Difference between a pitch at the knees and in the dirt.

[metallidevils]

Can anyone help me with this? It's nearly impossible for me to distinguish between a pitch at the knees, and a pitch that is going to go through the catcher's legs to the backstop. I had this same problem last year too. I'm not nearly as good a player as most of you guys (I play on veteran/all star), and any sort of help, even if it seems basic to you, would be appreciated. I'm also just starting to make more of an effort to focus on the ball as it comes out of the pitcher's hand, but still overall have a tough time judging it.

Edit: I'm terribly sorry, I thought I was in the general forum, not the sliders one. Could a mod please move this? Thanks

[ComfortablyLomb]

Re: Difference between a pitch at the knees and in the dirt.

I get killed on low pitches sometimes too but I think this is why some of the people around here have moves to the offset camera. It definitely gives you a better idea of the height of pitches. I kind of like being fooled low though because it's usually on changeups and curves and those are the pitches you should be killed on occasionally.

[pbz06]

Re: Difference between a pitch at the knees and in the dirt.

Well, it's hard in real life too, lol. That's why pitchers "keep the ball down" because it's hard to lay off those, and if you have a nasty sinker then you will get A LOT of grounders and weak hits (like when Derek Lowe or Jon Garland are on their game).

Just keep practicing and you will get a bit better in recognizing if the low pitch will be straight, or break into the dirt.

[RogueHominid]

Re: Difference between a pitch at the knees and in the dirt.

I'm with the OP on struggling with the low pitches, but I've been able to cut back drastically on my strikeouts by doing two things, both of which can help with low pitches.

First, I've forced myself to wait longer than normal to swing. You have that luxury this year with the different swing timing from 08. Often times this is the difference between whiffing at a slider outside/low or a changeup low because you can see the beginning of the break and lay off. The only thing you lose there is ability to turn hard on a fastball, but you can still put one to the gaps and even take one yard. And if you're opting for this strategy with two strikes, you're not really gonna need to turn on one.

Second, I've forced myself to pay extra attention to pitch patterns. You can tell after a couple of innings what pitch(es) a guy goes to with 2 strikes. If you know a guy wants to get you with a slider in the dirt, sit on it, watch the release point, and only swing at the last second to foul it off if it stays in the zone.

A couple of auxiliary points: if you know they like to get you low, put the cursor down and golf a couple of those pitches to the gaps. You can get some hits that way, and it knocks down the effectiveness of those pitches as well as the pitcher's confidence; and try as best you can to avoid two strike counts. Sounds simple, but if I see a pitch in the zone in the area I'm looking for or over the middle, I'll take a rip. Putting the ball in play on strike one is better than sitting lame duck with 2 strikes, at least to me.

Hope some of that helps! I think the more pitches you see from a guy and the more time you spend with the game, the better your eye gets. I'm only 6 games into my franchise, and I can already tell I'm improving with regard to strikeouts. The first couple of games were 10 and 11 K's per. The next few were 5-7.