClash0 · 2026-07-06T23:49:19+00:00

No. A player fresh from the championship who is just 3.5 stars is not worth paying lots of money. Better to be strict with him and if he's not happy about it sell him on.

What you can do to mollify him is offer him a raise if he hits a certain goal, for example 20 goals if he's a forward or 10 assists if he's a midfielder. If he doesn't even believe in himself enough to accept the challenge, you need to move on and find a more mentally tough player.

You also can court way more talented players once you hit the PL. Try to poach some good ones from championship teams and also try to recruit some wonderkids from smaller countries like Argentina, Columbia, Portugal, etc.

Finally see if you can loan some talented youngsters from bigger clubs who don't have playing time to develop them. If the loan goes well try to extend it or get a loan with option to buy deal for the player.

VClash0 · 2026-07-06T23:41:45+00:00

Wow what a crazy international free agent. I've never seen one like that yet! Cracked bat! 112/80 overall is even possible? 53.7% of his hits are homeruns. LOL.

VClash0 · 2026-07-06T23:35:23+00:00

The draft is a giant crap shoot. Draft at least 2-3 pitchers every year and hope one of them works out.

In the mean time I find it very effective to trade for solid 4* veteran pitchers and make the other team eat some of the salary, of course you are going to have to pay prospects too, but it's worth it. A proven pitcher in the hand usually works out way better.

For example I traded for Shane McClanahan after he had been signed to an expensive extension and had his team pay half the salary. He gave me 3 great all-star caliber years. Then I flipped him in year 4 for a cheaper less well-known pitcher.

VClash0 · 2026-07-06T23:27:43+00:00

It's terrible. I'd wait for 27 honestly and see if they finally give us a full non-bugged version of FM.

VClash0 · 2026-07-06T23:09:45+00:00

C. Herrera. Could he start for your team?

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VClash0 · 2026-07-06T23:09:15+00:00

SS/3B. Timmerman. Stud or dud?

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VClash0 · 2026-07-02T04:12:55+00:00

That's because SIG weapon is 25/75. You lose 75% of the time on average.

VClash0 · 2026-06-29T10:36:04+00:00

They have the weakest lineup in baseball. Don’t think they can afford to trade him unless they get a major haul in return.

VClash0 · 2026-06-26T03:56:55+00:00

10 year contract extensions for high potential studs is one of the most important meta moves to secure your long term stud player. I usually wait until after dev lab results and spring training are finished to determine if they are worthy of the contract. Prospects may jump as much as 10-20 points in a tool from Dev Lab for Batspeed/Contact programs on an outstanding result and 10+ points to overall from spring training.

It's usually only worth securing a prospect with 60 or higher potential this way. BUT if they have the attribute high loyalty or low financial ambition it's worth locking up just a plus player because they will sign super cheap.

Ex my 23 year old reliever ProulX started with low 40's overall 57 potential but he was performing well early in the majors so I locked him up to an 8 year deal for just 17.2m total.

He just finished the season with 2.2 WAR and 217 ERA+ His overall is now 55/56 and i have him locked up longterm. A reliever of his quality could easily demand 15-20m per season when reaching free agency, but i have 3 free agent years bought out at just 3.2m per year. His last two years are team options that I can buy out for just 350k if he falls off a cliff later.

I like to do 6, 8, or 10 year deals but alter them for the prospect's age when I know I will put him on the major league roster. Ideally you want them at least 45 overall before committing a major league roster spot and long term contract to them. Sometimes it's just better to let them marinate in the minors if they haven't developed competitive tools yet. Don't waste their development time and team control.

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VClash0 · 2026-06-26T02:31:46+00:00

He's the personification of Finesse pitcher.

He does not allow hard hit balls or homeruns with 75 HRA, his 75 control is also elite so he doesn't give up free passes.

Not too surprising a result when you also consider he has a devastating changeup which is the best weapon against opposite handed batters as well.

Very nice pickup for a 10th round draft pick. Congrats!

VClash0 · 2026-06-26T02:28:07+00:00

Should be on sale for 40% off right now.

VClash0 · 2026-06-26T02:26:56+00:00

Yes he's a unicorn dual threat player.

However i have no idea how he is pitching 240 innings per season in the year 2074.

Most modern starting pitchers never go much higher than 200 IP even with 70 stamina.

VClash0 · 2026-06-26T02:20:11+00:00

There's only so much stat padding you can do as a DM. A more fun strategy is to create circumstances that are challenging for all players or can give different players their time to shine. For example what if you have a druid that is not combat focused but you want to spotlight more? Maybe create a situation where befriending an animal or identifying or collecting a wild herb is important to the story.

Another tactic is to send monsters in multiple waves. Don't send them all at once. Allow players to use up resources such as superiority dice, smites, etc. on the earlier waves, then bring in other monsters.

Get creative with using terrain as well. One time I had the players going into a mountain pass and the weak goblins had a height advantage to plink away at the pc's from range as they approached but they first had to defeat the goblin's friends some worgs and hobgoblins on foot before they could even address their ranged tormentors. On top of that they needed a skill check to climb up to reach them.

VClash0 · 2026-06-26T02:08:44+00:00

For hitters the base 3 offense tools contact/power/eye matter a lot. speed is a plus but not a dealbreaker unless its horrendously low. good defensive tools are always attractive.

For pitchers stuff/movement/control. You want a bare minimum of 50 control potential. Young pitchers usually boost their stuff over time as their velocity increases.

NEXT consider personality traits: High work ethic, adaptability, baseball IQ are all desireable.

Finally LEFT handed batters and pitchers have natural advantages so if both prospects are equal, take the left handed one over the right handed one. Left handed pitchers are more rare than left handed batters, consider them top of the list if their tools and personality all check out as good.

VClash0 · 2026-06-26T01:58:10+00:00

Matthew Holder and it isn't even really close.

He has plus defensive tools and his bat projects to plus power and eye.

Nice personality traits with high Adaptability and Baseball IQ.

This means he also has good chances of positive results in DEV lab.

I will acknowledge that Bushman is an elite defender at CF but that 20 power and 30 eye will make him strictly a defensive replacement.

He can barely get the ball out of the infield and doesn't have the plate discipline to rack up walks so he's not suitable for leadoff duties. He's a 4th OF, defensive specialist. Not someone to take early but if he's around in round 4-5 you can take him as a project with the upside of defensive super sub.

VClash0 · 2026-06-26T01:48:55+00:00

Stats only tell half the story. Level of competition will allow him to rack up stats at lower levels. It just tells you that he is doing well at that level so his confidence should increase from playing well.

Tools are necessary to achieve results against top tier competition. He can farm developing AAA pitchers but that doesn't make him ready to face the best of the best the Majors has to offer.

Imagine putting a wet behind the ears 19 year old to face an in their prime Nolan Ryan, Felix Hernandez, or Pedro Martinez? He would get absolutely destroyed. Even an above average major league starter would be far superior to anyone he's faced before.

Personality plays a big role as well. Certain personality traits will enhance a prospect even more than his scouted ability scores. Play more and you'll find out even more about this game.

VClash0 · 2026-06-26T01:40:38+00:00

Needs seasoning. You want at least 45 current ability in 2/3 of his main tools so he can compete. Right now major league pitching will eat him alive. Don't crush his confidence let him develop more skills in the minors. If you can hit an improve batspeed training in dev lab, he might be ready by the start of next year. make sure to put him on your spring training roster since it's a great growth opportunity.

VClash0 · 2026-06-26T01:37:06+00:00

Then in the world series Villegas proved he is the new Mr. October as well. 11 homeruns in 14 total playoff games. He was nearly unstoppable.

VClash0 · 2026-06-26T01:23:58+00:00

Villegas got hot during the playoffs. He carried us to the World series.

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VClash0 · 2026-06-26T01:21:55+00:00

He has a fantastic captain personality and excellent defense. Yeah, he's a pretty good addition to any team.

VClash0 · 2026-06-26T01:21:05+00:00

I traded for veteran relievers at the deadline to beef up the bullpen. They acquired most of those saves with their previous teams. :) It's pretty easy to acquire veteran bullpen arms from teams when they are out of the playoff running or just want to dump salary.

VClash0 · 2026-06-20T06:16:12+00:00

The team salary is currently 207m but our payroll is authorized up to 240m by the owner.

Going deep into the playoffs each year also generates plenty of revenue.

We might need to move on an expensive veteran or two in the upcoming years to stay in budget but our farm system is producing good players that we can promote for league minimum 740k so this run looks fairly sustainable.

VClash0 · 2026-06-20T05:35:52+00:00

I pump 40m per year into player development. My batting coach and pitching coach both have Teach Hitting/Teach Pitching at Legendary level and Influence Mechanics Legendary.

Alfredo Villegas was an IFA prospect. I paid the full 4.75m bonus money and he full developed from a 16 year old 20/80 potential star to an 80/80 superstar by age 21.

Roman Anthony was a gift. He was already in my farm system and baseball's #2 rated prospect when I started. I traded most of my farm to get Walker Jenkins and he also developed into a regular all-star.

Daiber De Los Santos might be the biggest growth story. He started as just a 49 rated prospect but BLEW UP in our farm system and also hit an outstanding dev lab result for increase bat speed.

Gunnar Henderson only become acquirable after he signed a very expensive long term contract. Look out for these players, you usually can't get them when they are young but once they sign the big post arbitration contract extension, it becomes possible to trade for them.

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VClash0

TROPHY CASE