Better pitching.

[Gagnon39]

This is an old article but so if it's been posted and discussed, sorry. I thought it was a pretty good read and while most of it is pretty obvious to most of us baseball fans, there were some interesting points.

http://www.goodgamebro.com/2014/05/20/better-pitcher-mlb-14-the-show/

The thing that suck out the most for me was working the hot and cold zones. While I'm aware of these I often don't pay a whole lot of attention to them. Do most of you guys really focus on the hot and cold zones of opposing hitters?

[Jr.]

Re: Better pitching.

I don't use hot/cold zones. I really just try to vary locations and speeds throughout at-bats. I always look to establish the inside corner early in games, in order to open up the outer half. I tend to have a general plan of attack for each time through the order, but I adjust it if I need to.

I try to attack hitters how I would in real life, and it's pretty successful for me.

[JPCaveman13]

Re: Better pitching.

For me, it's a balance of everything. I try to find the weak spots but to take full advantage of that zone, but that means I may have to work in a hitter's "Happy Zone." It pretty much comes down to the situation on the field, who is at-bat, and who is on the mound with what pitches. Some batters I may just throw three straight challenge fastballs to get a strikeout or I may try to finesse my way through the at-bat with off-speed/breaking pitches or I throw everything off of each other (burn a high-inside fastball then low-outside changeup/breaking pitch) or even throw something completely unexpected on a certain count (big breaking curve in a fastball count or maybe an low-outside fastball after pouring in two high-inside fastballs).

Basically, I just treat it as a game-within-a-game and try to not repeat a pattern to consecutive batters or to the same batter consecutively.

[@legendm0de]

Re: Better pitching.

From what I've observed this version does moreso than ever is it has more aggressive hitters at the plate that cover especially pitches outside aka out over the plate. Working away and nibbling away seems more of a challenge that it's been in the past. Which is a good thing because thats an area fairly easy to get to from a batters perspective even if his batting average isn't high.

I don't play with hot/cold zone display or any OSD on for that matter. Not entirely realistic because pitchers are privy to that knowledge, however what I use is the catcher PCI and kind of work in tandem with that. The catcher pci is very strategical and alot of times I end up being on the same page with my partner behind the plate.

I would actually love pitching to have an extra wrinkle of difficulty to it, when it comes to executing pitches. Pretty much if you master your control scheme you can fairly well control your pitches any time through the game. I play on the hardest level and the most extreme settings pitching and I still feel like it could use a boost or some extra challenge if I were interested in giving it a shot. I'd just like to see the level of difficulty in some way add a little more to it when it comes to executing pitches.

[Mercury112491]

Re: Better pitching.

I would love them to just straight up copy 2k's gesture pitching. If there's one thing they managed to get perfect it was the pitching.

[ballin095]

Re: Better pitching.

I don't use hot/cold zones. I really just try to vary locations and speeds throughout at-bats. I always look to establish the inside corner early in games, in order to open up the outer half. I tend to have a general plan of attack for each time through the order, but I adjust it if I need to.

I try to attack hitters how I would in real life, and it's pretty successful for me.

Exact same thing over here.

[Bobhead]

Re: Better pitching.

Too bad you can't bring up an overlay with the hot/cold zones while playing. (Like, without pausing, a live overlay).

I dont like having the zones enabled because they basically show you where the strike zone is, which defeats the purpose of having the strike zone hidden.

So since I don't have them enabled, I definitely do not pitch to them. I just have a handful of strategies in my brain and I pick a random one depending on the situation.

[twl221]

Re: Better pitching.

From what I've observed this version does moreso than ever is it has more aggressive hitters at the plate that cover especially pitches outside aka out over the plate. Working away and nibbling away seems more of a challenge that it's been in the past. Which is a good thing because thats an area fairly easy to get to from a batters perspective even if his batting average isn't high.

I don't play with hot/cold zone display or any OSD on for that matter. Not entirely realistic because pitchers are privy to that knowledge, however what I use is the catcher PCI and kind of work in tandem with that. The catcher pci is very strategical and alot of times I end up being on the same page with my partner behind the plate.

I would actually love pitching to have an extra wrinkle of difficulty to it, when it comes to executing pitches. Pretty much if you master your control scheme you can fairly well control your pitches any time through the game. I play on the hardest level and the most extreme settings pitching and I still feel like it could use a boost or some extra challenge if I were interested in giving it a shot. I'd just like to see the level of difficulty in some way add a little more to it when it comes to executing pitches.

Curious to know which interface you use? With meter in HOF, the game is bit forgiving at all. I've dropped from top 5 era to bottom 10 since I've switched to it, but I like the challenge.

[@legendm0de]

Re: Better pitching.

Yea, meter in Legend is by no means automatic, I'd just like to see a couple of touches to increase the level of difficulty with the pitchers mechanics more closely and how you execute them on the controls. Meter kind of simulates the delivery of the pitcher which feels good, I'd like them create a new wrinkle of difficulty somewhere just for an added challenge when pitching. Similar to how you can influence a batters stride, (to me controls his balance and timing) and then also where, when and how he swings at a pitch.

I use meter interface, with no strike zone and hot cold zone. Most important to me though, I have controller vibration off which keeps the rumble from restricting me from throwing off of the plate. I also have my sliders set for pitcher control and consistency at 0 for my human controlled players. The cpu pitchers have 1&1 there. The obvious thought is that makes cpu pitchers easier, but I find it harder because it keeps them off of the plate more. I've observed walks, and you will see 0-5 per game on avg. But that's a slider discussion, that I'll have later.

[Gagnon39]

Re: Better pitching.

Too bad you can't bring up an overlay with the hot/cold zones while playing. (Like, without pausing, a live overlay).

I dont like having the zones enabled because they basically show you where the strike zone is, which defeats the purpose of having the strike zone hidden.

So since I don't have them enabled, I definitely do not pitch to them. I just have a handful of strategies in my brain and I pick a random one depending on the situation.

It would definitely be nice to be able to show them without going to a menu. I usually check them prior to each at-bat. I've gotten to know quite a few hitters' hot and cold zones, especially in my division. The only blue square on Andrew McCutchen is low and away (when pitching with a righty), I can tell you that much.

[baseballmad]

Re: Better pitching.

Usually when pitching I take into account alignment of the batter's bat and his 'practice' follow through, prior to actually throwing a first pitch. Most batters have three, maybe four basic stances which they take over the plate. A batter with a 10 to 4 0'clock stance (left handed batter) or 2 to 8 o'clock (right hander), with a low inner follow through is usually susceptable to high and away pitch, or a pitch just outside the zone, whilst a batter that holds his bat in a 9 to 3 oclock (right hander) or vice versa for lefties is prone to balls down and in, or down and away.You might get away will a pitch in a guys 'hot zone', but do it too often and..... That said when a pitcher is having command issues and the ball is just not going where you want it to go and as a result batters are hitting everything being thrown...... My advice, watch the batter and his follow through, prior to making a pitch, then pitch accordingly.