Anyone tips to avoid striking out?

[Rmiok222]

Anyone tips to avoid striking out?

Honestly you’ve had all great advice in this thread. I’d agree with the ones who say to change your camera. Try the show 15 camera. It helps with low pitches. Practice mode this year is really cool too because you can make the cpu pitcher throw ALL breaking balls low if you’d like too, if that’s what you’re struggling with.

One thing nobody has said though, when I get in a funk, I purposely take the first pitch of an at bat for awhile. For one it kind of “calms me down”. It makes me less giddy. So just being relaxed, chilling out knowing you’re taking pitch one can help me me from time to time. One other thing is the cpu uses pitch confidence really well, if you keep whiffing at changeups they will keep throwing them frequently so I’d keep that in mind too. Kevin Gausman was killing me my last game I played with a splitter.


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[jcar0725]

Re: Anyone tips to avoid striking out?

Honestly you’ve had all great advice in this thread. I’d agree with the ones who say to change your camera. Try the show 15 camera. It helps with low pitches. Practice mode this year is really cool too because you can make the cpu pitcher throw ALL breaking balls low if you’d like too, if that’s what you’re struggling with.

One thing I nobody has said though, when I get in a funk, I purposely take the first pitch of an at bat for awhile. For one it kind of “calms me down”. It makes me less giddy. So just being relaxed, chilling out knowing you’re taking pitch one can help me me from time to time. One other thing is the cpu uses pitch confidence really well, if you keep whiffing at changeups they will keep throwing them frequently so I’d keep that in mind too. Kevin Gausman was killing me my last game I played with a splitter.


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All true. Some games I will sit there and take pitches until I get 2 strikes or a walk, for every hitter the first time through the lineup. Usually its when I know I have one of my better starters going that game.

[My993C2]

Re: Anyone tips to avoid striking out?

Obviously none of us will hit very well if we swing at everything and anything. So that is the #1 issue we all need to address while playing this game. But strike outs in the real world have been trending up in recent years and perhaps SDS is factoring this into their game? LOL

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2942589-all-the-reasons-why-it-has-never-been-harder-to-be-an-mlb-hitter?utm_source=pocket-newtab

[canes21]

Re: Anyone tips to avoid striking out?

There are multiple things that can help you.

The biggest thing you can change in the game is the camera angle. If you simply want a camera angle that makes seeing balls and strikes the easiest then go with the Strike Zone camera. It's far from a realistic camera as it is basically as if a GoPro was sitting on a tripod on the home plate itself, but it is 100% the best camera angle for seeing the ball well. You can spit on some great pitches in this angle because once you get used to it you'll be able to tell if something is out of the zone nearly the instant it leaves the pitchers hand.

The next biggest thing I think you can personally do is prepare yourself mentally for each AB. There are two things I always tell myself in my head each time a new AB beings. 1) He cannot get me out in less than 3 pitches unless I allow him to. 2) There is no strike he can throw that I cannot get wood on.

I tell myself the first thing to remind myself taking pitches is fine. If a pitch is a clear strike, but it's not something I feel I'd get good wood on, why swing at it if I have zero strikes on me? A pitcher can only get you out before strike 3 if you allow him to o so.

I tell myself the second thing to help reinforce the idea that I don't have to swing at something because it is a strike. If I am in a 2-1 count and I see a sinker low and away and I know it's a strike, I can still take it. This ties into point 1, but he can't strike me out with on a 2-1 count. I can take that pitch and know that if he comes back over the plate I can get to that pitch. The next pitch over the plate may be more hittable, and if it isn't, that's baseball. Over time if you spit on strikes that aren't good pitches to hit, you'll force more pitches resulting in more pitches that are better to swing at.

Think of it this way. A 2-1 sinker catching the corner of the zone is not a better pitch to try and hit than a 2-2 curveball that stays in the zone. Pitching is hard and throwing 3 pitches per AB that are both in the zone, but hard to get good wood on is not an easy thing to do. Spit on the strikes the pitcher wants you to swing at.

Another tip I can give you is to not focus on the end result of every single AB. If you swing at a bad pitch on an 0-0 count and luck out and get a single, but then popout the next AB on a 3-1 fastball down the middle, the popout AB was the better AB and if you get 100 of those your average will be higher in the longrun than the 0-0 swing at a pitchers pitch. Don't get discouraged because you had a good AB that didn't result in a baserunner. That's baseball. The best hitters only succeed 30-35% of the time.

Too many people are afraid of taking strikes. An 0-2 count is intimidating, but going down 0-2 on 2 great pitches and forcing at least a 3rd pitch is better than rolling over the 0-1 pitch because you didn't want to go down 0-2. The odds of a pitcher making 3 great pitches in a row are not high, and if it does happen, tip your cap. For every AB where the pitcher just paints the black 3 straight times, there are 3 other AB's where he tries painting the black and the ball either catches too much plate and you get good wood on it or it stays too far outside and you get an easy take.

Be mindful of who you are facing. Obviously Scherzer can paint the black more consistently than some random 5th who is a 70 overall. In that case, you have a couple of ways to approach your AB's. Against the elite pitchers, it makes sense to be aggressive and swing away at any hittable pitch you get because you may not get many. On the other hand, an elite pitcher isn't staying in the game too long if you are patient and only have 2 hits through 6, but every AB lasted 5+ pitches. I tend to go the more patient route. I like to tire the aces out so they can't stay in all 9 innings to crush my spirits, but also because the law of averages say that if I force a guy like deGrom to throw 6 pitches in 1 AB versus just 2, he will be more prone to make more mistakes the more pitches he throws. That's just math. Even the best pitchers of all time make mistake pitches. They won't make many if you allow them to get through 3 innings on 15 pitches, but if you've forced 50 pitches through 3 innings, chances are they've already let 2 or 3 pitches catch too much plate.

Lastly, and this one seems contrary to what may help you, but faster pitch speeds help me take more pitches. On the slower pitch speeds my brain gets into some weird funk where it says I see this ball for 2 whole seconds, I don't care where it is, I can smack it out of here because it is so slow. However, on faster pitch speeds my brain will instantly see a ball and say take it. I think the faster pitch speeds also help the pitches look more natural, which makes it easier to predict where they are going making balls easier to take. When you play on Veteran with default pitch speeds, the ball moves at such a slow speed that using real life physics it shouldn't move as much as it does, and that tricks my brain as well.

When I see a slider on slow pitch speeds it is so slow my brain says it cannot break at that speed, it isn't moving fast enough. I know that isn't true, but my brain is used to real life physics and no amount of conditioning it can make it get used to the slower pitch speeds. When I see the slider on a more realistic pitch speed setting my brain will notice it is off speed and it just looks more natural breaking and my brain can hold off on swinging at it.

Maybe raising pitch speeds won't help you at all, but I do recommend that most that struggle with taking pitches mess around with raising pitch speeds. You might be surprised at how much more natural the pitches look making them easier to take.

[Detroit Tigers]

Anyone tips to avoid striking out?

Some great posts in here already I just wanted to chime in and say don’t be afraid to strike out either. Trying to actively avoid striking out leads to bad places too. What’s more important is getting off a good swing — timing up a fastball perfectly but “whoops it’s a slider” is something you have to allow for. You can’t crush the fastball and poke the slider to RF with the same swing. You have to pick one. This is what “committing” is. A good, committed swing where you just happen to get fooled by a good pitch beats chasing garbage every time.

[canes21]

Re: Anyone tips to avoid striking out?

Some great posts in here already I just wanted to chime in and say don’t be afraid to strike out either. Trying to actively avoid striking out leads to bad places too. What’s more important is getting off a good swing — timing up a fastball perfectly but “whoops it’s a slider” is something you have to allow for. You can’t crush the fastball and poke the slider to RF with the same swing. You have to pick one. This is what “committing” is. A good, committed swing where you just happen to get fooled by a good pitch beats chasing garbage every time.

Great post. I've had many AB's where I've struck out looking at great pitches. Those are far less frustrating than chasing junk to strike out. When you get into the mindset that you'll strike out and just work to try and limit swinging at junk, your AB's will improve. I'll gladly take strike 3 on a fastball painting the black away over chasing the slider that broke off the plate.

Striking out is a part of baseball that you have to accept. Striking out on a 7 pitch AB is better than popping out in 2 pitches.

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[jcar0725]

Re: Anyone tips to avoid striking out?

Some great posts in here already I just wanted to chime in and say don’t be afraid to strike out either. Trying to actively avoid striking out leads to bad places too. What’s more important is getting off a good swing — timing up a fastball perfectly but “whoops it’s a slider” is something you have to allow for. You can’t crush the fastball and poke the slider to RF with the same swing. You have to pick one. This is what “committing” is. A good, committed swing where you just happen to get fooled by a good pitch beats chasing garbage every time.

Yep, exactly my point about going up there with a plan. If you have no plan of attack, you just flail at everything.

[NYJin2011tm]

Re: Anyone tips to avoid striking out?

I use the Show16 batting camera. I can see pitches pretty well on that. Probably because I've been using it for five years now that I'm just so used to it.

[NYJin2011tm]

Re: Anyone tips to avoid striking out?

I know when the count is 0-2 or 1-2 it's almost a guarantee that a ball is coming. If I get surprised with a strike on those counts and strike out, oh well. I'm talking against cpu. Can't answer for online as I don't play online.

[jcar0725]

Re: Anyone tips to avoid striking out?

I know when the count is 0-2 or 1-2 it's almost a guarantee that a ball is coming. If I get surprised with a strike on those counts and strike out, oh well. I'm talking against cpu. Can't answer for online as I don't play online.

I'm also swinging about 70% of the time on 3-0. I just like doing it. Its probably the best pitch I'm gonna see on HOF .

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[Caulfield]

Re: Anyone tips to avoid striking out?

when I get a 0-2 or 1-2 count I'll use circle swing (contact) and hope to foul off 2 or 3 pitches while in the process getting hopefully 1 or preferably 2 more balls called then back to square swing (normal).

I also like clicking Human Contact & Power Sliders down 1 from default 5 to 4 while also bumping up to 6 Human Timing Slider & CPU Strike Frequency

and since I play on dynamic difficulty, that helps me keep things from getting too out of whack by changing those 4 global sliders

[esdot404]

Re: Anyone tips to avoid striking out?

Lots of good advice here.
Many people have said it, but patience is key - go intro practice mode and I'd say start by timing fastballs, then, work your way to all the other pitches, you will start seeing the break in them and be able to recognize them.

Try different camera angles, I used to play with strike zone 2 or 3, and switched to a modified catcher cam I created and haven't looked back.

I am finding this year I am way more patient at the plate, especially online. You will start recognizing what the opponent is trying to do in ranked or online rated. Most of the games I played my opponent stuck to high fastballs and low change/curve so I laid off those - actually putting the controller down on the first pitch and taking a ball most likely. From there I honestly take until a first strike oftentimes putting myself in 2-0, 3-0 counts.