MLB 2K11 Preview (Destructoid)

[Money99]

Re: MLB 2K11 Preview (Destructoid)

Rudy, this is an area where I am sure you are absolutely right. But I suspect it is a crazy hard thing to balance in an action game. Quite frankly, it is something that I find very easy to overlook in the scheme of things.

As long as HR totals are reasonable, i can live with too many opposite field shots.

True. But wouldn't that hurt the strategy when pitching against someone like Uribe?
Knowing that he hasn't hit an opposite field HR in nearly half-a-decade, I would be pitching to make sure I kept him to the outside.
If the game allows him to hit opp-HR, then that strategy kind of takes a hit doesn't it?

[bill2451]

Re: MLB 2K11 Preview (Destructoid)

I think part of the problem is that the ball is just hit to the opposite field way too much. I was a notorious early swinger last year (something about the camera angle made my timing a little early last year). Anyway, despite pretty much all of my misses being because I was too early, when I made contact I still went the opposite way a crazy amount.

And if I'm hitting 3x more opposite hits than in real life, I'm going to hit more HR's too. I think in general they have to make most hitters try to pull the ball more often.

[rudyjuly2]

Re: MLB 2K11 Preview (Destructoid)

At the same time Money you can still pull outside pitches for HRs unless the guy paints the corner. That's one reason I really grew to dislike MVP's hitting system. Any outside pitch could not be pulled with power. That's nonsense. If that was really true then why wouldn't every pitcher pitch outside to Uribe since he wouldn't hit a HR? Because he can still reach a lot of those pitches or they are mistakes. That's why pitchers must come inside to keep batters from cheating in a little to get those pitches.

[foofighter2455]

Re: MLB 2K11 Preview (Destructoid)

By the way, I just checked these guys. It's impossible for me to tell how many opposite field HRs Pablo hit because he's a switch hitter but Juan Uribe hit 13 of his 24 HRs at home and every single one of them was a pulled HR to LF. No opposite field HRs at all in 2010 at home. You can go to MLB.com's website and check any stadium and any year. In 2009 Uribe didn't hit a single opposite field HR at home either. You have to go back to 2007 at home with the White Sox to see where he last hit a HR to the opposite field (he hit 2 of his 15 that year). He can do it but my point was that the opposite field HR needs to be rare except for the truly powerful.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/player/juan-uribe/hitchart/85881

http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/individual_...874&statType=1

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I'm sure you already know this, but there are very few right-handed hitters dumb enough to try to hit oppo at AT&T Park. A road split would be more representative for ANY righty.

[foofighter2455]

Re: MLB 2K11 Preview (Destructoid)

At the same time Money you can still pull outside pitches for HRs unless the guy paints the corner. That's one reason I really grew to dislike MVP's hitting system. Any outside pitch could not be pulled with power. That's nonsense. If that was really true then why wouldn't every pitcher pitch outside to Uribe since he wouldn't hit a HR? Because he can still reach a lot of those pitches or they are mistakes. That's why pitchers must come inside to keep batters from cheating in a little to get those pitches.

What a different hitting system would reflect is how guys like Uribe sell out on an outside fastball to pull it for a HR. Just like you said, they need to find a way to allow hitters to hit the direction they want more but with more penalty.

Did anyone here use the "zone hitting" option in 2k9?
If you sold out on an outside pitch in that version, and the guy came inside, you would break your bat half the time. That kind of option with better integration would be fantastic.

[rudyjuly2]

Re: MLB 2K11 Preview (Destructoid)

What a different hitting system would reflect is how guys like Uribe sell out on an outside fastball to pull it for a HR. Just like you said, they need to find a way to allow hitters to hit the direction they want more but with more penalty.

Did anyone here use the "zone hitting" option in 2k9?
If you sold out on an outside pitch in that version, and the guy came inside, you would break your bat half the time. That kind of option with better integration would be fantastic.

I suck at zone hitting and 2K10 was the first time I bought 2K.

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I'm sure you already know this, but there are very few right-handed hitters dumb enough to try to hit oppo at AT&T Park. A road split would be more representative for ANY righty.

Unfortunately the site only provides stadium specific hit charts so it's just easiest to use the home stadium. I'd have to look at 29 other graphs to analyze road data and I'm simply too lazy to do that lol. I will note that all of Aubrey Huff's HRs last year at home were pulled to RF. No opposite field shots. Just way too many examples of guys that pull almost all of their HRs to illustrate my point.

[Blzer]

Re: MLB 2K11 Preview (Destructoid)

True. But wouldn't that hurt the strategy when pitching against someone like Uribe?
Knowing that he hasn't hit an opposite field HR in nearly half-a-decade, I would be pitching to make sure I kept him to the outside.
If the game allows him to hit opp-HR, then that strategy kind of takes a hit doesn't it?

Oh my, I never thought of that! We should alert the entire National League when they square off against Los Angeles this year!

My snide sarcasm inside (sorry about that ), the point is pitchers already attempt to do this. They are at times very successful as you can see from Uribe's batting average, and from his 25 home runs you can say they were often unsuccessful. They don't always paint the black, and even if so Uribe doesn't always have to go for a home run to call his at bat a success. Besides, Uribe is worse on inside pitches anyway. He has a terrible swing and approach, and most of his success is defined by his strength when he happens to get good wood on it.

If this game truly reflected the real life Juan Uribe, I wouldn't be driving outside fastballs for him unless I'm establishing a slider later in the at bat that will fall off the dish. The fact of the matter is no baseball game has had reflective dynamic push/pull and inside/outside attributes that authentically hold well with a decent physics system. We might have to settle a few more years for opposite field shots into McCovey Cove.

[rudyjuly2]

Re: MLB 2K11 Preview (Destructoid)

If this game truly reflected the real life Juan Uribe, I wouldn't be driving outside fastballs for him unless I'm establishing a slider later in the at bat that will fall off the dish. The fact of the matter is no baseball game has had reflective dynamic push/pull and inside/outside attributes that authentically hold well with a decent physics system. We might have to settle a few more years for opposite field shots into McCovey Cove.

This is true. And since we always are the same guy controlling the batter, every batter has a similar personality as opposed to real life. Furthermore a video game sometimes lacks fun if it gets too sim (debatable). But I'd still like to see less oppo-bombs than I currently see. Hopefully that was tweaked. There is nothing more beautiful than turning on a fastball and smoking it 400+ feet.

[Scottdau]

Re: MLB 2K11 Preview (Destructoid)

Juan had one opposite HR LAST YEAR!!! . And it was the best one too.

[Saberq]

Re: MLB 2K11 Preview (Destructoid)

Do you guys really have a discussion about opposite field HR in a video game....These things will never be fixed completely.......

[rudyjuly2]

Re: MLB 2K11 Preview (Destructoid)

Do you guys really have a discussion about opposite field HR in a video game....These things will never be fixed completely.......

I find this stuff interesting. And it has been done better in other games so it's not like it can't be improved. Besides, we have to pass the time before the demo.

[Saberq]

Re: MLB 2K11 Preview (Destructoid)

I find this stuff interesting. And it has been done better in other games so it's not like it can't be improved. Besides, we have to pass the time before the demo.

Yeah I get that....Will PC get the demo?

[thaSLAB]

Juan had one opposite HR LAST YEAR!!! . And it was the best one too.

Ha! That was awesome...! First thing I thought about when I saw Uribe and opposite field HRs

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

[abjsuperstar]

2k needs to upgrade the graphics and game fluency..

[Scottdau]

Re: MLB 2K11 Preview (Destructoid)

2k needs to upgrade the graphics and game fluency..

What is game fluency?