Question For You Zone Hitters!

[Archie56]

Okay, so I have been using zone hitting the past few years, and I really like it. But I have a horrible, and I mean horrible tendency to always pull the left thumbstick down when the pitch is coming in no matter where the location of the pitch is. Does anybody else have this issue? And if so, what kind of strategy do you use to keep yourself from always pulling the PCI down? It's like my brain automatically wants to do that. Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Love this game!! [emoji4]

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[Red_Ted_is_back]

Re: Question For You Zone Hitters!

Get in some batting practice to reprogram that muscle memory. Focus on it. May take thousands of swings though.

What about starting with the PCI at the bottom of the zone so that you’re forcing yourself to push up? May end up with a lot of pop ups though.


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[saucerset]

Re: Question For You Zone Hitters!

I was going to say the same thing Ted said. The problem is that batting practice is hidden in the game. In the RTTS area, go to the calendar and select a game. Options will pop up and one of them is batting practice. In there you can practice discipline, bat control, and just plain hitting. I'm not sure why it's not out in the open anymore since it is a helpful tool (in my opinion). The other batting practice that's out in the open is 'good at bat' where it puts you in situations. I don't like that one as much.

[underdog13]

Re: Question For You Zone Hitters!

Okay, so I have been using zone hitting the past few years, and I really like it. But I have a horrible, and I mean horrible tendency to always pull the left thumbstick down when the pitch is coming in no matter where the location of the pitch is. Does anybody else have this issue? And if so, what kind of strategy do you use to keep yourself from always pulling the PCI down? It's like my brain automatically wants to do that. Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Love this game!! [emoji4]

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Find your launching zone, that is the positioning of your thumb where you feel you have the best accuracy and speed to push it in every direction. For me it is down and to the left, I rotate my PCI in a circle while aiming in my "launching zone" then I wait for the pitch, I identify the ball and move my PCI out of the area and to where the ball is going. It has really helped me attack the ball and not wait for it and then drop my PCI in anticipation. It still happens once in a while, especially when the ball is thrown right at my PCI, but much less now.

[HollaMV7]

Re: Question For You Zone Hitters!

I've always just left my PCI in the middle and reacted. But I do have a tendency to move it down much easier than up, so maybe I should start it higher than the middle?

[garry1221]

Re: Question For You Zone Hitters!

This is the first year I'm finding it easier to track the ball and move the pci. I set my pci to fade the center and outer. This leaves what amounts to the normal pci from years gone by. I think it helps make contact of any kind.

[bcruise]

Re: Question For You Zone Hitters!

My biggest defense mechanism against dropping the PCI is the way I "preload" my location and don't swing if the ball is outside that range. If I see the ball coming in low I'll usually just take the pitch instead of trying to move the PCI to meet it. The one exception to that before 2 strikes is if I get a good read on a mistake off-speed pitch, I'll often just let the PCI reset back to the middle before swinging.

That said, on 2 strikes I don't have the luxury of sitting on a location and being behind in the count is where I'll sometimes drop the PCI too far, as well as missing with it in other directions. Batting average goes down in 2 strike counts, so it feels very natural.

[jfinger2013]

Re: Question For You Zone Hitters!

My biggest defense mechanism against dropping the PCI is the way I "preload" my location and don't swing if the ball is outside that range. If I see the ball coming in low I'll usually just take the pitch instead of trying to move the PCI to meet it. The one exception to that before 2 strikes is if I get a good read on a mistake off-speed pitch, I'll often just let the PCI reset back to the middle before swinging.

That said, on 2 strikes I don't have the luxury of sitting on a location and being behind in the count is where I'll sometimes drop the PCI too far, as well as missing with it in other directions. Batting average goes down in 2 strike counts, so it feels very natural.

Same here I always just look at the pitcher analysis in RTS then pick a spot i think he will throw to and that i like and sit and wait in that pitch to come to my location and then if i get to two strikes all i do is put the PCI right in the middle and just foul balls off unless he throws one in the sweet spot or a spot i can't hit so i strike out or maybe get lucky and get a walk

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[The1Commish]

Re: Question For You Zone Hitters!

Okay, so I have been using zone hitting the past few years, and I really like it. But I have a horrible, and I mean horrible tendency to always pull the left thumbstick down when the pitch is coming in no matter where the location of the pitch is. Does anybody else have this issue? And if so, what kind of strategy do you use to keep yourself from always pulling the PCI down? It's like my brain automatically wants to do that. Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Love this game!! [emoji4]

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

I have the exact same issue

[Archie56]

Re: Question For You Zone Hitters!

Thanks everybody for your input! I'm going to try some batting practice and see if that helps me figure out what I need to do. I do believe it's because I'm always trying to elevate the ball, no matter whos batting instead of paying attention to what kind of hitter they are. Just gotta change my strategy up!

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[JoshC1977]

Re: Question For You Zone Hitters!

Okay, so I have been using zone hitting the past few years, and I really like it. But I have a horrible, and I mean horrible tendency to always pull the left thumbstick down when the pitch is coming in no matter where the location of the pitch is. Does anybody else have this issue? And if so, what kind of strategy do you use to keep yourself from always pulling the PCI down? It's like my brain automatically wants to do that. Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Love this game!! [emoji4]

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Have you tried altering your thumb placement on the left strick? Like try using more the tip of your thumb where it's almost pushing downward (like you would if you were going to click L3). That might give you a little more control.

[Dogslax41]

Re: Question For You Zone Hitters!

I found my biggest improvement for PCI accuracy is keeping my thumb lightly on the stick. Kontrol Freaks help out tremendously with this but it can be done with the bare stick as well. I try to keep a minimum amount of contact with the stick. This has allowed me to feather the PCI and crush those pitches just off center and avoid moving it too far in any direction, especially down. I use to have issues with when I started center and just reacted which usually ends up taking your PCI to the edges of the strike zone.

It also keeps me from moving the PCI when I hit the swing button. I get a bit overzealous hitting the button quite frequently and sometimes I will hit it hard enough to move the controller and if you are rigid with your left thumb this can also result in driving your PCI lower.

I also found removing all PCI except the diamonds has improved my hitting as well as it forces me to really focus on tracking to the ball. This can be tough at first though because its a bit daunting if you start thinking about having to put that little target on a moving ball.

[Archie56]

Re: Question For You Zone Hitters!

Have you tried altering your thumb placement on the left strick? Like try using more the tip of your thumb where it's almost pushing downward (like you would if you were going to click L3). That might give you a little more control.

This! I tried this and it helped tremendously. I guess I was being lazy with my left thumb haha this has given me better PCI placement

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[HollaMV7]

Re: Question For You Zone Hitters!

I ordered the Galaxy Kontrol Freeks today. Can't hurt to try them out. Hopefully it will make my PCI be a bit more accurate and do better with suttle movements.

[CujoMatty]

Re: Question For You Zone Hitters!

I was hoping some people would help test some things out. I’m having some serious issues with the PCI this year.

I know for sure that I can have some problems controlling the pci just like the OP said but I’ve also been noticing that it’s been way off from where I’m pretty sure I’ve been aiming. I actually really started noticing it by being very surprised by getting quite a few perfect/perfects and Homeruns when I’ve thought “wow I don’t think I was aiming there”

To test I played a play now game where I would swing at every pitch with the pci held all the way up an inning and then all the way down an inning. The results where a number of vastly different PCI placements in the swing feedback window.

I was hoping someone would try this as well and report their results or maybe someone knows if this intentional? Is there something maybe tied to ratings? Plate vision maybe? I know that swinging early or late can effect the pci but this is pretty drastic and I haven’t had this problem in the past.

If someone else wanted to try here are my settings to try and keep the variables similar:

Difficulty: Hall of Fame
Batter view: behind pitcher Toronto Broadcast
Hitting type: zone, pure analog with Stride

I played a game making sure to hold the left stick all the way through the swing at the maximum range at all quadrants. Basically like a clock. So batter 1 I would hold the left stick at 12 o’clock for the whole bat. Next batter at 1 o’clock. Next at 2. Etc......

Again I could be missing something about the mechanic and honestly this has worked out in my favour a number of times so not really complaining lol but I do feel a loss of control which has been fairly frustrating. Hoping someone could shed some light on this for me.