With power guys I'll often influence up until 2 strikes and spit on anything low unless it's down-and-in (and not on the corner of the "box") for someone like Davis or Harper that likes down-and-in. A single from a slugger is almost like a moral victory for the pitcher. It's better than an out, but still.
For contact types, if they have low power, I'll try influencing down, even in DP situations. Flyballs from guys like Panik with 25 or whatever power are not going to be a fun time, so I try minimizing them (doesn't work all the time). My hitters, for whatever reason, have been flyball happy lately. So I really wear this out on the low Power guys.
The thing about influencing, though, is you better either get the pitch you're looking for or have good timing and ratings. For someone that's got low contact, influencing might just make things worse. After all, it's as much a "trajectory modifier" as it is looking for an area. What might have been a long HR might turn into a sky high 360 ft fly ball out because I influenced up and got under it too much.
Same for inside/outside. I usually just try to change my timing if I want to push/pull the ball.
Another thing I sometimes do, especially for guys with decent contact ratings, is just power swing, regardless of power rating. Especially in hitter counts where I think (THINK) the PCI expands. Seems like I read that on here somewhere. Anyway, even if it doesn't, the pitcher will likely either come in to try to get back in the count (so possibly a hittable pitch) or he tries to get you to give away your advantage and chase (then you can spit on it).
One thing I will say, especially if you're on Solid Hits: 4 like in the OP...the one thing about going below default in Solid Hits is your batted ball profile might skew too much to the crappy trajectories, especially against tough pitchers (high H/9 and/or K/9 where the PCI shrinks) and mediocre (or worse) Contact/PVis guys (smaller PCI at base).
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