Having serious problems with hitting, any tips?

[Mikeatris]

I am having some serious issues with hitting. I pretty much got pitching down pat but I have started a My Player pitcher and have played a few offline games and I can not hit for crap. I am gonna try to search on the web for more tips but I figure I would try here first. Any tips would help as I wanted to get better at this before the season start as I plan on running a full season this year. Just wanted to know how people got better at hitting, how to read what pitch is coming, etc. Anything would help right now.

[SlowDownTurbo86]

Re: Having serious problems with hitting, any tips?

Use BigFNJoe's sliders and really focus on being patient and don't get super aggressive unless you're just feeling it. I find that waiting for the perfect pitch helps a lot. I'd rather strike out looking than ground into a double play on some low outside weaksauce.

[tvman]

Re: Having serious problems with hitting, any tips?

I had posted this in a different thread but will re post it.

Play with strikezone ON then in Difficulty Sliders section turn "Batter's Eye Frequency" slider up to 100, every pitch the cpu throws will have a "text" message just as the pitcher releases the ball telling you what pitch is coming.

Don't confuse this slider with the "Batter's Eye" option you see in the controller section that is a "different" batter's eye (confusing, yes I know).

I play with the Batter's Eye option in controller section "Off" but play strikezone "ON" and batters eye slider at 30 or so. I tend to think of the "text" message as my hitter reading the pitch that's coming just like good hitters in real life are able to do. Set the slider where you like as you get better, also good hitters will see this "text" message way more often than a poor hitter will.

Also you must have the strikezone on for this "text" opttion to work.

[Mt Oread]

Re: Having serious problems with hitting, any tips?

Use BigFNJoe's sliders and really focus on being patient and don't get super aggressive unless you're just feeling it. I find that waiting for the perfect pitch helps a lot. I'd rather strike out looking than ground into a double play on some low outside weaksauce.

This. I use the pitch count to monitor my aggressiveness. My goal is maintain a pace of 15 pitches an inning. That means be very selective with no strikes. Some innings will be better than others, but if you enter the fifth inning, and the CPU has thrown 30 pitches, you are putting yourself in a hole.

Part of how I maintain this mindset is by limiting power swing to 2-0 and 3-1 counts. It encourages me to take strikes and try to get those hitter's counts.

The next thing I would do is turn the strike zone on, at least until you have mastered the strike zone. But you also need it on to get the hitter's eye stuff that really helps you start to read pitches. I have it set to 25 in my sliders, but if you start at 100, you will start to see the patterns and get a better feel for the game. At 25, the better hitters get more tip-offs than weaker hitters.

When you get a tip-off of a breaking ball with no strikes, unless you know that your current hitter kills curve balls, take the pitch. With no strikes, force the pitcher to throw a fast ball in the zone you want.

I keep IE on so that you see the hot and cold zones for each hitter. That way you know what zone to look for for each guy. It varies for left or right-handed pitchers. But if low and away is blue, don't swing at a strike there. If its red, rip away!

Take a look at IE when pitching. It will give you a good idea of why you want to lay off certain pitches. the game is coded to make each hitter realistic. So if you start swinging at balls he doesn't hit well, you are going to see some bad results.

Hitting is all mindset and making good choices.

[pistolpete]

Re: Having serious problems with hitting, any tips?

Do NOT use the leftstick while hitting. 2k actually does quite a good job allowing pitch location and timing to dictate what happens once the ball is struck.

I actually have removed the strike zone as it allows me to hit better. I would look for a pitch away, and that corner would be displayed and almost no matter how far away the pitch was I would swing.

Finally, 0-2 with a man on first. Wait until the pitch is up in the zone. If the pitch is on the bottom third of the k-zone it's better to take than to ground into a double play.