Pitching Staff

The Pitching Staff screen is where you define the pitching rotation and bullpen assignments for the selected team:

This screen is divided into two panes. The top pane is a player list that functions very much the Roster screen, with limited space. On this half of the screen, you can take advantage of OOTP's Views and Filters, and many of the Common Drop-Downs and Common Action Menus. Review those sections to get a better understanding of how to manipulate the data on this screen to suit your needs.

The bottom pane has numerous boxes that define the current configuration of your pitching staff:

Section	Description
Starting Rotation	Defines your team's starting pitchers. When auto-playing games, the computer will rotate your starting pitchers in the order listed, based on the Rotation Settings (see below). Note: The number of the pitcher scheduled to start next is highlighted.
Rotation Settings	Defines how you want to use your starting rotation. Select the size of your rotation, from 1-6 men, from the Rotation Size drop-down. Use the Next Starter drop-down to change which starter will pitch next. There are three rotation modes to choose from: Start Highest Rested Starter - uses pitchers according to the order you have established. However, any time there is a rested starter with a higher rotation slot (that is, a lower number) than the currently planned starter, the higher pitcher will start. For example, if it is your #4 pitcher's turn to start, but the #1 pitcher is completely rested, the #1 pitcher will start instead, disregarding the order. Strict, on occasion highest rested - generally starts pitchers in the specified order, but will occasionally start the highest rested pitcher, particularly if there is a disparity, like when it's the #5 pitcher's turn, but the #1 starter is ready Strict Order - starts pitchers in the specified order, regardless of fatigue level
Bullpen	The Bullpen sections specifies the primary role in which your relief pitchers will be used, and, if desired, a secondary role as well: Long Relief: Long relievers are used when the starter is removed early in the game, and usually will not make late-game appearances. Middle Relief: Middle relievers are used, unsurprisingly, in the middle of a game, after the starter is removed. Typically, they will not be used very late or very early in a game. Setup: Setup relievers are used primarily in the 7th and 8th innings, as a 'bridge' between middle reliever and the closer. Typically teams will have either one good setup reliever, or one each left-handed and right-handed. Stopper: Stoppers will be used to finish games when your team is winning or the score is close, and can be set to come in a little sooner than a closer does. Closer: The closer is used primarily in the 9th inning of games that your team is winning. Usage Options: The usage options allow modification of the parameters of the primary, such as the exact inning(s) or situation(s) he should appear in. In addition, there are Secondary role (only) options for Starters and Followers. See the Player Strategy page for their usage. Also note that the league-wide AI use of Openers can be set in the General Strategic Tendencies section of the Stats and AI tab of the League Settings screen.

Setting up Your Pitching Staff

Configuring your pitching staff is easy! Just drag players from the top half of the screen to the appropriate slot on the bottom half of the screen. You can also use player context (right-click) menus make pitching assignments. Some other notes about setting up your staff:

• Pitchers can be placed in multiple sections at once, with the exception of the Starting Rotation. A pitcher in the Starting Rotation cannot be added to another section.
• Pitchers can be placed in any section regardless of their defined 'role.' For example, you can have a MR (middle reliever) in the Starting Rotation, or a CL (closer) in the Mop-Up Reliever section.

How the Pitching Settings are Used in OOTP

If you choose to play out your games, then the starting pitcher will be defined by your settings here. If you choose to auto-play games, the computer will use these staff settings to determine when to use which pitchers. When using auto-play, your staff will also factor pitcher fatigue levels, individual matchups, and in-game situations into pitching decisions.

The Action Menu

The Action Menu at the bottom of the screen has several options:

Action	Description
Ask Bench Coach for Staff	Asks your bench coach to fill out your pitching staff. He will do so based on his own personal preferences.
Ask Manager for Staff	Asks your manager to fill out your pitching staff. He will do so based on his own personal preferences.
Clear Pitching Staff	Clears your entire pitching staff so that you can start fresh.

Warning! You have no chance to confirm these options, so be careful.

Note: When you ask your managers to set up your organization, they might place injured players in the lineup. The reason for this is that the manager gives you the best lineup chosen from among all the players on your roster, regardless of their injury status. Then, when a game is auto-simmed, the game makes the decision about how to substitute for injured players. This prevents you from having to remember to redo your lineups every time a player returns from an injury. With the current model, the game will put the injured player back in the lineup as soon as he becomes available again. Of course, if you don't want to rely on these decisions, you can manually adjust your lineup and depth charts to account for injuries.

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