Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

[Brandwin]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

Do you guys aim when you swing as well, IE a pitch is low so you press down and swing or pitch outside and you aim to that area when you swing or you guys always load up the direction before the pitch?

[Gagnon39]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

I gave it a long time before writing this, but after weeks of struggling and a broken controller - I feel it is time. Is anyone else completely fed up with zone hitting? I'm assuming many gave up on it early on and some may have never tried it, but the zone hitting is a complete failure in 2016. And before you say "oh, you mean it's too realistic?" - it's not.

I strive for 1-4 or 2-5 games and a .250 avg. Zone just doesn't provide that and far too often I lined a fastball up with perfect timing and just pop out over and over again. My RTTS player is in his 3rd year now, which means he's an 80 overall and has respectable attributes - yet still grounding out on almost every play (with or without a hitters count). The off chance he gets a hit feels like a miracle.

So tonight I switched to Directional and oh my god - what a difference. I immediately felt more in control of my swing than I had with zone hitting. I still struck out and had some unlucky outs, but the difference is I was now slapping grounders down, instead of everything turning into a deep fly ball.

So my question is this, with directional hitting - does the direction you "aim" have ANY impact on whether or not contact will be made on the pitch? Should I be "aiming" at all for where the ball is or only for where I want to hit the ball? For example, if it's a fastball in on the hands and you "aim" out and away, will you be more likely to swing & miss or just make poor contact?

Ironically, I often feel the very opposite of this.

More times than I can remember when using directional I've sat on a ball up and in (pressing the analog stick up and to the left using a right handed batter) timed the pitch perfectly... and completely missed the pitch. Not even tipped it.

However, on (All-Star) with zone, I absolutely crush the ball. My team average is right around .300 and Rizzo and Soler are #1 and #2 respectively in the lead for most home runs in the majors. I actually am considering having to use directional full time simply because I strike out on average 2-3 times per game with zone. I've played Hall of Fame, and can hit on zone on that level as well but 95% of my hits are singles.

[KBLover]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

Do you guys aim when you swing as well, IE a pitch is low so you press down and swing or pitch outside and you aim to that area when you swing or you guys always load up the direction before the pitch?

If I'm influencing, I'll do it pre-pitch and hold it all the way. I'll just decide on whether or not I want to swing and adjust my timing accordingly. Only on occasion do I do something like up and pull, down and opposite field, etc. Usually situational when I want to try for a specific location AND batted-ball type. Otherwise, I'm usually concerned more about batted-ball type (fly vs grounder) than direction.

[Gagnon39]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

With directional I've been using pull and push a little bit. I usually look inside and try to pull the ball until I get a strike or two.

I did use up last night in a game with runners on the corners and one out. I was batting with Anthony Rizoo and wanted to a) get the ball in the air for a sacrifice fly and b) avoid the double play. The result... a three-run home run. It was pretty awesome I have to say.

[p00p1]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

Thank you very much for this write up. I will use it to tailor my new RTTS that I will be starting this week (ps, what sliders are you using? ).

As for the comments about zone being better / worse this year, the PCI doesn't end up where I physically move the control stick. This is perhaps my biggest gripe with zone hitting right now. I literally scout pitchers before I go up against them, so I have an idea of what they might throw. Too many times I've waited patiently for my hitter's count, sat on that big breaking ball, aimed down to line up and popped out only to see the PCI actually ended up in the dirt. In fact, pulling the PCI down into the dirt became such a problem, that I just stopped moving the stick altogether. That's not the way it's supposed to work.

Playing zone on All-Star is fun and cuddly, but playing in the majors on HoF or Legend is unforgiving. If you're a simulation junky, like me, directional seems like the way to go as it takes player stats into a lot more consideration (if by simply taking PCI error out of it).

Also, your timing will affect the PCI location. Too early and it will raise your PCI, too late and it will drop it.

[Panopticism]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

The one thing that confuses me about Directional is that sometimes I'll swing without moving the stick, but the feedback will show my PCI was moved (looks like it would it I were using Zone). Most of the time when I swing without moving the stick it will show the PCI still centered on the plate. But sometimes it will be moved.

The PCI will be higher than intended for early swings and lower than intended for late swings. Could that be it?

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

Also, your timing will affect the PCI location. Too early and it will raise your PCI, too late and it will drop it.

^ he's referring to zone hitting.

(unrelated) It's not really a PCI in directional. It's more of a hit odds indicator. Your more likely to make contact the closer to the center the ball is.

[LionsFan01]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

The PCI will be higher than intended for early swings and lower than intended for late swings. Could that be it?

That was my first thought when I saw it, but it happens sometimes when my timing is good. I'll get belt high fastballs down the middle, good timing on the swing, but get nothing but a fly ball because my PCI was down at the bottom of the zone. It's not a huge deal because like I said earlier, I enjoy the randomness you see with Directional. But it is confusing to see.

[Aviator87AC]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

Ironically, I often feel the very opposite of this.

More times than I can remember when using directional I've sat on a ball up and in (pressing the analog stick up and to the left using a right handed batter) timed the pitch perfectly... and completely missed the pitch. Not even tipped it.

Yeah because you want to aim down on a high ball, not up (for directional). Remember, it's where you want the ball to GO, not where it IS. So if you had an up and in pitch for a RHB, you'd want to pull down (down left) on the stick to make contact high.

I was afraid this would be a big reason why people might poo-poo directional hitting - lack of understanding.

[SmallPurse]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

so.. I use to have the same pop up issue and turned my TV (70") to game mode and adjusted the game input lag option and its been 10x better.


check that first

[COMMISSIONERHBK9]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

With directional I've been using pull and push a little bit. I usually look inside and try to pull the ball until I get a strike or two.

I did use up last night in a game with runners on the corners and one out. I was batting with Anthony Rizoo and wanted to a) get the ball in the air for a sacrifice fly and b) avoid the double play. The result... a three-run home run. It was pretty awesome I have to say.

how do u pull the ball?with directional hitting

[No.27]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

how do u pull the ball?with directional hitting

I find holding the stick pre pitch influencing diagonally up in the direction you want to pull the ball works like a charm on those up and in balls. I tend to use it with guys I know are power pull hitters and if you get onto it a touch early will hit a lot of home runs. There's no better feeling than a righty versus righty pulled home run! A bonus is when I'm looking for that ball to hit my discipline improves and I draw more walks.

[COMMISSIONERHBK9]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

I find holding the stick pre pitch influencing diagonally up in the direction you want to pull the ball works like a charm on those up and in balls. I tend to use it with guys I know are power pull hitters and if you get onto it a touch early will hit a lot of home runs. There's no better feeling than a righty versus righty pulled home run! A bonus is when I'm looking for that ball to hit my discipline improves and I draw more walks.

so u hold it up right or up left or just up

[Aviator87AC]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

Diagonally up in the direction your batter hits.

So up left for RHB and up right for LHB

Pull = strong side
Push = weak side

Obviously, it helps to swing early for extreme pulls and swing late for an extreme push. With zone this was an act of futility, but with directional it's actually possible with some degree of frequency.

[KBLover]

Re: Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

Diagonally up in the direction your batter hits.

So up left for RHB and up right for LHB

Pull = strong side
Push = weak side

Obviously, it helps to swing early for extreme pulls and swing late for an extreme push. With zone this was an act of futility, but with directional it's actually possible with some degree of frequency.

Actually I just usually hold up or down and adjust my timing to try to pull or push. You can still pull outside pitches out of the park like that if you're early enough.