I don't even know where to begin. I know we have all experienced plenty of issues with fielding. Some are minor and purely visual while others are gamechanging.
It starts with slow tappers hit back to the pitcher that result in base hits because instead of fielding the ball and tossing it in one smooth motion the pitcher fields hit, takes 3 steps to stop, stands there for a half second, then tosses a slow high arching ball to first that allows even David Ortiz to reach safely on a ball that nobody in baseball would be safe on if there was a smoother and more realistic chain of animations.
There's also the casual backhands that result in infield "hits". We've all seen this as well. Routine groundball hit towards a middle infielder deep. Instead of charging the ball at all and having a relatively easy play your fielder decided to actually take 3 steps back to prepare for a slow rolling ball approaching at 3 mph. By the time he gathers the ball and tries to throw the baserunner is already taking his elbow protector off and talking with his basecoach.
Dives. Not much needs to be said here. They all look terrible. The ridiculous over the shoulder dives are so pitiful looking. The players look so stiff in all dives and none look natural. They result in players laying there and having no urgency in getting up even if they stopped the ball on the play.
Catchers still get up out of their stance at Olympic speed. Usain Bolt couldn't even match the speed of a catcher in this game collecting balls in front of the plate. The only reason I can halfway handle this is because of the unrealistic number of balls that stay fair a foot in front of the plate instead of being hit down and back for a foul like in real life. Too many "tips" break physics and end up in front of the plate instead of the batter staying alive or even having the ball get caught for a strike out still.
Players still react too perfectly off the bat despite ratings. There's hardly ever a bad angle taken on any hit. Every ground ball is played perfectly. If a bad angle occurs it is only of flyballs in the OF. All infielders read the ball perfectly resulting in the errors looking forces instead of happening naturally. We need more reads that aren't bad, but aren't perfect which plays in with a play difficulty system that makes errors more authentic so they don't seem completely random and actually make sense as to why they happen.
Outfielders have no hurry and neither do cutoff men. These are more known issues. They don't charge the ball and use momentum nearly enough. They take too many gather steps. Crow hops are rare. They double clutch more times than not.
Then there are the visual issues. Fielder's standing under popups and flyballs don't look natural. The stance is off, too stiff, they don't move around enough like in real life. I want fielders to possibly collide, look around to make sure they don't, constantly take small steps to account for the ball not coming straight down like real life. Miscommunication would be nice so you have a ball drop between two or three fielders in that awkward zone in the shallow outfield.
Animations need to blend together better. Far too much hitching. Fielders need 100x more urgency in all areas. I play with auto fielding and just use the buttons to throw. I pretty much have the button pressed the second the ball is off the bat so I know I'm not missing the windows on a lot of these issues. It's judt problems with the games. I play with baserunning speed at 1 or 2 and still see infield hits from slow animations. Look at the bare hand throws on bunts from 3rd basemen. Those are nice. They are super smooth, have urgency, and look natural. Nothing else doesn't come close to those animations.
I don't want to sound like I hate the game. I love it. We are in year 3 of our franchise almost at the break. I keep coming back because the game is that great and I'm not even close to tired of it. I just feel like fielding is the weakest part of the game. The controls and ways to field aren't the issue. It's the animations and the way they link plus the lack of urgency. It's just not good to be honest.
It starts with slow tappers hit back to the pitcher that result in base hits because instead of fielding the ball and tossing it in one smooth motion the pitcher fields hit, takes 3 steps to stop, stands there for a half second, then tosses a slow high arching ball to first that allows even David Ortiz to reach safely on a ball that nobody in baseball would be safe on if there was a smoother and more realistic chain of animations.
There's also the casual backhands that result in infield "hits". We've all seen this as well. Routine groundball hit towards a middle infielder deep. Instead of charging the ball at all and having a relatively easy play your fielder decided to actually take 3 steps back to prepare for a slow rolling ball approaching at 3 mph. By the time he gathers the ball and tries to throw the baserunner is already taking his elbow protector off and talking with his basecoach.
Dives. Not much needs to be said here. They all look terrible. The ridiculous over the shoulder dives are so pitiful looking. The players look so stiff in all dives and none look natural. They result in players laying there and having no urgency in getting up even if they stopped the ball on the play.
Catchers still get up out of their stance at Olympic speed. Usain Bolt couldn't even match the speed of a catcher in this game collecting balls in front of the plate. The only reason I can halfway handle this is because of the unrealistic number of balls that stay fair a foot in front of the plate instead of being hit down and back for a foul like in real life. Too many "tips" break physics and end up in front of the plate instead of the batter staying alive or even having the ball get caught for a strike out still.
Players still react too perfectly off the bat despite ratings. There's hardly ever a bad angle taken on any hit. Every ground ball is played perfectly. If a bad angle occurs it is only of flyballs in the OF. All infielders read the ball perfectly resulting in the errors looking forces instead of happening naturally. We need more reads that aren't bad, but aren't perfect which plays in with a play difficulty system that makes errors more authentic so they don't seem completely random and actually make sense as to why they happen.
Outfielders have no hurry and neither do cutoff men. These are more known issues. They don't charge the ball and use momentum nearly enough. They take too many gather steps. Crow hops are rare. They double clutch more times than not.
Then there are the visual issues. Fielder's standing under popups and flyballs don't look natural. The stance is off, too stiff, they don't move around enough like in real life. I want fielders to possibly collide, look around to make sure they don't, constantly take small steps to account for the ball not coming straight down like real life. Miscommunication would be nice so you have a ball drop between two or three fielders in that awkward zone in the shallow outfield.
Animations need to blend together better. Far too much hitching. Fielders need 100x more urgency in all areas. I play with auto fielding and just use the buttons to throw. I pretty much have the button pressed the second the ball is off the bat so I know I'm not missing the windows on a lot of these issues. It's judt problems with the games. I play with baserunning speed at 1 or 2 and still see infield hits from slow animations. Look at the bare hand throws on bunts from 3rd basemen. Those are nice. They are super smooth, have urgency, and look natural. Nothing else doesn't come close to those animations.
I don't want to sound like I hate the game. I love it. We are in year 3 of our franchise almost at the break. I keep coming back because the game is that great and I'm not even close to tired of it. I just feel like fielding is the weakest part of the game. The controls and ways to field aren't the issue. It's the animations and the way they link plus the lack of urgency. It's just not good to be honest.
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