Directional Hitting Guide

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Too many pitches I felt I should have been hitting hard i'm fouling off. Even had a few where the timing was good and I still missed, on a pitch in the zone. That pisses me off, then i chase the low change up in frustration, because I didn't put a good swing on my pitch. I have a water cooler in my house and if my bat was in reach, I certainly would have taken the bat to it Went into batting practice and was feeling the same frustration. I told myself I wouldnt go crazy with changes, but im going to roll with contact 6, solid hit 6 for the next ten or so games. Telling myself i need the boost for now as a transition from VET to AS. If i start hitting like crazy (doubtful), what should I drop first, contact or solid? Should I also boost timing up to 6?

If fouling off well timed hits in your happy zone is what triggers you then solid hits is the last slider you want to turn down. Solid hits pretty much only effects well timed hits on good pitch locations.

The contact slider is strange, it effects a few things at once, but it's still the slider I'd drop first in your case. You shouldn't need to boost the timing window (I think contact does that as well) but if you're frustrated I'd recommend boosting solid hits up to 7. Right now I'm convinced the perfect balance for me is somewhere between 6 and 7 on the solid hits slider.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Also, just wanted to ask about the 1-1 count. I tend to pull or push depending on game situation, but curious what people do. I have found that following this guide I am a lethal 2 strike hitter (playing RTTS). So many 2 strike opposite field hits. Having trouble with power but that's more my player build at the moment. I did have a situation where I was setup to pull on 2-1, got a juicy fastball on the inner half, and inside-outted it to the opposite field gap for a 3 run double. Was very satisfying.

When you built your RttS batter, what hitting tendency did you choose (extreme push, push, balanced, pull, extreme pull)?

Also if you can post a pic of your current RttS player's attributes I can do a detailed breakdown.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

I'm still playing 15. Is that option available?

I think so? I'm pretty sure that I made the switch from zone to directional at or before 15, and I know I hate the camera shift, so I wouldn't have been playing the interface if there wasn't the option to turn it off. Might be under one of the advanced tabs if you can't find it. It's probably in the same spot in 17 so I'll look for it and post a pic when I have time.

[ruxpinke]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

If fouling off well timed hits in your happy zone is what triggers you then solid hits is the last slider you want to turn down. Solid hits pretty much only effects well timed hits on good pitch locations.

The contact slider is strange, it effects a few things at once, but it's still the slider I'd drop first in your case. You shouldn't need to boost the timing window (I think contact does that as well) but if you're frustrated I'd recommend boosting solid hits up to 7. Right now I'm convinced the perfect balance for me is somewhere between 6 and 7 on the solid hits slider.

Interesting. Are you still on Vet as you were before?

Do you think leaving contact at 5 and going to 7 on solid hits would be a better option than going 6-6 for now?

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Interesting. Are you still on Vet as you were before?

Do you think leaving contact at 5 and going to 7 on solid hits would be a better option than going 6-6 for now?

Yeah I'm still on vet, it's the change in pitch speed that's bothering me this year going up to all-star.

It's tough to say. Honestly, this is why I highly recommend building your own slider sets, because sliders are the real difficulty adjustments, the veteran, all-star, HOF etc is really just a foundation, an overall bump to the difficulty of all levels of the game.

I would say just pick the level that feels the best to you, and then adjust the difficulty of each individual part of the game to match you personally. For example, I like the feel of veteran this year, but the CPU pitching strategy is way too easy for me. By dipping the CPU strike frequency down to 2, it's much more appropriate for my skill level when it comes to pitch location (lowering the strike frequency increases the amount that pitchers pitch to the corners as opposed to just getting a strike, so it's not just there to inflate ball/strike ratio).

I suspect that bumping up solid hits to 7 and turning down contact to 5 will be a better fit for you. You'll keep that "good" frustration when a pitcher genuinely fools you and get rid of some of that "bad" frustration of when you see and time a pitch perfectly in a key spot and your star player just hits a weak popup.

We can't all time pitches perfectly all the time, and for those of us that can't we need a little boost for those rare times that we do time the ball right.

I would also point out that part of the reason that sliders are needed is because the devs are working on a constantly evolving engine with multiple input methods over a one year development cycle. Expecting the game to be perfectly balanced at default sliders is, IMO a little insane.

Sorry that was an incredibly long-winded response to a very simple question.

[ruxpinke]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Yeah I'm still on vet, it's the change in pitch speed that's bothering me this year going up to all-star.

It's tough to say. Honestly, this is why I highly recommend building your own slider sets, because sliders are the real difficulty adjustments, the veteran, all-star, HOF etc is really just a foundation, an overall bump to the difficulty of all levels of the game.

I would say just pick the level that feels the best to you, and then adjust the difficulty of each individual part of the game to match you personally. For example, I like the feel of veteran this year, but the CPU pitching strategy is way too easy for me. By dipping the CPU strike frequency down to 2, it's much more appropriate for my skill level when it comes to pitch location (lowering the strike frequency increases the amount that pitchers pitch to the corners as opposed to just getting a strike, so it's not just there to inflate ball/strike ratio).

I suspect that bumping up solid hits to 7 and turning down contact to 5 will be a better fit for you. You'll keep that "good" frustration when a pitcher genuinely fools you and get rid of some of that "bad" frustration of when you see and time a pitch perfectly in a key spot and your star player just hits a weak popup.

We can't all time pitches perfectly all the time, and for those of us that can't we need a little boost for those rare times that we do time the ball right.

I would also point out that part of the reason that sliders are needed is because the devs are working on a constantly evolving engine with multiple input methods over a one year development cycle. Expecting the game to be perfectly balanced at default sliders is, IMO a little insane.

Sorry that was an incredibly long-winded response to a very simple question.

No need to apologize, i love having these LongWinded (no pun intended ) discussions. What drew me to OS when i first found it, was being able to write paragraphs about the effects of one slider click. This was stuff i would agonize over and finding other people who cared was a revelation.

Based on what you're saying, I'm going to give 5/7 a try for a bit. My hesitation with solid hits was always seeing slider makers drop them year by year. I also worry about hit variety with it so high, I don't want to be hitting lasers all over the yard. But based on the experience you're having with it at 7, it gives me hope that wont be the case. Ill be sure to check back in.

[wildkits92]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Are you trying to get on my Christmas Card list?

[wildkits92]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Found the camera angel option last night. What a game changer! I could only keep my eyes open long enough to play one game but...went 2 for 3 with a triple and 2 RBI's. I can't tell you what a difference this has all made. Now if I can just find some time to play this weekend...

[rjackson]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Keep in mind that just because you get a pitch in your spot, that doesn't mean that you aren't going to miss it. You see it in real life all the time. Balls fouled straight back are balls that the hitter just missed. How many times does the ball get popped up and the hitter puts there head down - body language that they got their pitch and missed it. When I see a HBP, I look at the pitcher...if they look up and/or turn away, it was an accident and that is there darn it body language. If they step forward and look at the hitter, it was on purpose.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

I struggle when falling behind with a pull hitter or extreme pull hitter. Like you said, play your tendencies so I still think in my head, "should I contact swing but still play my guys tendencies and attempt a pull, or go with a push contact, or a push normal swing." It gets a little foggy there.

Sorry jawiebold I was a little terse with you earlier when the answer is quite simple and would add to this thread.

With pull and extreme pull hitters, you'll still want to use a contact push swing on 0-2 and 1-2 counts.

While pull and extreme pull hitters get less of the buffs from push swings, they do still get the timing window extended a little later and the check swing buff (which stacks with the check swing buff from a contact swing). Extending the timing window later not only gives you a little more leeway to get a solid hit, but a lot more leeway to get any contact at all when swinging late. It's this particular feature of the push swing that pull hitters want to use, because then they can allow balls to get deeper into the zone before deciding to swing, and even when they do swing they are just aiming to be very late in order to foul off.

There is no better swing for a pull hitter or a power hitter then a contact push swing for working the count back because you have more time to watch the pitch and spot movement and location.

edit: and remember the push swing doesn't eliminate a pull hit, just makes it more difficult to time.

[doctorhay53]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

When you built your RttS batter, what hitting tendency did you choose (extreme push, push, balanced, pull, extreme pull)?

Also if you can post a pic of your current RttS player's attributes I can do a detailed breakdown.

Sorry just noticed this. I used balanced tendency.

I'm not sure how to post pics but the relevant attributes are (still in AA):
Contact: 50
Power: 38
Vision: 62
Discipline: 53

I find that I get a ton of 2 strike hits on both normal and contact swings using the 'down' modifier. Pull swings are pretty ineffective in most situations.

I tend to swing a little late trying to identify pitches (man I hate changeups), so I find that opposite field swings are pretty good too.

I should mention briefly how I handle my own self-discipline. I do not swing until either: a) 2-0 count, or b) I have taken a strike. I break this rule occasionally because game theory but only for meatball pitches. Nothing feels better than recognizing that hanging get-me-over curveball and hitting it into the seats.

I find myself conflicted on 1-1, 2-1, and 3-2. Generally I'm deciding between a pull or push, or a down with either contact or normal. I think in all honesty most of my singles come off of down swings, but I don't like losing the likelihood of an XBH. I also lead my team by far in GDP, but I think alot of them are actually from pull swings.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

I find myself conflicted on 1-1, 2-1, and 3-2. Generally I'm deciding between a pull or push, or a down with either contact or normal. I think in all honesty most of my singles come off of down swings, but I don't like losing the likelihood of an XBH. I also lead my team by far in GDP, but I think alot of them are actually from pull swings.

On a 1-1 or a 3-2 I play to my batter's strengths, which based on your batting profile, attributes, and your personal tendency to be a little late would dictate a push swing. I would also do a normal swing, but you seem far more patient then I. My guides are a good starting point, but I encourage you to use the knowledge to make your own hitting strategy.

Having a balanced batting profile means that your batter can be versatile as he develops. Once you start getting that power into the 40s and above, you might want to introduce a few more pull swings when ahead in the count, and start to try and identify pitches earlier.

A balanced batting profile is the hardest to coach due to this versatility. With, for example, a pull hitter, they will get less of a debuff from a pull swing, but less of a buff from a push swing, so it's a little easier to dictate a strategy (pull whenever ahead).

A reminder to others reading this though, the hitting type on the player card can be deceiving, as it's based solely on a batters hit chart and not what they actually are.

For example, I created a player for my future fictional roster franchise that was a switch hitting pull hitter. When looking at his player card, it says he's an extreme push hitter, but trust me, he is a pull hitter.

You can cheat and find out the truth about a player by going into the edit player option. One of the options that can be changed is hitter type.

[Juve]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Actually just surprised myself and hit a HR in the Marlins ballpark using a downward directional hit

351 feet
58/57 power
Pitch was a slider, a little above the middle of the strike zone

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[TheWarmWind]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Actually just surprised myself and hit a HR in the Marlins ballpark using a downward directional hit

351 feet
58/57 power
Pitch was a slider, a little above the middle of the strike zone

Well now that's a new one for me. Power, Normal or Contact swing?

[Juve]

Re: Directional Hitting Guide

Well now that's a new one for me. Power, Normal or Contact swing?

Normal

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