Why is every bunt a rocket this year?

[Jeffrey Smith]

Re: Why is every bunt a rocket this year?

Im not a huge fan of bunting anyway except with pitchers, so it doesn't ruin my experience, but it just seems purposefully broken to me. As a fan of not only functional gameplay, but also visuals and how the game looks during gameplay, bunting is one of the few things that (more times than not) looks way different in the game than in real life.

On a slightly different note, but in the same vein, my team has been in a skid lately, and one of my slumping players (a major slump) has had a few opportunities to get on base to lead off a inning when i desperately needed a baserunner. They play him in an extreme shift toward RF. Seems like the only time i cant rocket bunt toward third, influencing left, is at a time like this. Its always a perfectly deadened bunt but right toward the pitcher when there is noone on the left side of the field.

I normally wouldnt even try this because he can hit for power (his bunting rating is good too), but im desperate for a win, and this player is literally hitting .100 over the last 16 games, he can hit for power. I needed him on base. Normally i would just swing away with him here.

Is anybody successfully beating the shift with bunts toward 3rd? Or have just had really bad luck?

Edit: i was writing this as other posts came in about bunting against the shift. So i haven't read those yet.

I’m having the same problem bunting against the shift for a base hit. Not a game breaker for me at all but I’d like to be able to lay one down once in a while when I need it.
And I don’t expect nor want them to be automatic...just give me one here and there you know.

[countryboy]

Re: Why is every bunt a rocket this year?

Im not a huge fan of bunting anyway except with pitchers, so it doesn't ruin my experience, but it just seems purposefully broken to me. As a fan of not only functional gameplay, but also visuals and how the game looks during gameplay, bunting is one of the few things that (more times than not) looks way different in the game than in real life.

On a slightly different note, but in the same vein, my team has been in a skid lately, and one of my slumping players (a major slump) has had a few opportunities to get on base to lead off a inning when i desperately needed a baserunner. They play him in an extreme shift toward RF. Seems like the only time i cant rocket bunt toward third, influencing left, is at a time like this. Its always a perfectly deadened bunt but right toward the pitcher when there is noone on the left side of the field.

I normally wouldnt even try this because he can hit for power (his bunting rating is good too), but im desperate for a win, and this player is literally hitting .100 over the last 16 games, he can hit for power. I needed him on base. Normally i would just swing away with him here.

Is anybody successfully beating the shift with bunts toward 3rd? Or have just had really bad luck?

Edit: i was writing this as other posts came in about bunting against the shift. So i haven't read those yet.

This is what I disagree with, as I don't think its "broken" at all. I think that it had become so easy to bunt in previous games that all it required was a player to press triangle and that was it. Now it is a little more involved than that, and I think people are viewing it as "broken" because they are not as successful at it as they want to be.

As for bunting against the shift like I said my opportunities to try this were extremely rare so I cannot say whether it is possible or not.

[NolanRyansSnowmonkey]

Re: Why is every bunt a rocket this year?

This is what I disagree with, as I don't think its "broken" at all. I think that it had become so easy to bunt in previous games that all it required was a player to press triangle and that was it. Now it is a little more involved than that, and I think people are viewing it as "broken" because they are not as successful at it as they want to be.

As for bunting against the shift like I said my opportunities to try this were extremely rare so I cannot say whether it is possible or not.

A highly rated bunter should be able to lay down a great looking bunt with great consistency. If its not "broken" or purposely manipulated, then some of our more skilled OS players (or those who have practiced and got it down) should post a how-to video, while being able to repeat several MLB-looking bunts.

If i could see something like that it would give me more hope. But even months after release, i dont know that anyone can do this. I hope they can, because i would immediately put even more effort into learning it. But if i was betting, i would bet that an unedited video would contain just as many bad bunts as myself and the others who have not 'learned' it are experiencing. I hope im wrong though.

[countryboy]

Re: Why is every bunt a rocket this year?

A highly rated bunter should be able to lay down a great looking bunt with great consistency. If its not "broken" or purposely manipulated, then some of our more skilled OS players (or those who have practiced and got it down) should post a how-to video, while being able to repeat several MLB-looking bunts.

If i could see something like that it would give me more hope. But even months after release, i dont know that anyone can do this. I hope they can, because i would immediately put even more effort into learning it. But if i was betting, i would bet that an unedited video would contain just as many bad bunts as myself and the others who have not 'learned' it are experiencing. I hope im wrong though.

Hopefully someone will take the time to post that type of video for you and OS but I'm sorry it won't be me.

[NolanRyansSnowmonkey]

Re: Why is every bunt a rocket this year?

Hopefully someone will take the time to post that type of video for you and OS but I'm sorry it won't be me.

Lol. Im not holding my breath, nor do i ever expect one. Wont be me either haha. I would imagine it would take a lot of time and need to be someone with very high video editing skills, because i think it would look just like everyone else's bunting if not

[Scooter3]

Re: Why is every bunt a rocket this year?

So it basically all in the timing of your bunt?

It's all about timing and it takes skill and experimentation but it's a challenge and it's a fun challenge good luck

[KBLover]

Re: Why is every bunt a rocket this year?

This is what I disagree with, as I don't think its "broken" at all. I think that it had become so easy to bunt in previous games that all it required was a player to press triangle and that was it. Now it is a little more involved than that, and I think people are viewing it as "broken" because they are not as successful at it as they want to be.

It was never that "automatic" for me. Bad bunters simply didn't shoot the ball to third or where ever at 60-70 MPH off the bat.

Watching drag bunts on Youtube, even the weird, awkward looking ones didn't come shooting off the bat except in two cases. One of them was from Billy Hamilton, who might have done it on purpose given his bat control skills, and it was a hit along the line (caught the 1B by surprise so he didn't take a good first step and couldn't recover).

The other one was also a hit - and was probably the only true rocket given it was more like a line drive single to right that died in shallow right and turned into a double.

All the rest? Just soft contact. Trajectories varied based on how it came off the bat but the were slow velocity hits.

Even misexecuted bunts are slower velcoity hits (or outright misses) more often than hard grounders/sinking liners. They just go foul or don't evade the bunt defense, or they don't have the foot speed to beat it out the resulting play (good throw, good reaction, etc).

And that's ultimately my real issue - the physics of it all.

There's a difference between not deadening the ball enough so that it doesn't challenge the charging infielder and basically hitting a routine grounder to a drawn in infielder.

A failed bunt could simply be a foul ball. A pop up to the catcher/pitcher. A ball that lands 2 steps from the catcher/pitcher and is an easy put out. Those are all failures and more realistic ones. Why was the solution to turn a failed bunt into a routine ground ball?

[countryboy]

Re: Why is every bunt a rocket this year?

It was never that "automatic" for me. Bad bunters simply didn't shoot the ball to third or where ever at 60-70 MPH off the bat.

Watching drag bunts on Youtube, even the weird, awkward looking ones didn't come shooting off the bat except in two cases. One of them was from Billy Hamilton, who might have done it on purpose given his bat control skills, and it was a hit along the line (caught the 1B by surprise so he didn't take a good first step and couldn't recover).

The other one was also a hit - and was probably the only true rocket given it was more like a line drive single to right that died in shallow right and turned into a double.

All the rest? Just soft contact. Trajectories varied based on how it came off the bat but the were slow velocity hits.

Even misexecuted bunts are slower velcoity hits (or outright misses) more often than hard grounders/sinking liners. They just go foul or don't evade the bunt defense, or they don't have the foot speed to beat it out the resulting play (good throw, good reaction, etc).

And that's ultimately my real issue - the physics of it all.

There's a difference between not deadening the ball enough so that it doesn't challenge the charging infielder and basically hitting a routine grounder to a drawn in infielder.

A failed bunt could simply be a foul ball. A pop up to the catcher/pitcher. A ball that lands 2 steps from the catcher/pitcher and is an easy put out. Those are all failures and more realistic ones. Why was the solution to turn a failed bunt into a routine ground ball?

I don’t know

I’ve offered up my take/experience and shared how I go about bunting. It works for me.

Not sure what more I can offer to this thread/topic.




Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[NolanRyansSnowmonkey]

Re: Why is every bunt a rocket this year?

Works for me too. (and we are back to the workaround). it just doesn't look or feel anything like real baseball when i must use it. I personally like for the game to look right, as well as play right. There is only one reason it has turned into this and we all know what it is.

Fortunately for me i don't bunt much anyway I guess. But some other people enjoy the game for strategy of baseball, and this aspect has kind of been taken away from them a bit.

[KBLover]

Re: Why is every bunt a rocket this year?

Fortunately for me i don't bunt much anyway I guess. But some other people enjoy the game for strategy of baseball, and this aspect has kind of been taken away from them a bit.

Yeah, bunting is a decent portion of my offensive strategy, if only to keep out of more double plays with slower guys where a hit-and-run is too risky (if the CPU throws a ball, the runner is dead)

And two of my franchises are NL - so pitcher bunting is not infrequent on both sides.

[mkharsh33]

Re: Why is every bunt a rocket this year?

this MUST be patched. I played a national league game the other night. all 4 at bats for the pitcher = me getting a double play on EACH of them. bunts were rocketed and though i didn't want to make the throw to 2B for the double play, i had no choice.

2 things need a gameplay fix:

- rocket bunts need toned down / softened
- passed balls / wild pitches need toned down - catchers need to square up and stop them. even with the pitching slider set to max (10) for the definition provided on this issue, it does NOTHING to resolve this problem.

if these 2 things get patched, my goodness, this game is just beautiful...

[KnightTemplar]

Re: Why is every bunt a rocket this year?

this MUST be patched. I played a national league game the other night. all 4 at bats for the pitcher = me getting a double play on EACH of them. bunts were rocketed and though i didn't want to make the throw to 2B for the double play, i had no choice.

The problem I have on both sides of the ball. I use the house rule when the CPU bunts and just take the out at first though. As for me, SDS says they’ve messed w/it because of on line and I believe them. I DON’T want to lay down a perfect bunt everytime, far from it. I want the batters w/a bad bunting attribute to have a harder time than a Jose Reyes. As it is now they all seem the same. I could hit the CPU batter in the head and he’s still going to shoot a hard bunt down the line.

[mkharsh33]

Re: Why is every bunt a rocket this year?

The problem I have on both sides of the ball. I use the house rule when the CPU bunts and just take the out at first though. As for me, SDS says they’ve messed w/it because of on line and I believe them. I DON’T want to lay down a perfect bunt everytime, far from it. I want the batters w/a bad bunting attribute to have a harder time than a Jose Reyes. As it is now they all seem the same. I could hit the CPU batter in the head and he’s still going to shoot a hard bunt down the line.

I'm fairly new to the MLBTS series. Been an xbox lifer. So I have many years invested into the MLB2K series. The one thing I loved about that game is I could mess with bunt sliders. I had the contact & success sliders both toned way down to almost the lowest level. The good bunters shined through, and the bad ones didn't. I saw everything from popups behind the catcher, to those in front of the catch, to missed bunts, to very good & soft ones and directional bunts. It's an artform - and MLBTS has totally missed this part of the game.

[KnightTemplar]

Re: Why is every bunt a rocket this year?

I'm fairly new to the MLBTS series. Been an xbox lifer. So I have many years invested into the MLB2K series. The one thing I loved about that game is I could mess with bunt sliders. I had the contact & success sliders both toned way down to almost the lowest level. The good bunters shined through, and the bad ones didn't. I saw everything from popups behind the catcher, to those in front of the catch, to missed bunts, to very good & soft ones and directional bunts. It's an artform - and MLBTS has totally missed this part of the game.

To me it would be like making a point after in a football game near impossible. They HAVE to come up with some sort of fix next year so that we don't have to "practice, practice, practice". That isn't the answer.

I even tried messing with the sliders with players and upped their bunting attribute all the way. It flat out didn't work. The CPU is something else as it seems that's hardwired.

[bibibanax]

Re: Why is every bunt a rocket this year?

Do you have a probleme with the box score when bunting? When i have a runner on first and I do a SACRIFICE bunt, sometimes the game log will say it's a sacrifice, sometimes it says that I've tried to bunt for a single, and my batter is 0 for 1, even if he put the bat over the plate before the pitcher starts his motion and it's clearly a sacrifice.