Can't Draw a Walk to Save My Life (RTTS)

[allhailben7]

I have an RTTS as a speed/contact CF. I have 112 plate appearances so far. Not a single walk. My 'Balls Taken%' is near 60+% and strikes taken is at about 55%. I have swung at the first pitch maybe 4 times in my career so far and have moved on to taking the first 2 75% of the time.

I raised my Vision to 75 and contact to ~50s in the first few games with pre-order stubs. My plate discipline is still at 40. When they do throw balls, I get the same outcome: 2-0/3-1, then either a borderline call and 2-3 strikes in a row. Because of my patience, I'm seeing great late-count pitches but no walks. I'm batting .426 right now because they always fire the 5th/6th pitch right down the center of the plate.

I'm playing in AA at All-Star difficulty with Pure Analog hitting and the following sliders:
Hum Contact 7, Power 3, Timing 5, Foul Freq 2, Solid Hits 4, CPU Control/Srike/Consistency 3, Pitch Speed 5.

Is this just a AA thing or is anyone else having this kind of trouble?

[moth to a flame]

Re: Can't Draw a Walk to Save My Life (RTTS)

I have an RTTS as a speed/contact CF. I have 112 plate appearances so far. Not a single walk. My 'Balls Taken%' is near 60+% and strikes taken is at about 55%. I have swung at the first pitch maybe 4 times in my career so far and have moved on to taking the first 2 75% of the time.

I raised my Vision to 75 and contact to ~50s in the first few games with pre-order stubs. My plate discipline is still at 40. When they do throw balls, I get the same outcome: 2-0/3-1, then either a borderline call and 2-3 strikes in a row. Because of my patience, I'm seeing great late-count pitches but no walks. I'm batting .426 right now because they always fire the 5th/6th pitch right down the center of the plate.

I'm playing in AA at All-Star difficulty with Pure Analog hitting and the following sliders:
Hum Contact 7, Power 3, Timing 5, Foul Freq 2, Solid Hits 4, CPU Control/Srike/Consistency 3, Pitch Speed 5.

Is this just a AA thing or is anyone else having this kind of trouble?

That's weird to not get one on any level. What is the pitcher control sliders?

[allhailben7]

Re: Can't Draw a Walk to Save My Life (RTTS)

Like I said, all CPU pitcher sliders are at 3. Well, Starter Stamina is at 5, but that's different.

Just got a 7-pitch double and a 6-pitch strikeout. Right in the center of the zone.

[moth to a flame]

Re: Can't Draw a Walk to Save My Life (RTTS)

I use those sliders, too and I have been able to walk. Only about 5%, though.

[allhailben7]

Re: Can't Draw a Walk to Save My Life (RTTS)

Well, I just got called up to AAA and walked on 4 pitches in my first at-bat.

Edit: walked in my 3rd and 4th at-bats (worked the count and a check-swing), too. It has to be AA giving you pitches to hit so you can upgrade for AAA or something like that. It's night-and-day so far.

[2kguy]

Re: Can't Draw a Walk to Save My Life (RTTS)

I've probably had about 1,000 at-bats, and I think I walked once. Tho mostly that is because I tend to be impatient and swing away during most counts. You may be able to draw more walks by lowering some of the CPU pitching control sliders.

[nomo17k]

Re: Can't Draw a Walk to Save My Life (RTTS)

...

I'm playing in AA at All-Star difficulty with Pure Analog hitting and the following sliders:
Hum Contact 7, Power 3, Timing 5, Foul Freq 2, Solid Hits 4, CPU Control/Srike/Consistency 3, Pitch Speed 5.

Is this just a AA thing or is anyone else having this kind of trouble?

If your difficulty is set at All-star and you are in AA in RTTS, then the game actually uses Veteran as the difficulty. At AA, you play one difficulty level lower than your setting, and at MLB, you play one level higher in RTTS. This has been documented in the in-game strategy guide.

And CPU pitchers at Veteran tend to give you easier pitches to hit before you go too deep in count, so that may be the biggest reason why you never draw walk, even though your discipline might be good enough.

If walks are important to you, I would play at least at All-star level (i.e., use HoF while you are in AA). All-star and above, CPU pitchers throw you a bit more junk which you need to lay off, so that makes it easier (and more realistic) for base on balls.

[dalger21]

Re: Can't Draw a Walk to Save My Life (RTTS)

At the very beginning of AA, you will likely not walk much as pitchers down there tend to pepper the strike zone with strikes. Once you start and add pts to power, vis, etc, you'll see more walks.

[allhailben7]

Re: Can't Draw a Walk to Save My Life (RTTS)

If your difficulty is set at All-star and you are in AA in RTTS, then the game actually uses Veteran as the difficulty. At AA, you play one difficulty level lower than your setting, and at MLB, you play one level higher in RTTS. This has been documented in the in-game strategy guide.

And CPU pitchers at Veteran tend to give you easier pitches to hit before you go too deep in count, so that may be the biggest reason why you never draw walk, even though your discipline might be good enough.

If walks are important to you, I would play at least at All-star level (i.e., use HoF while you are in AA). All-star and above, CPU pitchers throw you a bit more junk which you need to lay off, so that makes it easier (and more realistic) for base on balls.

Thanks for the info. Anyway, I've been called up and have now walked 7 times in 6 games. I thought the difference between AA and AAA difficulty-wise would be that the balls are more borderline pitches in AAA and the difference between balls in and out of the zone would be more pronounced in AA. My hitting has plummeted, though, as you might expect.

[cardinalbird5]

Re: Can't Draw a Walk to Save My Life (RTTS)

Well on AS...and you are at AA means you are actually playing on Veteran. On Veteran, they basically won't walk you. Once you get to AS and higher you will get more walks. I also recommend modifying the sliders (pitch consistency, pitch strike frequency, and pitch control). If you are patient, you should be able to draw 40-50 walks a season by just discipline alone. Plate discipline and power will lead to walks.

[crewe22]

Re: Can't Draw a Walk to Save My Life (RTTS)

I agree with the AA assessment. However, Ive played on veteran and was able to draw 70+ walks each season on veteran and as many as 90.
All sliders are default except the following;
CPU Pitcher control - 2
CPU Pitcher consistency - 0
CPU Pitcher strike frequency - 0

As I increased levels, Ive increased the sliders slightly.
It doesn't increase wild pitches or throw hitting off kilter as suggested in the slider screen, at least for me it didn't.

[nomo17k]

Re: Can't Draw a Walk to Save My Life (RTTS)

I agree with the AA assessment. However, Ive played on veteran and was able to draw 70+ walks each season on veteran and as many as 90.
All sliders are default except the following;
CPU Pitcher control - 2
CPU Pitcher consistency - 0
CPU Pitcher strike frequency - 0

As I increased levels, Ive increased the sliders slightly.
It doesn't increase wild pitches or throw hitting off kilter as suggested in the slider screen, at least for me it didn't.

I'm not fond of tweaking sliders unless that's the only way to change things for the better... but the reason why you could walk so much on Veteran may have been because your player was a power threat. CPU basically pitches around a power hitter. I play often with low-power hitters, and while being selective and walking is possible, it often makes more sense to go after a hittable pitch in the strike zone, so I definitely draw less walk with them.

[cardinalbird5]

Re: Can't Draw a Walk to Save My Life (RTTS)

Plus you drastically changed the sliders. I play on legend with 4 pitcher control and consistency. Its very challenging. ...lots of pitches on the black with fewer mistakes but walks are still possible. You pretty much need sliders to make opposing pitchers human or else they'll never make mistakes.

[crewe22]

Re: Can't Draw a Walk to Save My Life (RTTS)

Plus you drastically changed the sliders. I play on legend with 4 pitcher control and consistency. Its very challenging. ...lots of pitches on the black with fewer mistakes but walks are still possible. You pretty much need sliders to make opposing pitchers human or else they'll never make mistakes.

Nah, no power hitter for me.

I find the same results when I played on veteran and all star.
Works really well for me.
I played dynamic for a while and got up to legend but got owned so
I dropped back to veteran then upped to all star and I'll keep going, hopefully.
What works for you fellas may be too much for me right now.