Strike or Ball?

[albidnis]

Hey guys I thought it would be great if we can get a conversation going on some strategies regarding Strikes and Balls.

Would like to see what some of you do to determine if a pitch is a Strike or a Ball. My strategy is to keep an eye on the pitchers waist which is the area were the ball comes into the strikezone.

What do you guys do?

 

[mfbmike]

I'm going to use the advice posted in here as I batted probably .100 in the demo alltogether. rofl.

 

[killgod]

In the demo I cranked out 11 singles through 7 innings. can't seem to get anything for extra bases tho. played the demo about 10 times with a few homeruns and a bazillion singles. (Hall of fame)


For making contact I watch the ball as it releases and how quick it's moving.

In every situation I'll consistently repeat in my head what I should be thinking.

For example, lead off at bat......I'll usually keep saying in my head, only swing if it's money, only swing if it's money........and usually unless it's a FB down the pipe, I'll watch it cruise by. Helps me if I stay completely mentally focused, I'll usually get in a groove and pick up a couple walks.

Patience is key! Always keep calm, especially in 2 out/bases loaded situations. Stay in the same frame of thought, pitch by pitch.

Don't swing at every strike, unless your down 2 in the count. Only swing at the good ones until then. <--- this is a huge factor into my contact at the plate. Forcing the SP to throw more early, gets him tired sooner and you'll see more obvious balls and better strikes to hit quicker in the game than usual.

 

[HustlinOwl]

I use the following House rules and it really makes you patient at the plate.

Rule 1 - Must wait until the AI throws one strike in the count to swing, unless it is a 2-0 or 3-0 count. If an out is recorded on a swing during a 2-0 or 3-0 count, I lose the power swing on remaining 2-0 and 3-0 counts for that inning unless I draw a walk to regain it.

Rule 2 - Must use Power swing on all 2-0 and 3-0 counts (square button), must use contact swing on 1 and 2 strike counts (X button).

Rule 3 - Only allowed one batter in the 1st, 4th, and 7th inning to swing at the first pitch. (First Pitch Swinging) This allows me not to step to the plate every at bat and have to wait for a strike to be thrown. Rule resets at beginning of 10th inning and same player may not first pitch swing more than once per game. I may not use the same player more than once per game to first pitch swing.

Rule 4 - Only allowed one bunt attempt per inning, whether it is a sacrifice, bunt for hit, or squeeze attempt.

Rule 5 - When hitting in a National League Park, I may only pinch hit for the pitcher after 7 innings of game time and losing or any current Starting Pitcher house rules are met. Same rules apply for any relievers that enter the game.

 

[HustlinOwl]

Wow, you must be an active OS member...

Yeah, I love highheatkingsb's house rules

 

[Maynard]

house rules? this isnt madden....lol
the show doesnt require house rules imo, but hey if it works for you then great.

My approach to hitting is rather simple. I look at the pitchers release point of the ball, then i just keep my eye on the ball. I didnt play much of the demo, and i didnt hit that great. I wasnt really playing serious in the demo either. Last night playing on AS level i was seeing the ball rather well and i had 9 hits.

I dont know what everyone is playing on level wise, but last year i used AS with minor slider tweaks. This year i may use HOF since the devs suggested it.

 

[HustlinOwl]

08 did or you would end up with 20 hits a game

 

[albidnis]

It is great to read what everyone does. One more thing that I do is not swing until they get the 1st strike.

This is easier said then done and like Chodite most of the time I end up getting impatient and swinging anyway...lol

 

[BuccaneerFan]

My approach to hitting is rather simple. I look at the pitchers release point of the ball, then i just keep my eye on the ball. I didnt play much of the demo, and i didnt hit that great. I wasnt really playing serious in the demo either. Last night playing on AS level i was seeing the ball rather well and i had 9 hits.

I dont know what everyone is playing on level wise, but last year i used AS with minor slider tweaks. This year i may use HOF since the devs suggested it.

I started out right on HOF and it does seem to be the best level. I struggled against Sabathia and his 98mph heat and got shutout. Had to start looking for his fastball in a spot and would only swing if it was there. Then I played the Pirates and faced Maholm, and I noticed how much easier I could follow the ball and make contact against him. I lit him up for 3 runs in the first inning.

But I don't think there's really a secret to hitting, you just have to follow the ball out of the pitcher's hand and try your best to judge where it's going. That's a tall order against the top pitchers in the league, but it's less difficult against pitchers with poor stuff. Seems realistic to me. I rarely use power swing though, I check swing a lot!

 

[Garrett67]

That's actually a great strategy and usually works for me as well. The problem is, I stray from that and get impatient way too quickly and begin swinging at poo poo pitches.

For now - I've got the difficulty set to Hall of Fame, because one of the developers recently said that's the most realistic baseball experience.

BUT, I can't hit to save my life on HOF difficulty. So I've bumped down Pitch Speed by 3 notches and bumped up my Timing by one notch. The physics of the game are not effected by making these changes, which is great; and I'm getting "the most realistic experience" all around and still keeping myself in the game.

Once I get into a hitting grove, I'll gradually begin bumping the Pitch Speed slider back up as well as my Timing back down. But for now, it's helped me see the ball better and I've actually been taking more pitches than ever before.

Somebody forgot that they can go into batting practice.

 

[mfbmike]

I sometimes guess the right pitch AND location.

And still either foul the ball away or ground out.

 

[Garrett67]

I think part of it is that the RTTS guy sucks so much and its hard to make contact.

In a regular game, I can hit almost too well. So I'm sure it has something to do with the attributes of your player.

I've managed to get a couple hits now in RTTS. I dont' want to be that good anyway because in past years, it was way too easy to hit .350. I would much rather be a struggling player.

 

[albidnis]

Guessing doesn't guarantee anything. Just raises your percentage of contact. I rather use it offline because leagues frown upon it. So I have been trying to do most of my practice without it.

When I do my RTTS I will use it.

 

[mfbmike]

If this happens then you know it's your timing that's off.

Yeah, I'm having a hard time getting the timing down at this point. lol.

 

[Rylo]

I hit a beautiful homer with Jeremy Hermida on All-Star mode. Legend and Hall of Fame are too difficult for me lol.

 

[Point Blank]

Yeah All Star is fine for me right now. I'll switch back to HOF soon.

 

[MvP]

I swing at every pitch and choose Fastball Up for guess pitch every time. I is sim.

 

[RyanLeaf16]

Hitting is definitely more of a challenge this year. I have only been able to play 2 full games with this years version and I have faced Tim Lincecum and Jeremy Guthrie. Lincecum had me swinging at everything. I looked absolutely foolish at the plate striking out a combined 15 times.

I was more patient against Guthrie and got up on him early 3-0. However, he still had me swinging at some sloppy pitches. I ended up getting punched out a combined 12 times. Needless to say, I still have a way to go before, I can say that my batters eye is sharp and refined.


Leaf

 

[Prodigal Son]

anyone use the guess pitch feature?

I never have used it, but so far in my RTTS im 0-11 with 5Ks on veteran.. maybe time to try it haha

Don't move the left stick. You'll get contact as long as it's in the strike zone. And it can vary in what type of contact. But, you'll most likely get contact.

 

[Hasselbeck]

I'll guess the pitch if a guy has fastball and off speed pitches (like a curve, slider, and change).. that way if it's not a fastball I am expecting a breaking ball.

It's helped me a lot. I do need to work on my patience though.. I'll go up there swinging at everything sometimes.