You need a base hit. Who do you choose?

[Nacho]

Okay, here's the situation. You need to pick an RBIer to get a hit. The hit can't be a home run. You have one at bat, an out is in out (obviously), but so is a home run. You have to swing away, meaning you can't just lay down a bunt with Coleman or Raines or Smith to get on base. You obviously don't want to choose Dawson or McGwire or Bell, because chances are good it'll be hit out of the park.

You obviously want someone with lower power (but maybe not TOO low?), good contact, and good speed, right?

Who do you choose?

[Nacho]

I would have made this a poll if I had an obvious list of good options.

[Gantry]

Is there a runner on first base.  THIS IS CRITICAL

[Nacho]

BASES EMPTY

[Gantry]

I'm still going with a powerful guy, because they are more likely to get hits in the outfield.  But not the biggest of the big bats.  Give me Wally Joyner...

[Shooty]

If its against the CPU,  think I would go with Vince Coleman and do an opposite field job since there won't be a quick throw to get him out.  You risk a pop up, but given the (strange) parameters of the question, Coleman seems like a logical choice. 

[BeefMaster]

If its against the CPU,  think I would go with Vince Coleman and do an opposite field job since there won't be a quick throw to get him out.  You risk a pop up, but given the (strange) parameters of the question, Coleman seems like a logical choice. 

This was my thought as well.  Swing late, hope the third baseman or shortstop misses the quick throw or manage into a slow roller.

[Nacho]

Joyner is not a bad choice. Tim Raines is faster, slightly less power, and slightly better contact.

Coleman is a bad choice.

[BeefMaster]

Explain why Coleman is bad, given Shooty and I's reasoning.

Raines would be my second choice - lower chance of an easy slow roller, but better chance to drop one behind the shortstop (given the no-homer stipulation, I assume you hold up on the D-pad when you swing in either case).

[Nacho]

I guess this question can be broken down into two different questions: When simming CPU to CPU, who would you choose? When you get to actually control the batter, who do you choose?

I guess if we had someone who liked fantasy RBI stats as much as Gerlost likes Dead Pool stats, we could look into an answer to this.

[Nacho]

Explain why Coleman is bad, given Shooty and I's reasoning.

Raines would be my second choice - lower chance of an easy slow roller, but better chance to drop one behind the shortstop (given the no-homer stipulation, I assume you hold up on the D-pad when you swing in either case).

Coleman has bad contact and anything hit in the air seems less likely to fall than if you bad with Raines.

[Reds]

Whats the situation wherein a base hit is more valuable than a homer?

[Nacho]

Whats the situation wherein a base hit is more valuable than a homer?

This one.

[Gantry]

Raines speed does give him the nod over Joyner, that's a better call

[Nacho]

Trammel and Pucket might be in the conversation too.

[Shooty]

But Raines/Trammell/etc have a good chance to hit a homer...which is bad for some reason in this case.  Coleman is the obvious choice for this scenario. 

[Nacho]

Coleman seems much more likely to hit a soft pop up than those other guys.

I think we need someone to sim an anti-home run derby.

[Gantry]

But Raines/Trammell/etc have a good chance to hit a homer...which is bad for some reason in this case.  Coleman is the obvious choice for this scenario. 

Assuming this is curve pitch against a competent human opponent, the odds of getting a "bad swing hit" with a more powerful hitter is much higher with Raines than Coleman.  In a normal game with good pitching you see what 2-5 dingers per team?  Plus if you want to go for the Pettis, Raines is plenty fast to pull that off. 

[Shooty]

But a weak ground ball to the left side of the infield is more preferable than a hard one.  Hence, Coleman. 

[Gantry]

IMO it's easy to pitch around the Pettis hit as a human pitcher, you aren't going to be able to be precise enough with your location as a batter.  Hence, Raines