Does pitcher Control Rating also capture command? Or just control?
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When discussing the “bear down pitching” feature being added in The Show 26, SDS has said that those pitches will feature better velocity (easy to understand) and better “control” - which apparently is the word being used for the pitcher’s ‘Control Rating’ or ‘CTRL’
This got me wondering about the extent to which the game captures the real-life difference between command and control. This will be very relevant in determining exactly how to strategize the new bear-down pitching function. It’s also a relatively nuanced/complex question, so I’m providing a short version and longer version. If you fully understand what I’m referring to in the short version, don’t bother reading the long one.
Short version of my question: Does Control Rating capture real-life command? If so, its name should reflect that. If not - i.e. if it only capture’s real-life control - is pitcher command entirely user-defined in the game? Or is it affected by variables (other than difficulty level) that don’t appear in the card’s skill metrics?
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Long version of my question: If SDS is using the term “control” correctly then it should be purely a measure of BB/9. Perhaps this is the case, but if so, it should be distinct from the pitcher’s ability to hit an intended target. That skill is “command.” Command is much more important than control. Take a pitcher like Blake Snell. Snell has “below average control” - a high walk rate. But a deeper dive into his splits reveals nuance - with multiple runners on base and first base occupied, his walk rate is much lower. That’s the case for many modern pitchers, but Snell is a freakish example. His raw stuff is very good, but not necessarily Cy Young caliber, so it’s most effective when he can tolerate painting corners and locating pitches slightly outside the zone. This can obviously lead to a lot of walks. What allows Snell to really thrive is that he also has elite command. Most of his walks are calculated trade-offs - not mistake pitches that moved further outside than he would’ve liked. He essentially varies how much he’s willing to pitch in the zone according to the game situation. And his command is exceptional enough to make this possible.
The Show doesn’t seem to have any variables or stats which capture command - at least none that are clearly defined in how they communicate stats within the game. I understand why this could be confusing for developers; despite being a crucial component of pitching, command is not something that is easily captured by real-life stats, whereas control is. There are various advanced metrics that attempt to quantify it, though these are imperfect.Unless I’m missing something here, it seems like one of the below three mutually exclusive descriptions is true. Which is it?
Either:
- The Show is conflating the terms control and command in some way. A pitcher’s ‘Control Rating’ impacts how easily users can hit the targeted area when using a given card. Perhaps control rating also affects the card’s ability to hit the strike zone easily. Either way, this would suggest one or more problem(s): definitely a problem with the language SDS is using to communicate game mechanics, and possibly also a problem with the mechanics. If they are using only BB/9 to determine a pitching card’s ability to hit targets, that would be especially problematic - as is evident from the Blake Snell example.
OR
- The lack of a stat or variable seemingly related to command is because there is no such variable. Command is entirely based on individual user input. This would indicate a problem with The Show’s overall pitching system, and one that I would hope they are working to improve in future years - hitting targets accurately in the game should be easier when using cards for pitchers with good command.
OR
- The Show DOES actually feature one or more variables for command, but these are not easily expressed by a single rating such as BB/9 and thus they are not forward-facing in any way. Those variables help determine how easily a pitcher can hit targeted spots. This would indicate only a minor problem with how the game’s mechanics are communicated to players.
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Im pretty sure the way it works now is that BB/9, velocity, and pitch type determine the par, and that pitch's control determines where in the par the pitch will be. Next year, BB/9 is getting removed and the pitch's control will replace what BB/9 does now
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@TheRupster12_XBL said in Does pitcher Control Rating also capture command? Or just control?:
pretty sure the way it works now is that BB/9, velocity, and pitch type determine the par
By velocity here do you mean the pitcher’s velocity rating (e.g. 124 out of 125) or the average pitch velocity for any pitch within a card’s arsenal (e.g. 98-102 mph)? Or both? I’m assuming you don’t mean the velocity of the individual pitch being thrown since it’s based on user input mid-pitch, whereas the PAR appears after pitch selection but before the throwing motion has started
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@home-runn_PSN
idk, thats just what ive heard -
lol okay thanks!
Yeah SDS tends not to get into the nitty gritty in how they describe these things. Which frankly is inexcusable. Even for something complicated, it doesn’t require more than a couple hundred words to describe and the game barely changes from year to year. Hopefully they set a better precedent with some of the revamped variable definitions in 26…though I’m pretty skeptical…
