Catchers too slow to pounce on blocked balls in dirt

[Blzer]

I can trap the ball right in front of me, and the AI "knows" that I won't be able to get the ball quickly enough to throw them out thereafter so they take the next bag on the wild pitch, almost always.

Maybe it's not just the pouncing on the ball, though. Despite the fact that I preload my throw to the bag, they take a while to gather and release too. I've turned walks/singles into a three-bag mistake because of this.

Look, if the ball squirts away from me, that's fine and there's nothing I can do. But balls that land right next to my catcher are not being reacted to quickly enough, and worse yet the AI can calculate that fact and takes advantage of it.

I'm curious to know if others are having the same thing happen to them.

[Azamien]

Re: Catchers too slow to pounce on blocked balls in dirt

It's not just user catchers. I had the CPU end up with eight wild pitches in a game the other day (I use auto baserunning.) Combine the catchers' inability to properly block balls in the dirt, their always-lackadaisical throwing animation, and the CPU baserunners not being given "humanity AI" and you have a recipe for Wild Pitch Soup.

[NEOPARADIGM]

Re: Catchers too slow to pounce on blocked balls in dirt

You're not the first to start a thread on this; and yeah I agree it's a thing, minor as it may be.

[Juzbee]

Re: Catchers too slow to pounce on blocked balls in dirt

I think the irony here is that a complaint many people had with MLB 15 and 16 were that the catchers pounced on the ball too fast. I've played about 15 games so far, and I've noticed the change, although it seems to be pretty easy to adjust to.

[Blzer]

Re: Catchers too slow to pounce on blocked balls in dirt

I think the irony here is that a complaint many people had with MLB 15 and 16 were that the catchers pounced on the ball too fast. I've played about 15 games so far, and I've noticed the change, although it seems to be pretty easy to adjust to.

The thing is, they sprint to the ball (almost in a fast-forward motion). But their popping up from their squat and their transition from grabbing the ball to throwing it are extremely slow.

[CaseIH]

Re: Catchers too slow to pounce on blocked balls in dirt

I can trap the ball right in front of me, and the AI "knows" that I won't be able to get the ball quickly enough to throw them out thereafter so they take the next bag on the wild pitch, almost always.

Maybe it's not just the pouncing on the ball, though. Despite the fact that I preload my throw to the bag, they take a while to gather and release too. I've turned walks/singles into a three-bag mistake because of this.

Look, if the ball squirts away from me, that's fine and there's nothing I can do. But balls that land right next to my catcher are not being reacted to quickly enough, and worse yet the AI can calculate that fact and takes advantage of it.

I'm curious to know if others are having the same thing happen to them.

I have had the same issues with catchers not reacting quickly enough. It dont seem to be all that bad for the CPU, but it sure is frustrating for me to see my catcher not reacting quickly, nor does he hurry his throw either. I hope this can be fixed.

[CanOfCornCobb]

Re: Catchers too slow to pounce on blocked balls in dirt

Yep it's a problem. I walked with Hernan Perez and basically took the next 15 pitches, 3 of which were wild pitches that weren't that wild. Shoot, I scored on a wild pitch that didn't go more than 15ft away from the catcher. Only thing I suggest is raising the pitcher consistency slider.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Operation Sports mobile app

[Will I Am]

Re: Catchers too slow to pounce on blocked balls in dirt

There doesn't appear to be any of the so called Humanity AI working in these instances.

[kehlis]

Re: Catchers too slow to pounce on blocked balls in dirt

To me the problem isn't so much in the reaction of the catcher but the anticipation the base runners get.

Any base runner will tell you the key to getting an extra base on a ball in the dirt is to read and react before it happens which is what every base runner in the Show does.

I think we are seeing a combination of too many wild pitches (don't have enough games in to say that definitively though), and crazy reaction time by the runners.

It's not overly zealous to expect a runner to get an extra base on almost any ball in the dirt if they get an early enough start.

[Jr.]

Re: Catchers too slow to pounce on blocked balls in dirt

To me the problem isn't so much in the reaction of the catcher but the anticipation the base runners get.

Any base runner will tell you the key to getting an extra base on a ball in the dirt is to read and react before it happens which is what every base runner in the Show does.

I think we are seeing a combination of too many wild pitches (don't have enough games in to say that definitively though), and crazy reaction time by the runners.

It's not overly zealous to expect a runner to get an extra base on almost any ball in the dirt if they get an early enough start.

This might be part of it, but the game hasn't designed hesitation movements into baserunning. I don't think Humanity AI works with baserunning decisions either (baserunning is another area that could be vastly improved, but that's another thread).

The main issue, in my mind, with this is the animation sequencing/transitioning for catchers. They block, have to stand all the way up, get to the ball, stop, bend over, stop, then throw. It's just way too robotic. They can't pick up the ball and stand up at the same time. They can't pick up the ball and throw from their knees unless the ball stays under them. There aren't enough branching points or animations in general.

And it's a major thing, in my mind. I lost game 7 of the ALCS in my franchise partly because my pitcher threw two balls in the dirt that never got more than a few feet away from the catcher, but a runner advanced to 3rd on one, then scored on the other because of this bad player movement.

[kehlis]

Catchers too slow to pounce on blocked balls in dirt

This might be part of it, but the game hasn't designed hesitation movements into baserunning. The main issue, in my mind, with this is the animation sequencing/transitioning for catchers. They block, have to stand all the way up, get to the ball, stop, bend over, stop, then throw. It's just way too robotic. They can't pick up the ball and stand up at the same time. They can't pick up the ball and throw from their knees unless the ball stays under them. There aren't enough branching points or animations in general.



And it's a major thing, in my mind. I lost game 7 of the ALCS in my franchise partly because my pitcher threw two balls in the dirt that never got more than a few feet away from the catcher, but a runner advanced to 3rd on one, then scored on the other because of this bad player movement.

Oh I don't at all disagree with the animations of the catchers being somewhat problematic. I just think that is only part of the problem.

The worst is a blocked ball right in front of the catcher that he could grab while standing up but instead decided to stand up first and then grab so I agree with you 100%.

But I do think that without the added anticipation we wouldn't see as many advances.

[My993C2]

Re: Catchers too slow to pounce on blocked balls in dirt

To me the problem isn't so much in the reaction of the catcher but the anticipation the base runners get.

Any base runner will tell you the key to getting an extra base on a ball in the dirt is to read and react before it happens which is what every base runner in the Show does.

I think we are seeing a combination of too many wild pitches (don't have enough games in to say that definitively though), and crazy reaction time by the runners.

It's not overly zealous to expect a runner to get an extra base on almost any ball in the dirt if they get an early enough start.

I don't think we are see more balls in the dirt than we have seen in previous years. It just seems to be as you state the base runners are anticipating the situation better and are not afraid to run in this year's game. Right now unless the game is patched, the only way to control these situations would be to reduce the number of wild pitches through slider adjustments? I recently moved my "Pitcher Consistency" slider back to a 5 (it was at a 4) and now I need to observe more games to see how much of an issue it still is. I may need to increase the slider to a 6 (or higher) but only after I determine how much of an effect these balls in the dirt are having on my games.

[Will I Am]

Re: Catchers too slow to pounce on blocked balls in dirt

Balls in the dirt and having to throw a runner out at 1st on 3rd strikes has always been an issue in this game.

[esdot404]

Re: Catchers too slow to pounce on blocked balls in dirt

I agree. I keep seeing this every game.

The third strike in the dirt and having to throw to first, I've seen plenty. Even though this is known to happen every year.

The one that I've struggled with lately is when runners are on and I purposely keep the ball down to force a ground ball. The ball is blocked by catcher, and, no matter how fast I pre-load the throw, the runners always advance. The ball is literally in front of the plate, but no matter who's on the bases they advance. Now I get it, I am keeping the ball down on purpose and a bad release will force this to happen. I am mostly concerned with the catcher animation. They made animation changes this year that has fielders recognize slow/fast runners when throwing to first. It seems that same sense of urgency is not there for catchers on blocked balls, or at least that I have seen.

[slipkid75]

Re: Catchers too slow to pounce on blocked balls in dirt

I agree. They need to move faster.


Sent from my iPad using Operation Sports