Catchers, A New Hope. . .

[furball]

Ok, 1st, I try to keep my position players at or higher than 85 Energy.

2nd) Yes, that's an MVP thing.

3rd) Even though 2K12 gets us back 20 Energy per day, there is a blank day of NO regeneration after the 1st day we lose energy.. That is,, if my pitcher goes down to 80 energy by pitching on the 1st, he won't get back to 100% energy 'til the third.

Now, let's talk about catchers.

Most (all) players lose 3 or (seldom) 4 energy per day that they play. That means they could play 6 days in a row and lose 3 energy per day, get down to 82 energy, take ONE day off and be right back on the front lines with 100 energy.

(The assumption we're making is that a player performs less well as his energy deteriorates.)

BUT CATCHERS LOSE 7 ENERGY ON THE VERY FIRST DAY! And they get down to 89 energy right after that.

You could argue that they kneel and throw all those throws back to the pitcher, so that 7 ENERGY loss is warranted, but I would argue the catchers didn't have THAT fewer innings, historically.

So. . . how do we lessen catchers' energy-loss?

1) One way would be if the programmers of 2k12 gave us the choice. Hint: They didn't, but keep reading!

2) TYWiggins' editor. It has a global edit thingy. Nope. If you use his "Global Edit" command to (for example) increase the energy of all catchers, you WILL crash the load of your Franchise more than 95% of the time. Ty is a great guy, but he left just before he tweaked his editor to work with MLB2K12.

3) REDIT! Vlad's editor that worked so well with NBA! Nope. His editor can't resolve "IF. . . Then statements" and if you follow the threads, even though he charges a yearly fee, there are several problems with the editor that Vlad is too busy to fix. (Though he gets 7 thumbs up for trying.)

So???????

It turns out there is a way around this problem . . . the problem, remember, is that the 2K12 engine charges too much ENERGY for a catcher to play a game. A CENTER FIELDER or a 1ST BASEMAN might pay 3 energy to play a game, but a CATCHER will pay 7 energy to play that SAME game!

The solution is to catch with a fielder. 2K12 does this with a number of teams. Find a position player with a decent (above 70, for a major leaguer) arm strength and accuracy. It really doesn't matter much what their "other catcher's stats" are - like "blocking the plate," "blocking pitches," or "game calling."

Catchers are almost never called on for blocking the plate or blocking pitches. And you will call a game better than your catcher after 1/4 of a season.

Meanwhile, your center-fielder, or 1st baseman (or whatever) will only pay 3 ENERGY to play a game at catcher!

And most outfielders will hit better than catchers!

"But," you wail, "my center fielder is only rated at 30 as a catcher!" You will find this doesn't matter nearly as much as his strength and accuracy at throwing runners out. PLUS, there are many minor leaguers at other postions with catcher capabilities. The point is, ANYONE who doesn't have CATCHER as their 1st position will only spend 3 ENERGY per game at the position rather than the usual 7.

Pondrer this and use it.

Meanwhile, if someone could tell me how to use TY's "Global Edit" feature without crashing a Franchise, or how to use an "IF . . . THEN" statement in TURK in REDIT, I would *really* appreciate it.

Thanks and regards,

furball