Directional Hitting Guide

[Glenn33]

This thread convinced me to give Directional hitting a try. I really like it. Thank you.

Sent from my VS990 using Operation Sports mobile app

[nunogomes]

Quote: Originally Posted by ruxpinke

Its more about trying to pick the ball up the second it leaves the hand, sometimes you can get a feel right away for where its headed. It sounds weird but it works. Try going to batting practice, dont swing at all. Just try to focus on the pitchers hand as soon as you can see it, then the ball as soon as it comes out. If you do it enough you should start to notice some things that will help you.

Seems like worth a try definitely. I tried to do it but not in practice mode, i tried in game and what i found was that if i focused on the hand of the pitcher, by the time i moved my eyes to plate the ball was past me!

Thanks!

[engrishbwudd]

Threads like this are why I keep coming back to this site. Great stuff, man.

[ruxpinke]

WW, took your advice and bumped up solid hits slider, went up to 6 for now. Smallest of sample size as I played one game, but the bat just felt more alive.

I guess i was worried Id start hitting everything (like pitches on the black) with it bumped up. As frustrating as it gets, i like fouling back the pitch i should hit sometimes, that's baseball. I did feel it was happening a bit too often on default, for my liking.

Going to roll with solid contact at 6 for 20-30 games on AS. I was on vet but i was having to tinker too much with the pitching sliders to get balls and strikes right, imo. Working with Armors set on AS now, with the only change being solid hits up to 6.

Thanks again for the input

[TheWarmWind]

Quote: Originally Posted by nunogomes

Seems like worth a try definitely. I tried to do it but not in practice mode, i tried in game and what i found was that if i focused on the hand of the pitcher, by the time i moved my eyes to plate the ball was past me! Thanks!

Yeah definitely sounds like you could use some batting practice. Pick a pitcher who you have particular trouble with and just concentrate on seeing the ball without the pressure of a game situation. If you have the time, study a few pitchers, and make sure to throw a sidearmer in there as well if you want the full training regime. I'm not going to talk to much more on discipline and pitch recognition in this thread though since I want to try and keep things specific to directional.

[nunogomes]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheWarmWind

Yeah definitely sounds like you could use some batting practice. Pick a pitcher who you have particular trouble with and just concentrate on seeing the ball without the pressure of a game situation. If you have the time, study a few pitchers, and make sure to throw a sidearmer in there as well if you want the full training regime. I'm not going to talk to much more on discipline and pitch recognition in this thread though since I want to try and keep things specific to directional.

I will definitely try it for sure. Just for clarificatin purposes, i do not have a problem in recognizing strikes vs balls. Im in the top 5 of the league in walks and im the 3rd least striked out in the league, so discipline is not an issue. Im just trying to identifying the pitch by looking at the pitcher delivery and hand.

Now, back to directional! I learned from Armor and Sword on his sliders thread that we are supposed to hold the left stick through the swing? Don´t know why but i was sure that i just needed to press once, see the blue arrow, and done: influence was on! I guess i was wrong on that one...

[TheWarmWind]

Quote: Originally Posted by nunogomes

Now, back to directional! I learned from Armor and Sword on his sliders thread that we are supposed to hold the left stick through the swing? Don´t know why but i was sure that i just needed to press once, see the blue arrow, and done: influence was on! I guess i was wrong on that one...

Yes, Armor and Sword is correct, you have to hold the stick through the swing. I'll make a post on how to hold the controller, after my post on scouting and adjusting. I swear I'll be done this thread one day.

[cripes]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheWarmWind

I get that. You might be right. All I can tell you is that I've tried it your way and have overall gotten worse results. It does make sense that it would be worse when you think about it. Your asking your player to change his swing as the ball is coming at him. If, say, you were set up for a pull and you notice the pitch is on the outside and you switch to a push, you're asking your player to drop his shoulders and adjust his swing on the fly. Could just be a placebo effect, but even on swings where I was overly indecisive before the pitch was released I've noticed lower averages and weaker overall contact. If you feel that reacting and adjusting is better for you, you might want to consider a switch to zone. While both interfaces have both elements, zone is a little more reliant on mechanical skill and reactions whereas Directional is a little more like the chess game.

It would make sense if you were holding pull then as the pitch was coming in switched to push and made weak contact. But A LOT of hitters in the major leagues do not try to push or pull a pitch before it is thrown, that is crazy. Exceptions being trying to beat a shift, move a runner or in say a 2-0 count sitting on a fastball middle in etc...

I have never had great luck with zone on this because I like holding up to try and hit the ball in the air opposed to trying to hit a ball high in the zone. I would think the best way would be to maybe do a full reward for selecting pull pre-pitch and maybe once the ball is released if you pick you get maybe 50% reward and selecting wrong or switching from pull-push gets a penalty.

Edited to add: This wasn't meant as an attack toward you, more to the mechanics of the "directional" style in the game. This thread was the driving force behind me switching from zone to directional and your guide is EXTREMELY helpful. Cheers.