Directional Hitting Guide

[Bmarcoux]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Realy wondering actually how much influence there is w the stick. My average rated rtts player just hit a 425 ft hr with a contact swing and no influence. Think I'm going to try no influence for awhile unless its situational and see how it goes

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Realy wondering actually how much influence there is w the stick. My average rated rtts player just hit a 425 ft hr with a contact swing and no influence. Think I'm going to try no influence for awhile unless its situational and see how it goes

There is always an element on randomness to power. I mean, I once hit a 430ft pull field bomb with my leadoff guy using a contact push swing. His power vs right handers was 29 at the time.

When you use influence to boost power, you'll achieve higher average bat exit velocities, but EVERY type of swing is capable of hitting a homerun.

Even with the recent discovery that there might actually be a benefit to the no influence swing, I'd still argue that you should choose an influence every at bat. Like every other swing type, no influence has it's benefits and drawbacks, and by not actively choosing swing types, you're forcing a certain type of swing into situations that it might not be ideal for.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with that, I'd argue you're going to have more success following the guide.

Directional is always like gambling. It's possible to get good results on almost every pitch, even pitches out of the zone, no matter the swing type you choose as long as your timing is "good enough". The guide is just teaching how to stack the odds more in your favour. There will always be those situations where good swing decisions will yield bad results, and bad ones will yield good results. That's just the nature of gambling.

[COMMISSIONERHBK9]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

so the one game I'm doing with no swing influence I'm only getting two hits. lol think I'm going back to my up left up right.

[No.27]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

so the one game I'm doing with no swing influence I'm only getting two hits. lol think I'm going back to my up left up right.

In my experience up left and up right are the most unreliable swing influence to get me a hit. However I do use them mainly against sinkerballers, to hit a sac fly or behind in the count when I'm trying to stay out of a double play. Occasionally I will use it with my power hitter and try and hit something up and in if I've got a short porch. More often than not if I'm trying to hit something up in the zone using these influences I get lots of fly outs.

[COMMISSIONERHBK9]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

In my experience up left and up right are the most unreliable swing influence to get me a hit. However I do use them mainly against sinkerballers, to hit a sac fly or behind in the count when I'm trying to stay out of a double play. Occasionally I will use it with my power hitter and try and hit something up and in if I've got a short porch. More often than not if I'm trying to hit something up in the zone using these influences I get lots of fly outs.

what influence do u use then?

[No.27]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

what influence do u use then?

Short answer is I use all of them. It depends on the situation and players as to which one I use at any given time. Sometimes I will use 2 or 3 different influences in the one at bat.
I don't want to go into too much detail as it has all been explained by WW far better than I can in the OP. I pretty much follow that word for word. Over the course of the year my improvement in hitting is off the charts.

[bigd51]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

There is always an element on randomness to power. I mean, I once hit a 430ft pull field bomb with my leadoff guy using a contact push swing. His power vs right handers was 29 at the time.

I think you're right in this regard. To lend a bit of credence to this (although I'm not entirely sure if it relates) I noticed that both CPU and Human Power sliders lock after selecting a pitch, which leads me to believe that power is predetermined somehow by pitch selection before the pitcher even starts his windup. Of course, I may be wrong.

I've even had a pitcher hit a no-doubt HR against me before. I wanted to riot..

[COMMISSIONERHBK9]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

hey question for those that use guess pitch and location. When I guess correctly should u use still aim or its ok to just swing?

[rjackson]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

hey question for those that use guess pitch and location. When I guess correctly should u use still aim or its ok to just swing?

No disrespect intended for anything put into this thread as there is a lot of useful information in it, but my answer is going to go against some of what is put into this thread.

When you guess correctly, it is more than OK to just swing. Depending on the location and situation, it is likely the preferred choice.

Directional hitting is first and foremost the old timing hitting. That is the most important piece of hitting (timing, that is) with this set up, PERIOD. The timing window adjusts - it is earlier for pitches up or inside and later for pitches low or outside. Your best chance of squaring up on a pitch is to time it correctly via "going with the pitch" which is, in this case, merely adjusting your timing input to match the pitch. If you get the timing right, you are giving yourself the best chance at positive results. Timing, it is everything.

When you add an influence left/right, it is similar to you telling the batter to open the hips sooner or keep their hands back longer - really just saying try to pull or hit oppo. That is it. You are influencing where the ball will go. There are no bonuses or penalties given by the game to your player for trying to influence one way or another. What is present is what comes naturally with going pull (more power and grounders) or oppo (less power and more fly balls). If you look to the power alleys, you'll get the best results.


Go into the practice mode where you are supposed to hit to certain fields (bat control practice mode). When you get an inside pitch and do no influence with proper timing (which is a bit sooner), you'll hit that pull field every time. If you use pull influence on that same inside pitch, the hitter will open their hips and you'll pull it foul every time. However, when you get that middle or outside pitch that you are supposed to pull, you'll get better results in regards to hitting to that pull field by using the left/right influence but timing it just as you would have had you used no influence and went with the pitch.

So what does pull influence really do? It replicates an earlier opening of the hips and hits the balls to the pull side more often. That is it. There are no power bonuses or vision penalties other than what would naturally occur - meaning the game won't make a 50 power guy suddenly a 52.5 power guy. It is just a conscientious effort to adjust your swing and aim to hit to a certain area more often. This does matter when using a pull happy guy like David Ortiz who will get the shift a lot - so knowing your hitters like Warmwind has stated multiple times does matter. CarGo is one of those guys and I hit with him a lot. Thus, whenever I try to use a pull influence with him, I tend to pull foul. Like, constantly.

So, when to use influences? Hit and runs. Moving a runner from 2nd to 3rd without a bunt and giving yourself a chance at a base hit instead of just sacrificing. Trying to beat the shift. Maybe if you want to hit like a 2001 iteration of Ichiro. In short, not often.

If you get really good at hitting, you can do things like look for the natural addition of power of hitting a middle-middle pitch with hips open more often but then let go of the influence if the pitch is middle-in so you don't foul it off. Or, on 2 strike counts, use the oppo influence on a good outside pitch to foul it off outside and force another offering that might be better for your hitter.


Or, you can do what many have discovered in this very thread by accident and convert your 2 strike hitting to get out of slumps or put the ball in play more often by keeping the hands back a bit more and trying to go to the opposite field. That adds to the realism to me - plenty of players in real life or even entire teams like the '14 Cards I think it was do or did that as a general approach to an AB.

[COMMISSIONERHBK9]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

so I think I figure the hitting out. I be aiming left or right depending what side the batter is. now I use guess pitch and location just cuz I need some help. now if I guess low and I guess right do I aim up or do I continue to aim left or right? do I ever use the power button or just continue to use the normal swing?warm I'm using your rosters btw great stuff. I am the dodgers now so if you have any tips much appreciate.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

so I think I figure the hitting out. I be aiming left or right depending what side the batter is. now I use guess pitch and location just cuz I need some help. now if I guess low and I guess right do I aim up or do I continue to aim left or right? do I ever use the power button or just continue to use the normal swing?warm I'm using your rosters btw great stuff. I am the dodgers now so if you have any tips much appreciate.

Awesome! I'd avoid using power swing except those truly desperate situations. As for where to aim, well that's a personal preference thing. If you're using guess location, then all choices are valid, since you don't need to rely as much on swing type to adjust to location.

I... don't recall ever uploading a roster. Are you referring to my sliders? Can't think of any tips specific to the dodgers, sorry, but if you ever have trouble with a player let me know.

[TripleCrown]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Curious questions maybe but what's happening if let say for a power RH hitter you influence push down (low right) but you go with a power swing?

Or even pull up with contact swing??

Loll I know it sounds crazy but curious of the results :-)


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Curious questions maybe but what's happening if let say for a power RH hitter you influence push down (low right) but you go with a power swing?

Or even pull up with contact swing??

Loll I know it sounds crazy but curious of the results :-)


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

It causes a stacking effect, similar to the hybrid swings. We can sort of "math it out", though values aren't exactly 1 for 1.

So for push/down/power, you'd have (plus contact, minus power) Push + (Plus Vision, minus power) Down + (Plus power, minus vision, minus contact) Power.

In straight 1 for 1 math, that equals out to just -1 power, but I'd be willing to bet results would not be consistent with that result. I tend to consider the Contact/normal/power swings as the big adjustments, and the influence as the smaller adjustments.

It's not the perfect metaphor, but think of it like the gears on a mountain bike. The front gear only has three settings, and there is a big difference between each setting, while the back gear has many settings, allowing you to finely tune the chosen front gear to itinerant situations.

[TripleCrown]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

It's not the perfect metaphor, but think of it like the gears on a mountain bike. The front gear only has three settings, and there is a big difference between each setting, while the back gear has many settings, allowing you to finely tune the chosen front gear to itinerant situations.

Like it. Biking will never be the same now :-)

Thx for the answer.

[thekidisback]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

I've been playing The Show since 08 and I get told time and time again that directional is for beginners and is a baby mode and true players use zone. I started out with directional but switched to zone when I got a lot of angry comments online about how using directional is cheating and opponents calling me a p**** for using it. Should I just ignore and go back to directional or is zone better and the preferred method for most good players?