Let’s now turn our attention to where players on major league rosters were drafted in OOTPB 2006. I took a look at the Jacksonville Sharks (in my IOSBL league) to see where the major league 2035 roster players were selected in the draft. The Sharks were six games under .500 in 2035, so they weren’t the best team in the league.
There were four position players taken in the first round. Two second round, one third, one sixth, and one seventh round picks were on the starting roster. The substitute/utility players had one first round, one second, one fourth, one seventh, and one 12th round pick.
Next, I took a look at the starting rotation. There were three first round picks (numbers four, nine, and twelfth overall), one third round, and one fifth round pick in the rotation. The third round pick was actually the number two SP in the rotation, but the number five pick was the fifth starter.
How does this compare to OOTP 6.5? I examined the starting lineup of the 2017 Jacksonville Sharks, a playoff team, battling for first place in our AL East. There were four first round, two second round, one third round, and one fifth round pick in the Sharks starting lineup. One player was drafted in the original IOSBL draft. The starting rotation consisted of a second round, third round, fourth round, and a ninth round pick. Again, another SP was selected in the original IOSBL draft, so not included in the numbers.
These results are consistent with our first test. There doesn’t seem to be a big difference between OOTP 6.5 and OOTPB 2006 for position players. First and second round players do well. Players selected in lower rounds can have productive careers in OOTP 6.5, and they may also do well in OOTPB 2006.
Pitching is a different story. The third round pick in 2017 is one of the best pitchers in the AL, and the ninth round pick (my number two SP) is very good as well. So if we want to get the best bang for the buck patch-wise, Sports Interactive needs to look at the pitching development algorithms. They are not consistent with OOTP 6.5 and success seems too predictable for higher level prospects.
