Directional Hitting Guide

[kooch66]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

I'd just like to add either a correction to what contact and vision do or add additional information, however you like to see it.

Contact is a measure of the player's ability to make more line drives as opposed to weak grounders and pop-ups. Vision allows the player to make more bat on ball contact at all, and will allow you to foul off more pitches as opposed to missing and striking out.

The size of the PCI (plate coverage indicator) which is still there when using directional hitting the user just doesn't have direct control over it like in zone, is an average of the player's contact and vision attributes. So there is in game, visual feedback to contact and vision, it's not just under the hood or invisible to the user. Also, to go a step further, the size of the PCI is also adjusted by the pitcher's stats. H/9 reduces the batters contact and K/9 reduces the batters vision.

Hope this helps!

[nunogomes]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

This guides are invaluable and this thread should be stickied! Congrats and thank you!

[Gagnon39]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

I'm not 100% sold on having influence on every pitch. And what about pushing the direction as the ball is coming in instead of just digging on a spot?


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

This guides are invaluable and this thread should be stickied! Congrats and thank you!

Thanks man. Honestly I just made this thread so I could just link to it as opposed to answering similar (but slightly different) questions over and over in the Q&A and Strategies threads. Seemed to be a lot of influx of new players this year asking about directional, and having all of my knowledge in one referable spot makes answering those questions a ton easier then answering on a case by case basis.

Doesn't need to be stickied as long as I can continue to link to it. Appreciate the enthusiasm though nice to know my effort is helping people.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

I'm not 100% sold on having influence on every pitch. And what about pushing the direction as the ball is coming in instead of just digging on a spot?

I get that. You might be right. All I can tell you is that I've tried it your way and have overall gotten worse results.

It does make sense that it would be worse when you think about it. Your asking your player to change his swing as the ball is coming at him. If, say, you were set up for a pull and you notice the pitch is on the outside and you switch to a push, you're asking your player to drop his shoulders and adjust his swing on the fly.

Could just be a placebo effect, but even on swings where I was overly indecisive before the pitch was released I've noticed lower averages and weaker overall contact.

If you feel that reacting and adjusting is better for you, you might want to consider a switch to zone. While both interfaces have both elements, zone is a little more reliant on mechanical skill and reactions whereas Directional is a little more like the chess game.

[sikolec]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Awesome thread! Extremely helpful.

Do you have any specific players that you could give a quick rundown on how you effectively use them based on your findings? I know you mentioned Buster Posey briefly, but it would be awesome to see a breakdown for a few players (with different player types/skills).

[Caulfield]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

so if I got a lefty who's an extreme pull hitter and the shift is on,
what location and/or pitch type should I look for to hit it to the 3B side?
and if I swing a bit late, will that increase my chance to hit to third?
or is there a better (or another) way to beat the shift (non-bunting)?

[audbal]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Wow! I didn't know what I was doing with directional hitting, until reading this. Now I'm not only hitting homers, but manufacturing runs with strategy. Awesome! Thank you for posting.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Operation Sports mobile app

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Awesome thread! Extremely helpful.

Do you have any specific players that you could give a quick rundown on how you effectively use them based on your findings? I know you mentioned Buster Posey briefly, but it would be awesome to see a breakdown for a few players (with different player types/skills).

I can do that, but I play a carry over from 14, so skills don't match up (my Buster Posey is probably different from the one on the default rosters). What I might do is a section on players who are exceptions to the rules, or more to the point, what to do when your player struggles and playing to their archetype just isn't working. In there I'll give a few examples. If you want you can post a screenshot of a players attributes and hit chart and I'll do a little scouting for you, though I can only be so accurate without hands on experience.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

so if I got a lefty who's an extreme pull hitter and the shift is on,
what location and/or pitch type should I look for to hit it to the 3B side?
and if I swing a bit late, will that increase my chance to hit to third?
or is there a better (or another) way to beat the shift (non-bunting)?

Honestly, I would hit into the shift most of the time. There is a reason why they are loading up on that side, and that's because your batter has a lot of strength with a pull swing. Even with the shift in place, your batter will have the most success pulling the ball.

Hitting against the shift is more of a situational thing, like you need a man on base, or they are still heavy shifting against you with a runner on. In this case I'd go for a down and push hybrid swing and trying to hit the ball before full extension (slightly late). Since you only care about beating the infield, the down influence is your biggest ally, giving you extra vision to widen your potential solid hits while also preventing an easy flyout.

[ruxpinke]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

would you be willing to share your difficulty level and slider adjustments?

[Caulfield]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Honestly, I would hit into the shift most of the time. There is a reason why they are loading up on that side, and that's because your batter has a lot of strength with a pull swing. Even with the shift in place, your batter will have the most success pulling the ball.

thats extremely interesting, its amazing I never even considered this. shows what I know about hitting.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

would you be willing to share your difficulty level and slider adjustments?

Sure thing man, though I should warn you everything is still fluid. For example, I started the season on Veteran, with the plan to bump up to all-star once I had a good feel for the game. After the patches though, I'm sticking with veteran until I know my sliders are still working. I find veteran to be a good baseline for slider building, but last year I tested my sliders all the way up to Legend (ended up settling on all-star). I'll just post the relevant sliders.

Human Solid Hits - 7 (edit: now 6)

CPU strike frequency - 3 (edit: now 1)

Raising human solid hits will reduce those popouts on perfectly timed fastballs down the middle. Great for those of us who aren't so mechanically perfect and can get perfect timing regularly. You'll still get popouts and groundouts, even with the slider set to ten, but only on pitches you shouldn't have been swinging at.

Lowering CPU strike frequency makes (in my opinion) the opposing pitchers more realistic, especially at lower difficulty levels. If you're afraid to raise the difficulty due to a lack of plate discipline, try fiddling with this slider. Pitchers on lower difficulties are in the zone WAY too often, and that in turn fosters bad discipline.

Every other batting related slider I kept unchanged this year, but if you're looking for other ones to fiddle with in relation to Directional, Human Contact and Human Timing are the next biggest ones. Like I said in the OP though, Human Solid Hits is the key slider as far as directional is concerned.

Edit: I'm very slow and methodical when it comes to slider and difficulty settings. I don't expect to settle until mid-summer at the earliest (I play the Show year round).

Edit 2: Whoops said zero when I meant to say unchanged... Hopefully no-one took that seriously.

Edit 3: I've now bumped up to all-star hitting.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Discipline

Discipline is hard in Directional. After all, any pitch is a potential home run if you get the timing right, and everyone wants to hit. But hitting in directional is also like gambling, and if you want to come out ahead, you have to play the odds.

This is by far the hardest of the tricks I have to learn, mainly because most of the discipline has to come from you, the player. It took me years to learn discipline in this game, and I still struggle to master it every game. But with these tricks, hopefully your learning process won’t be as painful as mine.

Sliders

Once again changing sliders can have a huge impact on you discipline. CPU pitchers are in the zone far too often, especially on lower difficulty levels. As I said earlier, I have my CPU strike frequency set at 2, which makes the pitcher aim for the corners more as opposed to meat-balling down the middle early in the count. You won’t be able to raise your discipline if you rarely see balls. You need to learn what a ball looks like out of a pitchers hand, and the subtle differences between a ball and a strike. That can only be learned with experience.

Good Takes

Something that I struggled with when I first got the game was swinging at every pitch in the zone. This is bad, especially in directional. You need to be taking quality hacks, especially if you choose to swing early in a count. Every pitch you see is an opportunity to learn that pitcher, and just because you spotted that the 2SFB coming in was going to hit the corner doesn’t mean it was a good time to swing.

Directional is all about pitch selection. Therefore you have to reward yourself for good takes. Don’t be down on yourself for taking a strike if the odds were it was going to be an easy groundout. Even taking a strikeout is preferable then hitting into a double play. Which leads me into my next topic…

Avoid the Low Ball

Obviously a pitch down the middle is ideal to swing at, but low pitches are the worst types to swing at for a lot of reasons. Low pitches are the hardest to identify, and trying to crush that low fastball only to find out it was a changeup in the dirt is mighty embarrassing. Very rare is the situation where taking a low pitch is a bad idea. So many low pitches that I thought were going to be strikes have ended up dropping out of the zone.

Any pitch on or near an edge should be taken, especially early in the count, but the low pitch is to be avoided whenever possible.

If a pitcher is giving you nothing but low pitches, it might be time to consider adding the up or “scoop” swing into your approach, but keep in mind the risks that come along with that decision.

Process vs Results

A lot of people focus on results, and that can definitely lead to bad hitting habits.

“I just hit an amazing homerun on that pitch above the strikezone.”

We’ve all done it, there is nothing to be ashamed of when you get a good result. What you need to realize is that was a bad pitch to swing at and the results were because of the batter at the plate, not your input. Let out a sigh, thank your batter, and move on.

“I did everything TheWarmWind told me to that at bat but all I got was a popout.”

It happens. I’m just trying to maximize your chances of a good result, but there is never a guarantee. If you did everything right, you just have to trust the process. I like to imagine that I’m in the dugout and I give the player a scolding for a pitch he should have crushed.

“Once again, I did everything right and all I got was a liner.”

This is good. A solid liner means both you and your batter saw the pitch well and timed it perfectly. Sometimes, you’re just unlucky and it’s right at someone.

“I got a blooper.”

You lucky dog.

My point is, if you focus too much on the results, it can lead to a negative downward spiral. Focus on the process and you’ll see those miracle late inning comebacks come alive*.

*Miracle late inning comebacks are not guaranteed.

Physical Feedback

I know it sounds crazy, but providing yourself with consistent physical feedback can help you condition yourself to be a better hitter. I’ll describe my system.

Whenever I do a good take, I pat my back.

Whenever I want to take a pitch and concentrate on learning the pitcher’s delivery and movement, I tap my shoulder.

Whenever I swing at a bad pitch (yes, this includes pitches in the zone, especially if they are early in the count) I flick my leg.

Re-enforcing the lesson with physical feedback can help a ton when trying to condition yourself. My personal discipline rose significantly once I started doing this. In fact, I would have never noticed the CPU pitching problem if I had never started doing this, because I was WAY too aggressive at the plate. Yes you too can become disciplined like I am.

Just make sure whatever your punishment feedback is, it isn’t something that can be damaging, especially when frustrated. Let’s just say I had to change my system to the way it is now because I realized how dangerous what I was doing was.

Be Zen

Sounds way too simple I know, but sometimes a pitcher was just too good. You were patient, you waited for your pitch, you adjusted when behind, but they just didn’t give you anything and that grounder was the best you could have possibly done. Tip your cap, move on. This game feeds on your frustration.

Ump make a bad call for the third strike? Part of the game. You did everything right.

Didn’t see a fastball right down the middle until it was too late. Learn from it. Remember the motion of that pitcher. Say to yourself: “Finally, so that’s what it looks like coming from him”. Letting any pitch you don’t recognize go is a good thing and a good habit to get into, no matter the result (remember, it’s about the process).




I know this writeup is a little less specific to Directional, but discipline is essential to directional hitting. The more your batter sees of a pitcher, the more likely they are to make solid contact. If you are early in the count, you have to be extremely discriminating. Take a deep breath and let it out. Press down to call for a timeout. Do whatever it takes to reset yourself, but don’t fall into the trap of overthinking and frustration.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

thats extremely interesting, its amazing I never even considered this. shows what I know about hitting.

Still a good idea to hit against the shift if you're behind in the count. When I talk about hitting into the shift, I mean on favorable counts.

In fact, it's safe to assume that if I ever mention just one type of swing, I mean during a favorable or even count.