Enough with the predictable foul balls!!!

[bcruise]

Re: Enough with the predictable foul balls!!!

Thanks for the input. That does make it a little bit more clear for me. I guess I've just been too stubborn to hit the batter or intentionally walk him, but in the future, especially if there are 1 or 2 outs and no one is on base, the simple solution might just be to put him on base and focus on the next hitter.

What works for me is that I don't think of it as "intentionally walking" the batter. I'm trying to get a swing and miss, or at the very least weak contact. Whether or not I choose to intentionally throw out of the zone and risk a walk is heavily dependent on the matchup and game situation - I'm more likely to do it with a good hitter up and no one on base or a base open.

There are few better feelings in this game than to get the CPU to strikeout on a pitch out of the zone (especially in a big situation).

[kehlis]

Re: Enough with the predictable foul balls!!!

Exactly. It's like you can tell a couple pitches into the at-bat that this is going to happen and you know a 10-pitch AB is coming. That's the most annoying thing, how it's predetermined.

Have you ever recorded a time where you had this "feeling" and it didn't actually happen?

[Bushido]

Re: Enough with the predictable foul balls!!!

I just throw the ball at his head, and then get the next guy out, rather than waste 10-15 pitches on one hitter.

[jmcole33]

Re: Enough with the predictable foul balls!!!

I'd be willing to bet that when this happens in real life, the pitchers feel like they should have recorded an out several pitches ago and are dumbfounded that the batter has stayed alive for so long

[Smallville102001]

Re: Enough with the predictable foul balls!!!

I hope many of you can sympathize with me here, but it seems like 4-5 times a game when I am pitching, I'll get locked into a hitter who will foul off any pitch I throw to him. It is absolutely maddening because 1.) I have the foul ball slider turned all the way down, and 2.) I am a busy guy who doesn't have that much time to play games with 15-20 extra unnecessary pitches because the game decides to predetermine when a CPU hitter will foul off pitch after pitch.

Does anyone else have this problem and/or does anyone have any suggestions of how to help this other than what I'm already doing?

I understand this happens often in baseball and is a big part of the game, but enough is enough here lol.

I am not sure what difficulty you are playing on but i tend to have this problem on HOF. On all star i dont have this issue but the game is to easy. On HOF the game is harder and more realistic but the one problem i have is that on HOF its like 1-2 times a game CPU will have at bats where they just refuse to not foul pitches off. Because of this i think i may try playing on all star+.

[Smallville102001]

Re: Enough with the predictable foul balls!!!

I think the issue is that it happens too often. You can pretty much tell when it is going to happen 4 pitches in.

This i dont know how often 10+ pitch at bats happen in real but i would think it is not that common. On HOF its like ever game you will see 1-2 at bats of like 15 pitches. I dont know how often 15 pitch at bats happen in real life but i would say something like once ever 5 games or something yet its ever game in this game.

[El_MaYiMbE]

Re: Enough with the predictable foul balls!!!

I know what the OP is saying BUT I think it happens more than we think in real life. Also, there are A LOT of 1 or 2 pitch outs as well so mixing in one or two, 10-15 pitch ABs per game gets the pitch counts where they are supposed to be.

The other day I threw 27 pitches thru 3 innings with CC Sabathia against the Red Sox. That is 3 pitches per batter for 3 innings straight with a pitcher overall ratings in the 70s.. No...just no....

I did not keep track of long ABs but at the end of the game I had about 90 pitches thru 7 innings and only 2 Ks...so it evened out at some point, but just like there are long ABs there are a lot of 1 pitch ABs...more than in real life.

I think game has more or less the right balance.

[Caulfield]

Re: Enough with the predictable foul balls!!!

I just throw the ball at his head, and then get the next guy out, rather than waste 10-15 pitches on one hitter.

Thump him on his backside, pixels have feelings to ya know. Unless it's the Dodgers. Then by all means, go headhunting lol

[Smallville102001]

Re: Enough with the predictable foul balls!!!

I know what the OP is saying BUT I think it happens more than we think in real life. Also, there are A LOT of 1 or 2 pitch outs as well so mixing in one or two, 10-15 pitch ABs per game gets the pitch counts where they are supposed to be.

The other day I threw 27 pitches thru 3 innings with CC Sabathia against the Red Sox. That is 3 pitches per batter for 3 innings straight with a pitcher overall ratings in the 70s.. No...just no....

I did not keep track of long ABs but at the end of the game I had about 90 pitches thru 7 innings and only 2 Ks...so it evened out at some point, but just like there are long ABs there are a lot of 1 pitch ABs...more than in real life.

I think game has more or less the right balance.

So i was just trying to find out how often like long at bats happen in real life and i found this from the 2015 seasons. https://www.fangraphs.com/tht/the-be...ances-of-2015/

only .4% of at bats lasted 10+ pitches that year so no it dont happend that often in real life. I would say in this game if i play on HOF that on average i see like 1-2 of these per game. Say on average i give up 9 hits in a game and walk 3 guys and have 1 guy hit into a double play that is going to be 38 batters that end up batting in a game. So if i have 1 10+ pitch at bat in the game that is like around 2.5% of the time or like 6 times has much has in real life.

[KBLover]

Re: Enough with the predictable foul balls!!!

only .4% of at bats lasted 10+ pitches that year so no it dont happend that often in real life. I would say in this game if i play on HOF that on average i see like 1-2 of these per game. Say on average i give up 9 hits in a game and walk 3 guys and have 1 guy hit into a double play that is going to be 38 batters that end up batting in a game. So if i have 1 10+ pitch at bat in the game that is like around 2.5% of the time or like 6 times has much has in real life.

So the next question is: what is happening to cause the game to generate so many long ABs?

Is it the pitcher not trying to induce chases on ball well out of the zone (very difficult to make contact or taken for an eventual walk)? Is it too much contact in the zone (Z-Contact too high by default)? Out of zone contact too high (chases don't make misses enough, O-Contact too high by default?)

Is it simply just too much foul contact? I.e. everything else is decent (chase contact, zone contact, chase rates) but when bat hits ball, it's foul too much? Perhaps raising (not lowering) contact or timing would help combat this. This would increase the chance of keeping the ball between the white lines.

[Caulfield]

Re: Enough with the predictable foul balls!!!

I use meter pitching & if I see an AB starting to drag out, I put a little extra mustard on a pitch & max the meter out with a toss somewhere just out of the zone. Otherwise I alternate back & forth on my delivery, 1 pitch half full meter, 1 pitch zero empty on the meter.

[Smallville102001]

Re: Enough with the predictable foul balls!!!

So the next question is: what is happening to cause the game to generate so many long ABs?

Is it the pitcher not trying to induce chases on ball well out of the zone (very difficult to make contact or taken for an eventual walk)? Is it too much contact in the zone (Z-Contact too high by default)? Out of zone contact too high (chases don't make misses enough, O-Contact too high by default?)

Is it simply just too much foul contact? I.e. everything else is decent (chase contact, zone contact, chase rates) but when bat hits ball, it's foul too much? Perhaps raising (not lowering) contact or timing would help combat this. This would increase the chance of keeping the ball between the white lines.

I dont know but its something i notice to often on HOF but dont really see it if i play below that but the thing is CPU dont score enough or get enough hits and it is to easy to locate pitches if i play on All star. What i tend to notice is on those long at bats its like no matter how much i mix up location or pitch type or speed CPU just fouls balls off and to often will foul off hard to hit pitches or will to often take a pitch that is like just out of the zone that is a really hard take.

[shark547]

Re: Enough with the predictable foul balls!!!

I didn't think I could play above veteran because of years past and I still was running in to it on veteran quite a bit. I now know I can compete on All Star and barely lose a game there.

My issue with HOF is pitchers missing spots by over a foot constantly and the incredibly high rate of errors I have seen from my team. Granted I haven't played a lot of games and some of it may have been server issues so.......

[Caulfield]

Re: Enough with the predictable foul balls!!!

I didn't think I could play above veteran because of years past and I still was running in to it on veteran quite a bit. I now know I can compete on All Star and barely lose a game there.

My issue with HOF is pitchers missing spots by over a foot constantly and the incredibly high rate of errors I have seen from my team. Granted I haven't played a lot of games and some of it may have been server issues so.......

I'm on Dynamic with the slider set @ 10 & it's constantly shuttling me between All-Star & HoF. Best of both worlds.

[joecheph]

Re: Enough with the predictable foul balls!!!

I've definitely had a lion's share of these types of at-bats, but none that felt unrealistic to me. It happens in real life all the time. And as for the occasions where you feel it coming a couple pitches into the at-bat, I feel like that's realistic as well, especially when a pitcher has been cruising with quick outs. Some hitters try to counteract that by approaching their at-bat from the start with the mindset of driving up the pitcher's pitch count.

I approach these at-bats just like a real pitcher would, and there are several options (some of these have already been mentioned): 1. Continue with the same types of sequences, live with the count, and hope that you "win" the at-bat, 2. Try to extend the zone more an either induce a chase or live with the BB, 3. Pitch more to contact to try to get the ball in play (obviously not a good choice for plus power hitters), and 4. Throw it at his hip (not a realistic approach or my personal method of choice).

When I get fairly deep into an AB, I generally go with choice 2 to above average hitters, choice 3 to below average hitters, and choice 1 to average hitters. This obviously changes based on game situations such as the score, the stage of the game, and the pitcher's current pitch count.