Is batting harder or is it just me?

[colodner]

Re: Is batting harder or is it just me?

Does anybody feel like hitting is more difficult this year?

I carried my MLB 14 RTTS save across yesterday and continued on from roughly halfway through my first full season as an MLB starting SS for the Mariners. My overall has grown enormously this season, from 76 or something to 89 and I'd previously been playing with TNK's 2014 sliders. My batting average was bouncing around between .280 and .295 for the month or so before MLB 15 came out, which seemed to be a direct result of the fact that I'd hit my skill ceiling and Dynamic difficulty was ebbing back and forth between All-Star and All-Star plus. I should mention I use zone hitting too.

Continuing on from my save on MLB 15 my average is down to .266 and apart from a six game streak last night I've been totally inconsistent and at times embarrassingly bad.

I really don't want to put the difficulty down, and I really enjoyed the balance I found last year! But I'm struggling.

I think its easier

[Bobhead]

Re: Is batting harder or is it just me?

The more games I've played this year, the more I've come to think that I was wrong about pitch speed being slower.

I think the new pitch trajectories just make the pitches easier to read. If hypothetically speaking... it took 900 milliseconds to read a pitch last year, and only 600 milliseconds this year, you are naturally going to be swinging earlier at everything.

I mean pitch speed could very well actually be slower, but my original basis for that assumption was how quickly I was reacting to pitches. It could be that the 94 mph fastball is coming in slower, or it could also be that I'm recognizing it as a fastball a lot sooner.

[jcar0725]

Re: Is batting harder or is it just me?

I go through periods of hitting great, followed by periods of not being able to hit at all. The hitting in my opinion is not harder, it's great.

[SidVish]

Re: Is batting harder or is it just me?

I'm hitting .155 and have struck out 53 times in the first 4 games. I'm too early on all off speed pitches and late on fastballs. My next change-up I hit will be my first. Lol. I hope this doesn't continue because if so I'll have to put it aside. I don't have much time to play and I'm not going to use that little time being frustrated.

[sgjj]

Re: Is batting harder or is it just me?

Does anybody feel like hitting is more difficult this year?

[Bobhead]

Re: Is batting harder or is it just me?

Does anybody feel like hitting is more difficult this year?

Nah...
I doubt anyone feels that way

[Dorfie]

Re: Is batting harder or is it just me?

I'm fine with my overall hitting results. I'm hitting for a decent average and scoring enough runs. However, it seems I am incapable of pulling any pitch that's over 90mph. By the time I gauge that it's hittable pitch, it's too late. Lowering pitch speed hasn't helped. I don't like hitting all of my home runs to the opposite field, especially when it's someone who would most likely never do that in real life.

[dubplate]

Re: Is batting harder or is it just me?

I was ready to throw in the towel until I tried Armor & Swords sliders with the catcher 4 camera.

I'm not lighting the world on fire (which is a good thing), but I am striking out less and making good contact, something I had a hard time doing in most of the games I played prior.

[zxfg]

Re: Is batting harder or is it just me?

I've been pretty awful at batting this year, but I think some of it comes naturally with getting accustomed to the new game. For instance, I'm waaaay out in front of change-ups now. Can't explain it, they just look different coming across the plate.

[mvp_status]

Re: Is batting harder or is it just me?

I can make contact just fine, however I'm having problems hitting HR's. 15 games in my franchise, I'm leading the league in Team BA, but am in the bottom 5 in homeruns. It seems like every time I get a hold of one, it dies in the warning track. Using the Tigers btw

[fgjli]

Re: Is batting harder or is it just me?

I've been pretty awful at batting this year, but I think some of it comes naturally with getting accustomed to the new game. For instance, I'm waaaay out in front of change-ups now. Can't explain it, they just look different coming across the plate.

[cbrown119]

Re: Is batting harder or is it just me?

Batting is so frustrating for me...

I began with default sliders, dynamic difficulty, with directional analog.

I am constistently late on Fastballs and early on anything offspeed. If I do make contact, they seem to be weak fly balls or grounders. I have yet to score over 4 runs a game. I have been playing everyday, taking BP with the pitcher who is scheduled to start just to get the feel for him. I guess that could be considered cheating, but I'll take anything that could help my batting skills.

Lately, I have been messing with camera angles, buttons instead of analog, PCI, and adjusting sliders. Now I think I am just adding to my confusion and making things worse.

I adjusted my sliders to reflect my problem areas (I think). I raised Contact and Power to 6, and Timing to 7. But I don't think these would be the correct fields to adjust. I am still late on the FB and early with everything else.

I have hit HR's - I think more than a good solid hit. I am not looking for the Homerun laden blowout game, but enjoy the solid hits (more realism) better.

Any suggestions on sliders/cameras to use to help me?

[jcar0725]

Re: Is batting harder or is it just me?

Batting is so frustrating for me...

I began with default sliders, dynamic difficulty, with directional analog.

I am constistently late on Fastballs and early on anything offspeed. If I do make contact, they seem to be weak fly balls or grounders. I have yet to score over 4 runs a game. I have been playing everyday, taking BP with the pitcher who is scheduled to start just to get the feel for him. I guess that could be considered cheating, but I'll take anything that could help my batting skills.

Lately, I have been messing with camera angles, buttons instead of analog, PCI, and adjusting sliders. Now I think I am just adding to my confusion and making things worse.

I adjusted my sliders to reflect my problem areas (I think). I raised Contact and Power to 6, and Timing to 7. But I don't think these would be the correct fields to adjust. I am still late on the FB and early with everything else.

I have hit HR's - I think more than a good solid hit. I am not looking for the Homerun laden blowout game, but enjoy the solid hits (more realism) better.

Any suggestions on sliders/cameras to use to help me?

GO TRIBE!

The camera that you use, it's to make a recommendation, you have to take a few people's suggestions and see what's best for you.

Other than that, it's most likely all in your head. I play on all-star and i do not mess with sliders at all.....although i may drop the CPU strike frequency down a bit after reading these boards lately.

When I say it's all in your head, I mean that you need to have an approach. You have to be patient otherwise you start swinging at everything, and once you do that the CPU starts toying with you.

My approach is that I try to take at least the first two pitches, sometimes three, before even attempting a swing......

I also ALWAYS look at the release point of the pitch (up near the head of the pitcher), and assume it's a slow breaking pitch, low in the zone, and then I just "react" to the fastball.

That's my approach, because I learned if you are just reacting to everything you'll get smoked. I still struggle mightily at times, so I'm no batting genius.....but I know my struggles are not because of the game being too hard. If it was too easy, it wouldn't be fun.

[kevin_bondra]

Re: Is batting harder or is it just me?

Batting is so frustrating for me...

I began with default sliders, dynamic difficulty, with directional analog.

I am constistently late on Fastballs and early on anything offspeed. If I do make contact, they seem to be weak fly balls or grounders. I have yet to score over 4 runs a game. I have been playing everyday, taking BP with the pitcher who is scheduled to start just to get the feel for him. I guess that could be considered cheating, but I'll take anything that could help my batting skills.

Lately, I have been messing with camera angles, buttons instead of analog, PCI, and adjusting sliders. Now I think I am just adding to my confusion and making things worse.

I adjusted my sliders to reflect my problem areas (I think). I raised Contact and Power to 6, and Timing to 7. But I don't think these would be the correct fields to adjust. I am still late on the FB and early with everything else.

I have hit HR's - I think more than a good solid hit. I am not looking for the Homerun laden blowout game, but enjoy the solid hits (more realism) better.

Any suggestions on sliders/cameras to use to help me?

I was struggling a lot with pitch recognition and timing as well, so I switched my camera to 'E Catcher Zoom' (I think that's it) last night. It made a huge difference - you can see the pitches coming in straight at you and I had an easier time of recognizing balls out of the zone.

[nghnjh]

Re: Is batting harder or is it just me?

I've been experiencing a lot of accidental check swings. It's getting to the point I'm going to revert back to button hitting. Not sure if my form with the analog stick is bad or something...I've been using analog hitting since it was introduced in the show so not sure what's going on...