Mike Lowe MLB The Show '17 Sliders

[agentlaw13]

Re: Mike Lowe MLB The Show '17 Sliders

I think we've all dealt with this at the plate. I know i have. I have the same tendency to yank the pci down which induces lots of air outs. And I used to waste many games chasing pitches. I still fall into this when I get tired or impatient or start a game too late lol.

I'm very disciplined now using zone. My approach works perfectly with Mr. Lowe's CPU pitching sliders because ball/strike ratios are almost dead on. This gets me close to the right mlb % for swings. I thought I would share what I've done so i play more realistically...

I know other players who use a similar approach. Here's how I do it.

I stopped moving the PCI. (Much). I dont mean i take my thumb off and leave it in the middle. I pick a quadrant of the strike zone, such as upper away. I move my PCI there before the pitch and hold it there. Part of my pci still covers the middle of the plate. So I dont miss those. And I leave it there (for now).

On the first pitch of an AB, I want that pitch to hit the dot in the middle of the pci, or be down the middle of the plate. And usually a fastball. If its not, I'm taking it. I dont care how good the strike looks. (That gets me at 70% takes on first pitch which is league average) (if the pitch is down the middle of the plate all i have to do is let go of the stick if i want. Don't yank it.)

On early counts, 1-0, 0-1, 1-1, and 2-1 i want a pitch in my quadrant (or at least that half of the plate) and lay off anything inside. And I usually lay off breaking pitches here. Unless it's a super fat hanger.

Hitters counts, 2-0, 3-1. My pci goes close to dead center. And again they need to hit the DOT in the middle of my pci. ANYTHING else, I take. (Dont worry- you'll be fooled enough here.) LOTS of walks dont happen here because people chase ball 4. Or let the pitcher back get to 2-1, instead of 3-0.

3-0. I dont swing. If i do it better be down the middle and on the pci dot, and only with the occasional exceptions of only a select 2 or 3 players on my team in the right situations.

2 strike counts, my pci goes near center also. But now it's so i can move it anywhere to protect the plate. I know that they're probably going to try to make me chase a couple, if they're ahead in the count. So I'm ready to lay off sliders off the plate and low change ups. If i strike out looking occasionally its ok. The game could use a few more user K's anyway.

Im not afraid to go down looking on 3-2 either. But im also ready to protect.

Basically- on 0-0, 2-0, 3-1 my pci barely moves, if at all. Hit the dot.
Anything less than 2 strikes- im picking a quadrant (or half, if the player has a big pci) and i want the pitcher to throw it "through my hoop (pci)" for me to swing.
2 Strikes - protect.

This is my basic approach. Game situations and specific players may call for something else. But 95% of the time this is my approach.

I dont yank the pci down nearly as often as I used to because of this approach. But i still do it on 2 strike counts more than I would like.

I've also started moving my pci higher than normal before the pitch. The game creates a lot of fly balls and this gets me a little closer to the right GB rate. Seems awkward at first but it seems to work. But not necessary.

This approach works for me. In fact I LOVE this approach. Its the closest to real baseball to me. And I get great results. A greater percentage of pitches i swing at are Hittable "hitters pitches" which increases my batting average, and I get more walks (over 3 a game).

I dont mind taking a lot of called strikes. Its ok. I probably should take even more. Looking at MLB stats, there are quite a bit more called strikes than swinging strikes. (But more swinging strikeouts than called strikeouts) Its easy to be swing happy on the Show. Which leads to people having to drop a level or adjust sliders to compensate.

This does take patience. And some in-game practice. And discipline. And more patience. Not for arcade players, or super fast games.

I still make a lot of mistakes and chase pitches that make me hit myself in the head. But this approach reduces those significantly, to a more realistic, MLB type level for me.

I dont have a PCI displayed anymore, because I like a clean screen. But i played with it long enough I can still "see" it in my mind.

"But what if the pitcher never throws it where my pci is?" I tip my hat. Then i adjust to his tendencies. But i don't assume. I need to see plenty of evidence first.

Just thought I would share. Maybe it'll help you or someone else out in Show-land.

Man, that's eerily crazy how you described your approach because I play the exact same way! The hardest part to me is being disciplined and actually taking certain pitches and picking up on pitch type/location. If I got a short time frame to squeeze in a game, I start going for almost every pitch which obviously doesn't work well in my favor. I've learned to take my time, take some pitches, and play this videogame like real baseball. Patience is key. I don't feel cheated when I slow down and enjoy a close simulation of actual baseball. This game can be so fun and so frustrating. It's up to the user to pace themselves and make it enjoyable, win or lose.


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[agentlaw13]

Re: Mike Lowe MLB The Show '17 Sliders

Do you always use a normal swing, or do you also use power and contact as well?

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Always normal. Strikeouts are low anyway, even with normal swing. So I dont see any reason to use contact swing.

One thing I do is use contact swing but it's dependent on the situation.

Obviously normal swing is what I use a very large majority of the time. But here are the two instances I use power and contact swings.

POWER SWING
I only use power swing with high power guys BUT only when it's a 3-0 or 3-1 count and I have a significant lead. Used it a few times with Edwin Encarnacion in my Indians chise this year and had a few bombs but also some weak pop outs. He led the league with 53 HRs but almost all of them came from normal swing, not power.

CONTACT SWING
I mainly use this swing when I have 2 strikes with a lower power rated batter (I usually take my chances with a normal swing with power batter w/ 2 strikes). It makes your pci larger and sometimes that's needed when you are trying to just get the bat on the ball or move a runner. The contact swing has gotten me some much needed base hits in the late innings of close games when I needed. Most are weak singles but it has driven in tying and game winning runs from 3rd on multiple occasions during my franchise. I also have used it in a recent playoff game against Chris Sale when my bats went cold and I couldn't make contact on anything he threw. He carried a no-no into the 7th and I decided to use contact swing with my lead off hitter and I was able to get on base and end up having a 3 run inning. I don't use it much but it definitely has been beneficial for me in certain game situations.




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[Mike Lowe]

Re: Mike Lowe MLB The Show '17 Sliders

OK i jumped the gun on worrying about too many CPU strikes on Legend hitting. I knew I was jumping the gun when I wrote the post, too. Can't tell anything by that sample size and i knew better. It was just shocking over 2 games to see that many strikes.

So I didnt touch the sliders at all and let it ride for 17 games. Strike % is perfect at 62%.


Only thing now is that the CPU First strike % is around 54%. Thats really not too awfully far off from the 59 or 60% it should be. I can live with it, but do you think any adjustment could bring that up a notch?

Would strike frequency be the one to try? I don't want to throw the overall % off.

Seems like when the CPU does throw a first pitch strike, the next pitch is rarely a strike.

I'm super happy with the CPU pitching %'s though. Even if it stays where it is.

Yes, that would be the slider to adjust!

I have always done Classic pitching but I'm kinda getting intrigued by the Meter Pitching. But I always felt that the Classic pitching showed more of the ratings from the player and not so much myself. Do you still get that in Meter pitching? Like do you still feel the difference even if you do hit your mark? When you miss the meter mark on the pitch with a #5 starter do you miss more than you do with a Ace?

Because every pitcher's windup is slightly different and because every pitcher's ratings impact the accuracy of the meter, I still like using meter. I think you're fine using any of the others too though, so long as you're tracking your results.

Similar to hitting, it's about what you enjoy using the most. Perhaps zone is not the most realistic, but the way the game works, it still gives what I feel is a true sampling of a player and keeps the players very unique from one another.

[NolanRyansSnowmonkey]

Re: Mike Lowe MLB The Show '17 Sliders

Man, that's eerily crazy how you described your approach because I play the exact same way! The hardest part to me is being disciplined and actually taking certain pitches and picking up on pitch type/location. If I got a short time frame to squeeze in a game, I start going for almost every pitch which obviously doesn't work well in my favor. I've learned to take my time, take some pitches, and play this videogame like real baseball. Patience is key. I don't feel cheated when I slow down and enjoy a close simulation of actual baseball. This game can be so fun and so frustrating. It's up to the user to pace themselves and make it enjoyable, win or lose.


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Lol thats-awesome. I completely agree. I'm thankful for the guys like Mike Lowe who give us a base that makes this game enjoyable. If anyone has ever dealt with sliders, they know how much time and thought and trial and error goes into it. Then it's up to the rest of us yahoo's to play the game the best way.

For me, I'm a huge fan of baseball and its strategies and stats. If its just slugging and running im not into it. A baseball season is a grind in real life, with ups and downs. Thats how i want my game to be.

Seems like we play almost identically and also have the same weaknesses. Its those weaknesses that help make the game so enjoyably frustrating. Or frustratingly enjoyable. Either way, I love it.

[NolanRyansSnowmonkey]

Re: Mike Lowe MLB The Show '17 Sliders

One thing I do is use contact swing but it's dependent on the situation.

Obviously normal swing is what I use a very large majority of the time. But here are the two instances I use power and contact swings.

POWER SWING
I only use power swing with high power guys BUT only when it's a 3-0 or 3-1 count and I have a significant lead. Used it a few times with Edwin Encarnacion in my Indians chise this year and had a few bombs but also some weak pop outs. He led the league with 53 HRs but almost all of them came from normal swing, not power.

CONTACT SWING
I mainly use this swing when I have 2 strikes with a lower power rated batter (I usually take my chances with a normal swing with power batter w/ 2 strikes). It makes your pci larger and sometimes that's needed when you are trying to just get the bat on the ball or move a runner. The contact swing has gotten me some much needed base hits in the late innings of close games when I needed. Most are weak singles but it has driven in tying and game winning runs from 3rd on multiple occasions during my franchise. I also have used it in a recent playoff game against Chris Sale when my bats went cold and I couldn't make contact on anything he threw. He carried a no-no into the 7th and I decided to use contact swing with my lead off hitter and I was able to get on base and end up having a 3 run inning. I don't use it much but it definitely has been beneficial for me in certain game situations.




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I'll correct the record. I havent used contact swing this year. But last season i used it in hit and run situations, where i needed to make some sort of contact. Also I did use it to move a runner to 3rd and try to hit the ball to the right side, etc.

I never used it to try to avoid striking out, due to the low strikeout rate i had. If anything, I need to strikeout more.

I havent ruled out using it this year. I just always question whether it gives me an unfair or unrealistic advantage in the game. If the concensus is that it doesn't, im all for it.

Would love to hear other opinions on this, especially Mr Lowe's.

[bobzyauncle]

Re: Mike Lowe MLB The Show '17 Sliders

How is everyone's slugging stats looking like? I think the league average is around .409 and I'm at .430 odd. Is this normal? Would be interested to know what others are on these sliders

[Qdiddy]

Re: Mike Lowe MLB The Show '17 Sliders

How is everyone's slugging stats looking like? I think the league average is around .409 and I'm at .430 odd. Is this normal? Would be interested to know what others are on these sliders

Mine are slightly above league avg as well like .420, I wouldn't worry about it really as it's an avg your comparing it too so there's going to be teams above and below that number as you probably know. Plus it's not like your in the .500's or so, depending on your sample size you may still come down more closer to the league avg. just my thoughts


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[Mike Lowe]

Re: Mike Lowe MLB The Show '17 Sliders

I'll correct the record. I havent used contact swing this year. But last season i used it in hit and run situations, where i needed to make some sort of contact. Also I did use it to move a runner to 3rd and try to hit the ball to the right side, etc.

I never used it to try to avoid striking out, due to the low strikeout rate i had. If anything, I need to strikeout more.

I havent ruled out using it this year. I just always question whether it gives me an unfair or unrealistic advantage in the game. If the concensus is that it doesn't, im all for it.

Would love to hear other opinions on this, especially Mr Lowe's.

I use contact swing, but it depends on situation and matchup of hitter pitcher.

It is rare when I do use it, probably less than one swing per game on average.

How is everyone's slugging stats looking like? I think the league average is around .409 and I'm at .430 odd. Is this normal? Would be interested to know what others are on these sliders

I'm definitely in bottom third of MLB, and that's with the league leader in HRs w Stanton.
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[Stryker84]

Re: Mike Lowe MLB The Show '17 Sliders

Hey mike,
Are you going to post the video with the minor league player or was that added in the latest video! Thanks bro just wondering!!


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[Mike Lowe]

Re: Mike Lowe MLB The Show '17 Sliders

Beautiful game tonight...

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[Mike Lowe]

Re: Mike Lowe MLB The Show '17 Sliders

Hey mike,
Are you going to post the video with the minor league player or was that added in the latest video! Thanks bro just wondering!!


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I have it done...waiting on another part to come through. It turned out very nice. I don't want to rush it, and future episodes will be much quicker now.

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[Stryker84]

Re: Mike Lowe MLB The Show '17 Sliders

I have it done...waiting on another part to come through. It turned out very nice. I don't want to rush it, and future episodes will be much quicker now.

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No rush bro!! Just wondering is all! Didn't want to miss it!! Thanks for the update!! Keep up the good work


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[markor]

Re: Mike Lowe MLB The Show '17 Sliders

How's everyone finding injury sliders at 9?
The simed games have a good variety and severity for me but the played games aren't giving much other than day to day injuries,
almost 2 months in to the season not even a 10 day DL stint yet... maybe I'm messing with fate buy posting this

Cheers

[Mike Lowe]

Re: Mike Lowe MLB The Show '17 Sliders

Planning to stream today, but not entirely sure on time. I'll post here again as I'm about to go Live.

We host the Angels in the 2nd game of a weekend series. We're 3.5 games back of the Wildcard.

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[comebackkid]

Re: Mike Lowe MLB The Show '17 Sliders

I've used your sliders for 3 games and I've had the most unrealistic results so far. Home runs with exits speeds up to 130mph way out of the zone and utility infielders hitting home runs out of stadiums. Geez. I've seriously tried all of the sliders featured here and this problem persist. Seriously thinking that there is something wrong with my copy.

Update on this .

I deleted all the data from the game and re-installed the files. Updated, downloaded the rosters and set the sliders manually. Everything is working perfectly now: realistic results, no more ridiculous home runs and crazy hit speeds, great ball movement, etc. This sliders work fantastic now.

I now have a bug with the PCI indicator but it's not a big deal.