Directional Hitting Guide

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Wanted to get a opinion . A hitter with a power rating in the mid 80 s would a normal push swing be good gaining the contact and timing and not losing much power vs the pul swing where your losing contact and timing

It can depend on a lot of factors, like the players batting tendencies, the pitcher you are facing and the count. In general though, you don't need to be afraid of picking a push swing to gain a little extra contact.

My personal strategy is to play to a hitters strength, so with 80 power i'd be pull swinging a lot, but honestly I'd need more information about the hitter before I'd personally make a decision on what strat is best for them.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

I wanted to take some time to talk about Buster Posey. More specifically, the Buster Posey that exists in the universe of my carry over. He is one of the most interesting and dynamic hitters, and exemplifies how scouting both on and off the field can lead to more productive hitting strategies.

First, let's take a look at his player card:
MLB(R) The Show(TM) 17 Buster Posey.jpg

First of all, we have his vision and hitting tendency. His vision is high, indicating that he can use influence favoured strats effectively, and his hitting tendency is balanced, indicating that he likely will get no extra bonuses or cost removal from picking any specific influence.

He is better vs lefties, but the differential in power is a little more significant then the differential in contact, so we can assume that he wants to do pull favoured strats vs lefties and is a little more flexible vs right handers.

On the field, he's been performing below expectations for years. He wasn't horrible, and his great OBP and excellent work behind the plate have kept him a regular in the lineup. But he was struggling to consistently get value out of well timed pitches, especially vs right handers, and eventually the only success he was having was with push swings. He's not exactly a slug on the bases, but he doesn't have the speed to rely on contact alone and be worth superstar bucks.

Then after discovering the effect of the no influence swing, I took a look at his hot zones. Lot's of bright red and only one true cold zone. I started a new strat with him, using the no influence swing when ahead.

VS right handers I push when he is even, vs lefties I either pull or hybrid down pull.

Since switching to this strategy, his bat has truly come alive. He's gone from a guy who was really good at working the count to a true middle of the order threat. He gains and can utilize the wider timing windows when needed, but when ahead he locks in and waits for his pitch.

It's only because I didn't lock into a strategy with him, continuing to make both major and minor adjustments, that I was able to finally find his ideal strategy, and for all I know there is more potential to unlock.

Posey (at least this version of him) truly is an exception. He's highly flexible and there are many different ways he can potentially find value. I shared this with you in the hopes it will communicate the value of shifting strategies and scouting your players as individuals, as opposed to trying to pigeon-hole them into pre-existing archetypes like power hitter or speedster.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Although the stream from SDS mostly focused on zone hitting, some of the things that were talked about do further legitimize some of the theories in this thread.

The first thing and easiest to confirm is the fact that Bat Exit Velocity is directly tied to the power attribute. As I've said many times throughout the thread, the only thing power effects is the average bat exit velocity.

Second is the "Using Timing to Adjust to Pitches in Directional" section has mostly been confirmed. They talked specifically about the timing gradient and how more timing is applicable when the pitch is right down the middle.

Third, when looking at the PCI breakdown, you can see how the height of the PCI can change how effective of a hitter a player can be. In zone hitting, contact effects how wide the PCI is, while vision effects how tall it is. This means in directional hitting, vision is the most important attribute to getting good contact. It doesn't fully confirm my theory about vision and directional hitting, but it's a pretty solid clue.

Obviously not the full confirmation that I know some of you were looking for, and probably not on the topics many wanted, but still some important evidence further supporting the theories.

[GoodyBucs]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

WarmWind I hit a home for the first time today pulling down! It was a 3-2 count with Evan Gattis off a Mike Leake cutter. It was a 366 foot laser right down the left field line. It hit the funny cut out wall that attaches to the bullpen in Safeco.

[KBLover]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Sorry to necro but I do love me some directional hitting.

I had a "down swing" HR. My fictional slugger (98 Power, then 70's vision) did it - hit the ball 440 feet or so. Pitch was up, probably a mistake and hitter analysis said I was Just Early. Sometimes with him I use Down-middle + Power swing. That's the "try to hit a hard liner and if you elevate enough for a HR, fine" approach for me.

Reading your thoughts on Contact vs Vision - I actually prefer Contact because that seems to be the BABIP/BA/LD rate. Better trajectories are key and I've found that even with high Vision, low Contact will thwart my hitters because of crap trajectories.

And I absolutely hate too many lazy flies and a lack of line drives from my team. If they didn't hit 25% line drives, I feel like I had a bad game at the plate.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Sorry to necro but I do love me some directional hitting.

I had a "down swing" HR. My fictional slugger (98 Power, then 70's vision) did it - hit the ball 440 feet or so. Pitch was up, probably a mistake and hitter analysis said I was Just Early. Sometimes with him I use Down-middle + Power swing. That's the "try to hit a hard liner and if you elevate enough for a HR, fine" approach for me.

Reading your thoughts on Contact vs Vision - I actually prefer Contact because that seems to be the BABIP/BA/LD rate. Better trajectories are key and I've found that even with high Vision, low Contact will thwart my hitters because of crap trajectories.

And I absolutely hate too many lazy flies and a lack of line drives from my team. If they didn't hit 25% line drives, I feel like I had a bad game at the plate.

Hmm, interesting thought about the trajectories. I'll try to keep an eye out for it. It does make some sense though, as lowering contact reduces the area of that "prime contact" while high vision increases the area of "any contact". What sliders are you playing on?

Edit: do I still claim I've never hit a HR with the down swing in the OP? I meant to edit that out, but the OP has become such a monster I miss a lot of the edits I intend to do.

[Bmarcoux]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

On using no influence on power hitters with low vision what rating do you consider low. Vision under 50 ?? Thanks

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

On using no influence on power hitters with low vision what rating do you consider low. Vision under 50 ?? Thanks

It's kind of a personal choice. Basically you are asking yourself how much you want to rely on the vision attribute to get you good results.

I play it by ear from player to player, but in general I trust a vision attribute higher then 60 and I refuse to trust a vision attribute lower then 40. The space in between is kind of a grey area where on field performance matters more then the raw number.

[KBLover]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

On using no influence on power hitters with low vision what rating do you consider low. Vision under 50 ?? Thanks

I consider 60-65 about MLB average, so anything under about 55 I would put as "solidly below average".

Of course, I don't know what the game engine considers MLB average (if anything) nor had the patience to calculate it in my current franchise's state!

Hmm, interesting thought about the trajectories. I'll try to keep an eye out for it. It does make some sense though, as lowering contact reduces the area of that "prime contact" while high vision increases the area of "any contact". What sliders are you playing on?

Edit: do I still claim I've never hit a HR with the down swing in the OP? I meant to edit that out, but the OP has become such a monster I miss a lot of the edits I intend to do.

I'm experimenting (making my own set and tracking results) but most of the games I've played on Hall of Fame with 5/7/8/0/8 human hitting vs 2 CPU control and 4 Consistency (borrowed Nomo's CPU pitching settings from his CPU vs CPU sliders).

[MoneyMan17]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Lots of good info in here. With 18 dropping it was a nice refresher rereading the OP. Will definitely apply some of the strategies and tips that I had forgotten about

[buziii]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

I'm reading this thread for the first time.

Props to TheWarmWind for the knowledge bestowed herein!

I'm a more casual player and have never gotten into the nuances of this game. I just for fun and depend on the dynamic difficulty to keep the difficulty in my fun zone.

I've always used directional hitting, but I rarely use any influence. I've just tried to be patient and wait for a good pitch to hit. That works to my satisfaction, but I'm going to try to use the knowledge in this thread to see if I can improve my hitting.

[bravesfan1984]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Have to give you props for this incredible guide. It has elevated my hitting game big time. It feels so nice to actually be able to hit successfully. Incredible work and really appreciate you sharing your knowledge!

[taterskin]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Curious if the power swing part of the directional hitting has changed any? I kinda got the impression that it was more rewarding to use it on this year's version from some of the streams.

Awesome guide by the way..... I printed and going to use with my RTTS player this year. I've always used zone but want to experiment with this.... especially with attribute categories that are locked/capped.

[KBLover]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Curious if the power swing part of the directional hitting has changed any? I kinda got the impression that it was more rewarding to use it on this year's version from some of the streams.

I couldn't tell you. I just power swing sometimes, and now power + down swing. I don't know if it's different/more rewarding. It's always seemed worthwhile to me, especially for players with good contact ratings (regards of power rating)...but even for low ratings...those guys have tiny PCIs anyway it seems...might as well swing harder. Take a big swing, let the dog out. See what happens. Find your style with your players.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Curious if the power swing part of the directional hitting has changed any? I kinda got the impression that it was more rewarding to use it on this year's version from some of the streams.

Awesome guide by the way..... I printed and going to use with my RTTS player this year. I've always used zone but want to experiment with this.... especially with attribute categories that are locked/capped.

Well all I can tell you is that I've only used it twice so far this year. Once was a big whiff, and the other time was a really high flyout. If you're going to use it though, let me know how it is.

Glad you like the guide! I really need to get around to those edits sometime soon if people are bothering to print it out as a reference. There is nothing egregiously wrong, just a few minor errors or inconsistencies that need to be cleaned up. I just... ugh, I just don't want to do it, so I've been avoiding it. If I'm free this next Sunday coming up, I'll try and take a stab at it.