please tell me this isnt true

[jeffruby]

there is only one batting method...timing only....

true or false....

(ie: no option for zone)

[Trevytrev11]

Re: please tell me this isnt true

As of right now, that would be true in your sense.

In reality there are two methods (swing stick and button swinging), but both are timing only.

While the direction of your hit is determined on your timing (early for pull, late for opposite field), the angle of your hit (grounder, line drive, fly ball) is determined by the game. So it's the bottom of the 9th with a runner on 3rd and 0 or 1 outs and you want to hit a fly ball to the outfield, you have to hope the game wants you to hit a fly ball. You can't aim your swing slightly under the ball in order to influence the hit to go in the air.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: please tell me this isnt true

As of right now, that would be true in your sense.

In reality there are two methods (swing stick and button swinging), but both are timing only.

While the direction of your hit is determined on your timing (early for pull, late for opposite field), the angle of your hit (grounder, line drive, fly ball) is determined by the game. So it's the bottom of the 9th with a runner on 3rd and 0 or 1 outs and you want to hit a fly ball to the outfield, you have to hope the game wants you to hit a fly ball. You can't aim your swing slightly under the ball in order to influence the hit to go in the air.

Just like real life baseball, you have to look for a pitch UP in the ZONE to get a sac fly and get the runner home. No ball player is going to swing at low pitchers or anything not UP if he is looking for a sac fly, that is unless he is lucky to see a meatball in the heart of the plate, in which he will drive for a hit anyhow to get the runner home.

This makes you think like a ball player. Swing at a low pitch, chances are yo will be on top of it and ground out... swing at a high one in the zone, chances are you will sky it.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: please tell me this isnt true

Just like real life baseball, you have to look for a pitch UP in the ZONE to get a sac fly and get the runner home. No ball player is going to swing at low pitchers or anything not UP if he is looking for a sac fly, that is unless he is lucky to see a meatball in the heart of the plate, in which he will drive for a hit anyhow to get the runner home.

This makes you think like a ball player. Swing at a low pitch, chances are yo will be on top of it and ground out... swing at a high one in the zone, chances are you will sky it.

All most all lefty's wheel houses are down and in, this is a pitch they drive in the air. It is not hard to drive a low pitch in the air if you have any sort uppercut to your swing. It's not too hard at all to get on top of a pitch up in the zone if you are trying to put the ball on the ground and it's not that hard to put the ball in the air on a low pitch if take that approach. A hitter can adjust the level of his swing to help influence the outcome of his swing.

While most power hitters won't deviate from their natural swing, Pujols is a guy who will shorten up and slap a single to the opposite field to drive in a cheap run if the offense is giving him that huge hole.

While pitch location does play a part in the outcome of the hit, so does the actual swing of the batter.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: please tell me this isnt true

All most all lefty's wheel houses are down and in, this is a pitch they drive in the air. It is not hard to drive a low pitch in the air if you have any sort uppercut to your swing. It's not too hard at all to get on top of a pitch up in the zone, especially if your goal is to put the ball on the ground and it's not that hard to put the ball in the air on a low pitch if take that approach.

Well, if it isn't so hard, these guys would all be pulling Ted Williams like batting averages now wouldn't they?

And they would hit and run without striking out ever and hit sac flies 100% of the time.

We are talking basic fundamentals here.

[sask3m]

Re: please tell me this isnt true

maybe player tendencies will be involved here as well, if a certain power type of hitter is able to drive a low inside pitch in the air then possibly thats what will will happen, whereas a player like juan pierre will drive low and high pitches into the ground on most occasions.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: please tell me this isnt true

Well, if it isn't so hard, these guys would all be pulling Ted Williams like batting averages now wouldn't they?

I didn't say anything about guaranteed success. Putting the ball in the air doesn't mean it's going to be a home run, it could be a pop up to the SS. So I don't know what Ted Williams has to do with anything. Even bad hitters can hit a fly ball on a low pitch or chop a pitch up in the zone.

And they would hit and run without striking out ever and hit sac flies 100% of the time.

Again, I never implied that making contact is easy. Infact nothing I said had anything to do with making actual contact...only influening the arc/angle of the hit by intentionally swinging under or on top of a pitch. Obviosuly if you swing too far under or over a pitch, you are going to miss.

We are talking basic fundamentals here.

Exactly, from high school to college hitters are given situations in practice in which they are to purposely hit behind a runner or put the ball on the air. Coaches and pitchers will intentionally throw pitches that make this hard to do (a fastball up and in on a hit and run or a slider down and away when the hitter is trying to put the ball in the air). Of course natual ability has a lot to do with it and some do it better than others, but to say that fly balls are hit off of high pitches and grounders are hit off of low pitches is just false.

Any pitcher can tell you about times where they made the perfect pitch down and on the corner only to have the hitter smash the ball to a gap or over the fence...even though the pitch was down.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: please tell me this isnt true

maybe player tendencies will be involved here as well, if a certain power type of hitter is able to drive a low inside pitch in the air then possibly thats what will will happen, whereas a player like juan pierre will drive low and high pitches into the ground on most occasions.

That is exactly what will happen. And said in the interviews that attributes and pitcher/batter being faced with play into it as well.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: please tell me this isnt true

maybe player tendencies will be involved here as well, if a certain power type of hitter is able to drive a low inside pitch in the air then possibly thats what will will happen, whereas a player like juan pierre will drive low and high pitches into the ground on most occasions.

While that would make the situation a little better, it still doesn't let the user influence the hit or take the situation into account. With no outs and runner on second or third and my 7th or 8th batter up, I would like to try and hit a grounder to the right side to advance or score the runner. This would be hard to do with an aim system because I could still get under the ball and pop it up, but that would be my fault, which to me, is great. But in the current system, you don't have a say. Sure you can swing late and hit the ball to the right side, but that could be a hard grounder, a line drive a deep fly or a pop up...just depends on what the computer says it should do.

[I_Love_Piazza]

Re: please tell me this isnt true

I think you are both right, but in different ways. Yes, a lot of hitters like pitches down, specifically guys like Delgado and Chipper. Even David Wright has recently changed his swing to more of an upper cut, and as a result he hits more homeruns on pitches low and in. The point is, this depends on the hitter. Jeter has problems with pitches down and in, so I would assume that even if you timed it perfect the best you could do when he's hitting, would be a single to left.

I think the attributes take into account how well the hitter is going to hit a pitch in a given location. Also, where is the proof that using the L stick to influence where you want to hit the ball has been completely taken out? I used classic hitting and I could still use the L stick. Last year's hitting was similar to MVP where you didn't aim for the pitch, but for the area of the field where you wanted to hit the ball, or the type of hit you wanted.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: please tell me this isnt true

I think you are both right, but in different ways. Yes, a lot of hitters like pitches down, specifically guys like Delgado and Chipper. Even David Wright has recently changed his swing to more of an upper cut, and as a result he hits more homeruns on pitches low and in. The point is, this depends on the hitter. Jeter has problems with pitches down and in, so I would assume that even if you timed it perfect the best you could do when he's hitting, would be a single to left.

I think the attributes take into account how well the hitter is going to hit a pitch in a given location. Also, where is the proof that using the L stick to influence where you want to hit the ball has been completely taken out? I used classic hitting and I could still use the L stick. Last year's hitting was similar to MVP where you didn't aim for the pitch, but for the area of the field where you wanted to hit the ball, or the type of hit you wanted.

Exactly! And they will still have the classic hitting in there, just with no power swing. So I am sure you can still influence it that way.

[jim416]

Re: please tell me this isnt true

All most all lefty's wheel houses are down and in, this is a pitch they drive in the air. It is not hard to drive a low pitch in the air if you have any sort uppercut to your swing. It's not too hard at all to get on top of a pitch up in the zone if you are trying to put the ball on the ground and it's not that hard to put the ball in the air on a low pitch if take that approach. A hitter can adjust the level of his swing to help influence the outcome of his swing.

Being a left hand hitter you are absolutely correct. A ball down and in and I could turn on it.
Hitting is many things. Luck would even fit in.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: please tell me this isnt true

Luck would even fit in.

Good point.

[I_Love_Piazza]

Re: please tell me this isnt true

I've never enjoyed true zone hitting, because I simply don't have the quickness to aim for a 92+ mph fastball or 88 mph slider AND get the right timing if the pitch is on the corner. As a result, I usually was behind most of the pitches in MLB 07 the show, because it took me a while to determine WHERE the pitch was going and then WHEN to swing. Also, a slider will look like it's going to be a fastball down the middle but then turn low and in at the last second. So not only is your timing off, your zone is off too. Basically I struck out a lot.

I didn't have this problem in 2K7. Even though the hitting engine was mostly worse than the Show's, it was much easier to figure out what you wanted to do and try to do it. Balls and strikes were a bit easier to tell also. The actual results were usually unrealistic, but at least I had more control.

I would prefer a timing based system where you could influence the type of hit you wanted before the pitch (ie groundball or flyball) and when you just wanted to make solid contact, you just tried to time it as well as you could.

Also, attributes of both the pitcher and batter, pitch effectiveness, and step timing will all be factors.

[baa7]

Re: please tell me this isnt true

there is only one batting method...timing only....

true or false....

(ie: no option for zone)

2K5 was the last 2K baseball game to include zone hitting. Bummer yes, but the swing stick is definitely something you might want to try if you're thinking of writing the game off just because there's no zone hitting. It's a pretty innovative hitting system - and this is coming from someone who is a zone hitting fan.