If you need help hitting come here : long but detailed read

[drsonoma]

Re: If you need help hitting come here : long but detailed read

However you decide to continue on becoming a better hitter, that was the first step for sure. I feel Guess Pitch on makes anyone a worse hitter. Your brain is going to begin recognizing pitches better rather than relying on guess pitch... it takes time.

I've been playing the show for years (PS3 & PSP) and have always relied on guess pitch to keep from striking out and allowing me to have a walk or two each game. Truth is, even with guess pitch on I've never hit well for average or power, and always rank last in walks and usually lead the league or at least in the top 5 in strikeouts. Doing the same thing over & over again, expecting different results...

I can already tell that I am getting better/different kinds of hits. Like most people, I am very vulnerable to low and away with two strikes. As such, that is where I usually guess on two strikes when using guess pitch. I'm still very vulnerable, but the other night I passed on a low and away pitch with two strikes and then struck out on the next pitch when it was high in the zone and I was looking low away. The next time that situation came again, with Cody Ross, I moved the PCI up in the zone after passing on low and away. BAM!!! I crushed that puppy for a monster size 2 run homer. And boy did that FEEL GOOD

Now, if I could just learn to foul off endless numbers of 2 strike pitches and learn to earn a walk instead of swinging through on an inevitable strikeout.

Another round of training scheduled for tonight.

[Visionsofmastery]

Re: If you need help hitting come here : long but detailed read

I only had time today to try the first phase before I had to leave the house today, but so far, I wanna give a huge thank you to you!!

I have yet to score a run using analog hitting before trying this, and in the first inning alone I combined for six hits and three runs!

It is definately very rewarding, and I can't wait until I get home later today and try your other techniques. Again, a huge thank you!!

Clarke: Happy to help bro , that is why I made the thread , add me for a game in 2011 I always love to discuss hitting

[Visionsofmastery]

Re: If you need help hitting come here : long but detailed read

Im swinging away 2-1, why watch a strike go by and be down two strikes? Now youre forced to protect...2-0 is a different story..

Mass read the post again bro this is not for game situation, this is a pure practice drill which is why you are switching sides and never pitching , you can add more scenarios once the game comes out because we will have full 9 innings , this is just a great way to get used to your stride in different counts your attitude is exactly what I am looking for after taking a few hitters count strikes that fire to smash the ball should be there. This is so you learn how to hit in 2-2 as good as 2-1 , this way when game time comes you have the confidence to always get back in the count, as you will see from the phases each has diffirent counts where I ask you to swing and ones where I ask to take pitches so you can get used to where pitchers based on how you are hitting are trying to set you up , once you get comfortable in even and behind counts you become a very hard out and good at bats are sure to follow.

[JustinSainn]

Re: If you need help hitting come here : long but detailed read

I'm definitely gonna have to give this a try. I just played 12 innings of the demo, hitting for both teams to finally turn it off with no score. I'm gonna have to write down everything so I can remember it while playing in the other room though.

[Visionsofmastery]

Re: If you need help hitting come here : long but detailed read

Ok, I would love the help bro. And were you asking me a question at all I couldn't tell lol.

PSUlions15
I was just saying I can help you become a feared hitter, and if you are already a great pitcher then let the fun begin

[Visionsofmastery]

Re: If you need help hitting come here : long but detailed read

I'm trying the techniques but i can't really seem to incorporate the whole visualizing and shrinking the strike zone stuff. I dont think anything can help my hitting as i've been terrible in every version of this game going back to '08. I don't swing at everything i just seem to consistently swing at the wrong thing. In '10 the only level i could hit and score runs on was rookie and that doesn't even count because the pitchers didn't even remotely try to get you out. Every other pitch was a meatball. The realism and depth of this game keeps drawing me back so i know i'll get the retail version but every year by the end of April i'm hardly playing it because the hitting get's too frustrating.

C-BAILEY : Let me try and help ya bro andI wil work with you one of one if need be online by playing non ranked instruction
Vision the hottest girl you like while looking at the wall can you picture her? now picture what a crisp line drive looks like where in the zone do you usually see this kind of consistent contact. Visualization is the greatest tool a hitter can have because he can live into the success works with pitchers as well.

Okay shrinking the zone : Go get some blank paper and draw 9 squares label 1 through 9 and a circle in the middle for the pitches all hitters hit well. When I say shrink the zone I am talking about zoning in where you are getting good pitches to hit , let me show you what Mr and Cabrera was talking about.This is TED William Vision hitting chart where he visioned his batting AVG and results when swinging.

As you will see 400 is middle of the plate, but look close and you will see 1 ball off is .380 I would suggest you to look at this chart find the pitch you want to hit and when you are allowed to swing on the hitters counts in the phases training swing within 1-2 balls or that exact spot. Major league hitters don't react until 2 strikes up until then they are already striding to a specific area and if the ball is there they unload if not they take. This is why good hitters are never in trouble until 2 strikes when every hitter is even and has to adjust off his zone and can't take a strike. I would suggest you pick a ball/zone away from your body out over the plate , pulling the ball correctly comes from quick reaction and bat speed through the zone when you try and pull you will undercut everything and sliders and curves will have you hit below the Mendoza line = .200 or below. So like I said pick 2-3 baseballs from this chart and make your own also and that is your o strikes zone , move that zone more inward to the middle of the plate as you increase in balls and get ahead in the count, this is what other were talking about where pitchers have to challenge and can miss alot in the middle of the plate , the training is so you don't miss when these oppurtunity comes , not every 1-0 2-0 count is coming down the middle sometimes the pitcher is on and hits 2-0 on the corner and again in a pitchers pitch area but the 2-2 slider or change hangs. By going through the phases you will be able to hit in all counts with confidence and never fear of striking out.

[emath]

Re: If you need help hitting come here : long but detailed read

Lol. None of these training techniques mean anything when 75% of the pitches look like strikes out of the pitchers hand, but most of them end up a mile out of the zone. Gotta be able to read the pitches before any of the above helps. I for one can't read pitches for you-know-what.

Now, that's not to say I don't hit well, as I hit quite well, both for average and for power... I just tend to lead the league in strike outs by wide margins as well. I have some of the ugliest swings you will ever see, since I seem to swing at pitches 2 feet off the plate. lol

[Visionsofmastery]

Re: If you need help hitting come here : long but detailed read

This hitting guide couldn't have come at a more perfect time for me. I am at the halfway point in my current season and am committed to FINALLY finishing a full season on The Show. I've never gotten this far before, usually due to hitting frustrations.

I am in second place with the Giants but am hitting a lowly .233...on Veteran. My pitching (on All-Star) has been stellar and that is what is keeping me in the race.

Over the weekend, I finally decided to give up on guess pitch. I have used it to avoid striking out an unrealistic number of times. At the same time, my average is very low and I rarely have a BIG hit and/or a BIG inning. I know it has become a crutch and needs to go. I also know my walks have already disappeared and I am back to double digit strikeouts.

So I want to take these suggestions and GET BETTER. Here are some questions:

1. I love what Ted Williams says about not hitting anything you haven't yet seen for a strike. But I have NEVER been able to tell what type of pitch is being thrown as it is coming out of the pitcher's hand. It's all well and good to say I'm not swining at a slider until the pitcher throws one for a strike. But that assumes you can tell its a slider.

2. Do you recommend going through your training phases once? Every day? Seriously...I need a regimen to get this muscle memory thing in place. I'm convinced that I have trained myself to swing at pitches that are out of the zone. That is why I find myself swinging at pitches my head knows are balls but my fingers react anyway.

3. Do you recommend using the same "shrunken strike zone" for every hitter on the team? That makes sense from a muscle memory standpoint, but what about hot/cold zones. I typically try to focus on down and in, regardless of the hitter, because I sense that is I where I best hit the ball. Also, should a lefty/righty matchup have any influence on where you shrink the zone?

4. I am starting to realize that the "money" is in the ability to hit with two strikes. But man does it get frustrating. I watch the good ones go by and swing at the crap. I did the training last night and it really did help. Managed to hit a couple of doubles and a couple of homers (and these felt terrific, ALL without guess pitch. That wasn't happening before. At the same time, five of my first six outs were strikeouts. Should I just stick with it, suck up the strikeouts, and trust they will eventually go down?

Thanks!

drsonoma thanks for the praise and now to answer your questions

First guess pitch is how you open the big inning and here is what I mean for now on focus on never guessing the pitch , when you drive in a RBI guess the area when you drive in that run and get 2 runs in a inning then guess the pitch . You want to build your guessing up and what will happen is you will pick the right location because you are controlling the plate. But for this exercise leave off the guess pitch at least until Phase 4. My only problem with guess pitch on MLB THE SHOW is why does the pitcher bar go ghost and the pitcher can't tell where the hell the release point is at , this is the main reason guys online don't like guess pitch , in real life you can guess fastball all you want its still up to me as the pitcher to make my pitch. I hope the show fixes this at some point because all hitters guess up until 2 strikes you have to start your swing to a location in real baseball and hold up watch your favorite hitters and watch the hands after the load even if they don't swing and you will be able to see the knob of the bat either go inside outside and adjust, okay enough of that

Another note on when guessing pitch when you start to hit without it guess the pitch which the pitcher can't get over for a strike this is called eliminating the pitchers arsenal , sometimes that red flash is just enough to make your eye vision track it instead of the ball, that is why I say get some runs without guess pitch then when the pitcher is starting to get hammered guess location first and then pitch , only guess pitch and location on counts such as 2-0 3-0 2-1 , the game will punish you even if the ball goes to that zone if its not that exact pitch , these counts are called the you can swing hard and miss and still be ahead this is why they say the farther you fall behind the more chances a power hitter like VLAD, Hamilton, Texiera , PULJOUS CAN zone in.

Now for the questions
1. I love what Ted Williams says about not hitting anything you haven't yet seen for a strike. But I have NEVER been able to tell what type of pitch is being thrown as it is coming out of the pitcher's hand. It's all well and good to say I'm not swining at a slider until the pitcher throws one for a strike. But that assumes you can tell its a slider.

A: You don't guess what you have seen and took for a strike if you do guess guess either what the pitcher has not thrown over for strikes or has not even thrown yet , one way you can get really good at telling pitches same technique but stride only and grade yourself 1 out of 5 and call the pitch out 1 inch out of the pitchers hand : DON'T SWING

If you guess fastball and he throws a change that is a 1 and most likely your vision is off , which is whole another topic

If you guess curve and he throws a slider well that is a 4-5 its in the same family , if you guess the exact pitch that is a 5

Ted Williams in even counts and most all pressure situations with runners in scoring position guessed slider why? Because the slider is the most used out pitch #1 and the slider is also the middle pitch in almost all pitchers arsenal . Usally between 82-92 , TED choose this pitch because every pitch other than the fastball is usually in the high 70's and 80's , Ted wanted to be able to react to as many pitches as possible and by taking pitches and seeing the fastball he could just speed up his bat to hit the FASTBALL. Its easier to speed up your bat and make hard solid contact then it is to slow down the bat , because once the front foot has landed and you start the pivot if you guessed wrong you are out on your front foot or your power base has already been used, this is what hitters mean by keeping the hands back as long as possible so even if they guess wrong out the hand the hands can still fire through the zone. Again the reason the best hitters like William Albert Manny Ramirez in his prime always looked slider on 0-0 1-0 2-1 unless the pitcher was unable to control the pitch or they had that feeling here comes the heater. Watch Albert and the high AVG hitters approach you will see on even counts they look for a hard spin out over the plate to allow as much reaction time as possible and when the pitcher falls behind watch the front foot on how quick it snaps to the ground this is when they are looking fastball and will take the breaking ball which is not up in the zone or changeup

2. Do you recommend going through your training phases once? Every day? Seriously...I need a regimen to get this muscle memory thing in place. I'm convinced that I have trained myself to swing at pitches that are out of the zone. That is why I find myself swinging at pitches my head knows are balls but my fingers react anyway.

A: Right now its a DEMO and we have 4 innings and some are still worrying about scoring runs and will use the power swing and everything else, the key point of this training is to make the ball look big and visualize what you would do with each pitch as you stride. Like I told the other guy visualize the hottest girl you like while looking at the wall what she looks like , hair texture, smell etc , now for baseball just vision what line drives to the gaps look like , visualize waiting on the slider or change and driving it to the right field if using RIGHT HAND BATTER or Left field for left hand. Again my invitation for opening week to explain this to you on the MIC online in exhibition non ranked mode would be my pleasure

A: Ahh swining at bad pitches , grab the second controller on counts you are not going to swing and swing just like you would if you had the live controller. Also make your phases easier to start until you make contact.

PHASE 1: TAKE 0-0 0-1 0-2 : SWING EVERY OTHER COUNT on your own
Phase 2 : Take 1-0 2-0 : swing every other count
Phase 3: Take 0-0 1-1 2-2 : swing every other count
Phase 4: Take only on 1-0 2-1 swing every other count
Remember the key is to go through 1-2 innings on each phase for both teams , trust me you will be in hitters counts and pitchers counts and will start to get that feel for what pitches you can attack

3. Do you recommend using the same "shrunken strike zone" for every hitter on the team? That makes sense from a muscle memory standpoint, but what about hot/cold zones. I typically try to focus on down and in, regardless of the hitter, because I sense that is I where I best hit the ball. Also, should a lefty/righty matchup have any influence on where you shrink the zone?

A: No for your contact hitters you want the zone to shrink more when they get ahead because they want only pitches in their zone , because they don't have the power to hit it out but if a mistake in their zone will usually hit a line crisp single or double and on occasion just from good approaches will hit that pitchers hanging fastball curve slider and pull out to the short porch in left or right. Example BRIAN ROBERTS . For your Power hitters and guys that could hurt the pitcher in any count they must be able to lay off the pitchers on the black pitches and the zone shrinks very little as the count increases what increases more in the FAT PART OF THE PLATE in the middle is considered a bad at-bat if they don't swing unless its a situation where they need to get on base because a homerun will not tie the game. EXAMPLES: ADAM DUNN, VLAD, MARK REYNOLDS, BAUTISTA , HAMILTON ANY 3RD 4TH 5TH and now most teams the 6th or 7th hitter is also this kind of hitter. The manager expects these hitters to strike out more but not bad strikeouts like 3 pitches but more on counts like 2-2 3-2

As for the pitcher same hand pitcher vs batter RIGHTY VS RIGHTY OR LEFTY VS LEFTY THE ZONE should be more to the middle of the plate outside , because the arm of the pitcher is going to come across or over making 75 % of these pitches go to that side of the plate, now righty vs lefty or lefty vs righty its the exact opposite now the pitcher arm is coming into the power inner half and if you are going to look inside this is the match up you want to swing for gap pull hits

4. I am starting to realize that the "money" is in the ability to hit with two strikes. But man does it get frustrating. I watch the good ones go by and swing at the crap. I did the training last night and it really did help. Managed to hit a couple of doubles and a couple of homers (and these felt terrific, ALL without guess pitch. That wasn't happening before. At the same time, five of my first six outs were strikeouts. Should I just stick with it, suck up the strikeouts, and trust they will eventually go down?

A: Take a piece of paper and grade your at bats
working the count to strike out 2-2 3-2 exp if you fight off some pitches 5 or more is a great at-bat.
Strikouts will rise or drop based on who is at the plate because even if they say power is 90 all hitters have feelings about the count some over stride when behind or chase this is natural and the only way work on it is
1. don't try to pull the ball if the pitcher gets ahead exp on counts 1-1 2-2 these are high 2 seam , slider, curve counts which all are movement pitches your vision should be to hit the ball up the middle right back at the pitcher if he makes a mistake and foul off the edges and if you get a hanger and crush it to your pull-side that is the result of "staying on the pitch"

Forgot to add if you see more than 3 pitches without swinging wild the hitters behind you have now seen what the pitcher has and your 1-2 strike out looking at the curve could mean a hanging curve in their at bat which because you were able to make the pitcher work a little = bombs away. Every spot in the lineup has a role to play with the pitch count.

1st batter: see as many pitches as possible unless the pitcher is just wild in the strike zone and you hitter zone
2nd batter: best contact hitter on the team , must be able to hit the ball to all fields and hits doubles and homeruns come from good swings not power shots , this guy must give himself up alot of times to move the runner so the 3rd and 4th can bomb away
3rd: Best contact to power hitter on your team, will come up alot of times with 1 out runners on base this guy needs to be RBI and never afraid to pull the tigger
4th GUY: The man who crushes mistakes and is allowed to strike out from good ab's while still swining for power
5th guy: cleans up anything 3rd and 4th leave on base , more of a free swinger
6th guy: depends what the team has , most teams will let the young prospect rookie swing here so he can have RBI chances but not so much pressure as the 3rd spot, another VET with power could also hit here
7th : Speed or power, this is a guy with great power or speed but the AVG might not be there
8th spot: He must know situations in baseball , if 2 outs and nobody on he should take as many pitches as possible to try and get the lineup to role over again alot of 3-1 takes are given to this guy
9th : your second lead off should work the count but a little bit more aggressive as pitchers are going to challenge because they don't want to walk this guy and role over the lineup

[Visionsofmastery]

Re: If you need help hitting come here : long but detailed read

Thanks for the suggestions

I use timed batting and my hitting approach is a total enigma one game to the next, sometimes I have the best patience and eye and can work the count to 3 - 2 on Lincecum and other times I'm just totally owned in 3 pitches looking lost

I have the worst time deciphering fastballs from his change-up which makes me look foolish


I learned to always take the first pitch becuase in past years the first pitch was always pretty fat and down the middle and I don't like first pitch swinging. I also never swing until I have have seen a strike which works great most of the time and sets up a lot of 2-0 and 2-1 counts and makes the pitcher throw more pitches because in the past I would always have starting pitchers going complete games while only throwing 70 to 80 pitches which is very unrealistic so I had to come up with something to counter that. My problem is when the first pitch is thrown for a strike I have no game plan and have a hard time with patience because I don't like to be down 0-2 which happens a lot

The majority of my strikeouts come from check-swing appeals

My other problem is that I only bat from the broadcast view and I can't react quick enough on fastballs so I'm always fouling them off or totally missing them and I can't turn the pitch speed down because then it throws off my timing of the off-speed pitches so the only way I can react on a fastball is by taking a risk hoping it's a fastball which is not a realistic approach and makes me took terrible when it's not

What can you suggest for me ?

DODGER: From the looks you might have NICK Markakis type issues where because he takes so many first pitches he sometimes is afraid to pull the trigger.
My suggestion to you is look at the phases practice your stride going through each one for 1-2 innings of course the demo is only 4 but you will really see this techniques come to life when the game is out and you have 9 innings.

Second : Your take first pitch is great for first time through the lineup but pitchers will soon see what you are doing and give you a fake fastball down the middle to make you think they are losing it and then sliders and curves or changes to put you away. Try this
1. First time up is you : however you like to take pitches is fine
2. After first time up only take the first pitch by choice if the guy before made real weak contact on less than 3 pitches seen , if you see 4 pitches you either watched 4 fastballs or you made the pitcher work and got a grasp on how he likes to setup hitters
3. visualize slider on 0-0 out over the plate if your brain says that is a meatball exp with spots 3 through 7 in the order smoke it , when you get ahead in the count then decide if you need to take a pitch that way you always still be in a even count or ahead and never fighting a up hill battle

[Visionsofmastery]

Re: If you need help hitting come here : long but detailed read

Not to rain on your parade (and I could be wrong about this too), but I'm fairly confident that online co-op can only be played with two people playing on the same PS3 against two others playing on a different PS3. Meaning, you can't just play on the same team as other random people on the board, it would have to be an actual friend of yours in the same room on your team.

RIP : Please tell me this is joke , I have so many friends who I play ball with and players I want to help online. I thought the only thing for co-op is no franchise

but it can be
2vs2
2vs1
2vs cpu,: This is where I am really going to be able to give great hitting instruction VIA the MIC

Man my high is going to be blown if the player has to be actually at my house

[Visionsofmastery]

Re: If you need help hitting come here : long but detailed read

I've been playing the show for years (PS3 & PSP) and have always relied on guess pitch to keep from striking out and allowing me to have a walk or two each game. Truth is, even with guess pitch on I've never hit well for average or power, and always rank last in walks and usually lead the league or at least in the top 5 in strikeouts. Doing the same thing over & over again, expecting different results...

I can already tell that I am getting better/different kinds of hits. Like most people, I am very vulnerable to low and away with two strikes. As such, that is where I usually guess on two strikes when using guess pitch. I'm still very vulnerable, but the other night I passed on a low and away pitch with two strikes and then struck out on the next pitch when it was high in the zone and I was looking low away. The next time that situation came again, with Cody Ross, I moved the PCI up in the zone after passing on low and away. BAM!!! I crushed that puppy for a monster size 2 run homer. And boy did that FEEL GOOD

Now, if I could just learn to foul off endless numbers of 2 strike pitches and learn to earn a walk instead of swinging through on an inevitable strikeout.

Another round of training scheduled for tonight.

drsonoma
Don't guess on 2 strikes in any count other than 3-2
when you guess in the show its like real life with 2 strikes if you guess wrong you are out, the way show does this if you notice when you guess wrong your zone shrinks and can't cover the corners of the plate and fight off pitches, if you do have to guess guess slider , because it is the middle speed pitch and gives you the best chance to adjust 6-7 miles for the curve or change and if you identify early enough to speed your bat up 6-7 MPH in the other way to hit the mistake fastball or fight it off, but like I said the show's way of guessing with 2 strikes is they make the contact zone real small so unless you guess the right side of the plate and can get the analog over to cover that portion : lots of swining 3rd strikes and balls in the lower half of the plate forget about it

[Visionsofmastery]

Re: If you need help hitting come here : long but detailed read

I'm definitely gonna have to give this a try. I just played 12 innings of the demo, hitting for both teams to finally turn it off with no score. I'm gonna have to write down everything so I can remember it while playing in the other room though.

Justin: If taking it all in is 2 much now then just go with a basic training approach.

first inning for both sides swing at swing at only in hitters counts 1-0 2-1 -3-1
second inning : take all hitters counts to work on your timing and and focus on the most common counts 0-0 1-1 2-2 3-2 , this is where your plate discipline will come for higher AVG POWER AND walks

Add me and like everyone before I will guide you through on open week over the mic

[Visionsofmastery]

Re: If you need help hitting come here : long but detailed read

Lol. None of these training techniques mean anything when 75% of the pitches look like strikes out of the pitchers hand, but most of them end up a mile out of the zone. Gotta be able to read the pitches before any of the above helps. I for one can't read pitches for you-know-what.

Now, that's not to say I don't hit well, as I hit quite well, both for average and for power... I just tend to lead the league in strike outs by wide margins as well. I have some of the ugliest swings you will ever see, since I seem to swing at pitches 2 feet off the plate. lol

EMATH: That is what this training is for so you learn how to see the ball out the pitchers hand that is why I ask you to take in both pitchers count , hitters counts and neutral counts so you get a feel what a stride and tracking the ball feels like, and is the reason that each phase changes the counts where you can swing in and when to take pitches.

[Visionsofmastery]

Re: If you need help hitting come here : long but detailed read

Part 2 of hitting finding your hitting window from soft to hard sharp focus
Good stuff Dave this was going to be my next thread on hitting:
The change from soft focus to hard focus making your eye zero in on a area where it can track , the key is this focus only lasts 1-2 seconds and then has to be reset.

The best thing I tell my players is look out behind the pitcher and find something that stands out
1. has detail
2. will be there the entire game
3. will not move
4. allows you to keep focusing on more detail

What I mean by that is find something behind the pitcher when you are in a soft all around normal focus , then tell yourself something about the area to zero in on like backstop might have some rough edges , tell your brain to focus to find the detail in the edges, this will make your brain now have a plan on how to move from soft to hard focus. when the pitcher turns sideways slowly and I mean slowly move your head to slide the eyes to the hitters window " to the pitchers shoulder" the hitting window" best way to do this is practice for 1 inning taking nothing but pitches , your only objective is to work on going from soft focus to sharp hard focus each time trying to find more detail in the object or area you picked behind the pitcher

If you guys are having trouble understanding what I mean look at a magazine image with a normal focus seeing the entire page , then tell yourself to look for something in the image " kind of like where is waldo" to get a more sharp focus on a particular area the soft focus now becomes blurry to the outside of your zoned in area in hitting this in your "hitting cone tunnel" where you will track the ball

[davewins]

Re: If you need help hitting come here : long but detailed read

it looks like I am forced to hijack my idea into this thread to help some people with my idea of relaxing your eyes. My thread was closed due to the fact that there are other hitting threads so I will put it in here.

I have been struggling hitting until just now. I remembered this approach from last year. It's all about relaxing your eyes. What I mean is do NOT over focus on the release point or even the ball. What happens is you lose your depth perception and you can't tell how fast the ball is coming in. Also you lose your peripheral view and you can't tell where the pitch is in the strike zone as good. I am not an optometrist but I did just hit the longest home run so far (walk off) with Cody Ross after my 3rd at bat trying this.

The problem is your eyes are trying to depict something on a 2d platform as 3d. If you focus too much on the ball it will be past you before you can tell your brain to swing or not. You have to just stay relaxed.

I know this sounds weird but I strongly believe it to be true. Any actual optometrists out there let me know how accurate I am! LOL

What I want you to try doing is just go in a game and bat for both teams. Don't worry about results, approach or anything. Just worry about your timing. Try not to pick up the ball out of the pitcher's hand. Yes, you read that correctly. Do NOT try to pick up the ball out of the pitcher's hand. Instead lightly focus (if you will) on the pitcher or even the pitcher's hat. The key is whatever you focus on DO NOT over focus. I swear by this. It's just hard to practice this.

I'm VERY curious as to how playing this 3d is going to be. With a 3d TV and glasses and all. You might be able to focus on the ball then but I am convinced that your eyes play tricks on you trying to convert a 2d image into 3d if you will.

This might be a better way to explain some of this 3d terminology and how your eye perceives everything. It's very easy to tell how hard your 3rd basemen throws over to 1st because your eye can track it across the screen. However on a fastball that comes in right out of the pitcher's hand and stays in the center of the screen the entire time the only thing that lets you know the speed is the size of the ball going from smaller to larger. It might not be a bad idea to try hitting from an offset camera view as well.