I Cannot Hit High or Outside Pitches to Save My Life

[Godgers12]

Anyone have any tips? Especially when playing online and DD. I can crush the low stuff, but I swear if anyone ever found that flaw in my game and threw every pitch up in the zone, he'd have a no hitter with 27 K's. I've resorted, especially in 2 strike counts to aiming high before the pich which hurts my lower zone coverage, if it's a breaking ball. And I also tend to alway foul outside pitches off, if I make contact. I do have a sub 3 team ERA in DD, so I have that part nailed down.

Also, does it have to do with the camera I'm using? I've been using fish eye. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[Sgexpat]

Re: I Cannot Hit High or Outside Pitches to Save My Life

Anyone have any tips? Especially when playing online and DD. I can crush the low stuff, but I swear if anyone ever found that flaw in my game and threw every pitch up in the zone, he'd have a no hitter with 27 K's. I've resorted, especially in 2 strike counts to aiming high before the pich which hurts my lower zone coverage, if it's a breaking ball. And I also tend to alway foul outside pitches off, if I make contact. I do have a sub 3 team ERA in DD, so I have that part nailed down.

Also, does it have to do with the camera I'm using? I've been using fish eye. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

You should be fine covering the high zone. In fact those pitches are easier to nail for line drives and homers, so unless I'm facing a sinker baller or a junk baller who tend to live down in the zone, I always cover the high zone and simply attempt to hold off on anything besides high/mid pitches, and just don't swing at breaking pitches (enough will miss that he will eventually throw fewer of them as his confidence drops!). Involves some patience waiting but you'll get 1-2 fat pitches high per at bat that you can drive out of the high zone probably (sinker / 2 seamer / junk ballers excepted).

For those pitchers that live in the low zone simply cover the low zone and watch high pitches, even if you take some strikes. Its not worth trying to worry about the 5-10% of high pitches when facing a sinker guy who will be in the low zone or below the strike zone 70% of the time.

For the outside pitches all I can recommend is to lay off. Unless you are putting your PCI out there and hanging back (to go the opposite way) you really are unlikely to do much with those. Even slightly early and you won't make contact, so you really have to hang back on those. I wouldn't even try those.

For camera consider Classic or Offset. I find fisheye to be too difficult to read high-low but TEHO of course.

[bigd51]

Re: I Cannot Hit High or Outside Pitches to Save My Life

I agree with Sgex. Pitches low in the zone and pitches outside are ones you should probably lay off, unless you have two strikes and are protecting. Ideally, you'll want to drive pitches high inside to middle of the zone when you're ahead in the count and try to take as many pitches as you can when it's early in the count, even if it's a strike. Inside and outside pitches already have the smallest room for error in regards to timing them for a successful hit and the higher or lower they are in zone will only shorten that window. They aren't impossible to hit, but you likely won't get very many without adjusting sliders.

I can't stress this enough... learn to take more pitches than you swing at. Practice, practice, and practice taking some strikes here and there. You also have to be good at how you handle pitches on the black, and taking them will allow you to see them better, and seeing them better will improve your ability to spot them right out of the pitcher's hand. I believe the game rewards you "under the hood" for a quality at bat, similar to RttS, and the better decisions you make during the at-bat, the more chance you'll have of getting a base hit. I could be wrong about the bonus, but I stand behind the notion of taking as many pitches as you can. Try to force the pitcher to throw 12+ pitches per inning, at least, is my plan going into every game.

Practice on your "tunnel vision" when batting, too. You know when you stare and concentrate on a singular spot long enough, your peripheral vision starts to fade? Do that. Focus on the pitcher, his windup, his release point, and take pitches to get a feel for the trajectory of the pitch based on how the ball looks immediately out of his hand. The more pitches he throws, the easier this will become over time, so long as you can hold your concentration on every pitch.

*Disclaimer*: YOU WILL STRIKE OUT. You must be willing to strike out, both swinging and looking, if you really want to become a better hitter. One learns the most through failure, not success. Keep that in mind.

Try your best to keep a mental picture of the strike zone when it fades away to further improve your chances of reading pitches. With the strike zone varying in size from one batter to the next, you should always keep that strike zone in your mind.

If you find yourself getting frustrated, slap yourself and say "NO". The more frustrated you get, the more likely you'll want to start trying to drive every pitch in the zone for a base hit or HR.. which leads to desperate swings and poorly hit pitches for easy outs and more frustration.

The thing I've learned most about playing this game is that it's truly a game of will over settings and camera angles. Granted, changing settings around every now and then helps a bunch.. but 9 times out of 10, losing concentration when playing hurts my play more than anything.

And lastly, if you find yourself in a serious cold streak, cut the game off, take a break for a day or two, and come back to it. It's crazy how much that helps too sometimes. Hope all that made sense