The CPU does not swing at balls

[MillerTyme]

For me anyways, maybe it is a result of some of the sliders i have tinkered with
I cannot find a slider for CPU aggressiveness or anything like that, but it seems to me most of the CPU batters do not bother swinging at anything until they have 2 strikes, and even then they all turn into Jason Giambi or Nick Johnson and do not offer at anything unless it is a strike, no matter how perfect a pitch it is or how borderline a ball
On a very rare occasion they will swing through an inside FB off the plate or a low changeup, but i would say the majority of the Ks i get are either looking or swinging and missing on pitches that would have been strikes anyway
Its quite possible i am doing something wrong, but in my experience, even with guys like olivo or franceour up there (notoroiously free swingers) i cannot get them to chase anything, even with 2 strikes. I cant remember ever getting a swing and miss (or even a swing and weak contact) on a CB that broke and landed for a ball. Seeing guys like carlos gomez lay off a FB 1" off the strike zone with 2 strikes is frustrating when in real life there are maybe 4-5 guys in all of MLB who have that good of an eye.
Again, maybe i am doing something wrong or i have changed the AI by messing w/the sliders, but i am just wondering if other people are having this problem or i am the only one.


Thanks

[N51_rob]

Re: The CPU does not swing at balls

I don't have this problem at all. They may not swing at as many balls as I would like especially in 0-2 counts, but I've see the CPU look silly hacking at stuff a good 1-2 feet out of the zone.

[Chef Matt]

Re: The CPU does not swing at balls

I play on HOF default and do not have this prob at all. I've ave. 10 k's my last three games and a lot of those were 0-2 changeups WAY out of the zone that they offered on. But, they were away to respective sides of the plate. Left on left/right on right. If that makes any difference.

[Whitesox]

Re: The CPU does not swing at balls

You need to set up your pitches. You're not going to get away with throwing fastballs in everytime you want a strike out.

The CPU will recognize your tendencies, and be ready for that fastball. Try this: Throw a fastball high and outside, purposefully missing the zone. If the batter swings at it, good! I wouldn't expect him to. The next pitch throw a change up low and in. This will be much more likely to get the K considering the last pitch was high, hard, and away.

Hope that helps!

[bcruise]

Re: The CPU does not swing at balls

I would suggest playing a healthy dose of the Simulated Game pitching practice. It's a "controlled environment" of sorts which consists of only the pitcher and batter. But it uses the same mechanics as the real game, so you can use it to practice your pitching patterns and see what you can get the CPU to chase.

One thing though - you do usually have to be around the plate consistently to get the CPU to chase. In other words, getting ahead in the early count is vital.

[swaldo]

Re: The CPU does not swing at balls

The next pitch throw a change up low and in. This will be much more likely to get the K considering the last pitch was high, hard, and away.

Throw a changeup low & inside? This should never be done...at least in real life. The reason being that even if a batter is fooled and caught off stride he can still pull it with power, sometimes with only one hand. By throwing it outside the best they can do is hit it weakly in the infield.

In addition, most changes tail away from a pitchers hand which is why most pitchers will only throw it to opposite handed batters. Tommy John threw his changeup off his ring & pinky fingers, try throwing that inside to an opposite handed batter! No thanks. For the most part the change is a pretty weak pitch, you don't want it tailing inside to a batters power zone which is low & inside. More power/slugging % is generated from that zone than pitches right down the middle! Although the middle zone has a higher overall batting average. Even the great Bob Gibson stated he hated throwing low & in. He would throw his nasty slider there hoping to get a double play but it really made him nervous.

Suppose you are a right handed pitcher with a Fastball, slider, curve and changeup. Here is how you'd pitch...

RH BATTERS:

Fastball
Slider
Curve
Rare change outside & low

LH BATTERS:

Fastball
Change
Slider - back door or you can bust them inside...or use them as mentioned above for double plays.
Occassional Curve

So my rule (which is sim style, or how the majority of big leaguers pitch) is to throw changeups mainly to opp handed batters - aiming most low & away. I want it to either tail outside for a ball or slice the edge/corner for a strike. Yes, there are "masters" who can get away with inside changeups but they are a rare breed. If the game is not punishing you for throwing too much low & inside - especially a change then something is wrong. I don't know because I don't have the guts to do it.

And I agree, the CPU needs to swing at more balls, especially on 0-2 or 1-2 counts. I think they should install a defensive swing system or at least make the batters more interested at very close pitches when they are behind in the count.

[BigWilly]

Re: The CPU does not swing at balls

[quote=swaldo;2040938230]If the game is not punishing you for throwing too much low & inside - especially a change then something is wrong. I don't know because I don't have the guts to do it. quote]

The game doesn't punish it enough. I've thrown it quite a bit and haven't noticed it getting rocked with regularity.

To the OP - the other advice on here for Ks is good. They don't swing at a lot of pitches outside of the zone, especially the really close stuff, so maybe it could be upped a little. But you can ring them up that way.

[Xaos]

Re: The CPU does not swing at balls

The CPU will swing at 2/3 fastballs inside early in the count. Throw 2 fastballs inside, high or low or in the mid, it don't matter. Then throw a fastball to the outside.

[Clarityman]

Re: The CPU does not swing at balls

I, too, average about 10 K's a game.

The CPU definitely does swing at balls, but you need to learn how to pitch.

That involves varying your pitch speed and release a lot.

Here's how it might play out. Maybe I throw a breaking ball to start the at bat, yellow power and hitting the sweet spot for a called strike. Then I throw a fastball the same way, yellow power sweet spot trying to hit the low outside corner (never throw soft and in, or soft and up!!)... but it's a ball. Well now the pitcher has got the speed of my breaking ball AND fastball when I throw in the yellow. Time to bring the heat. I throw a hard fastball in the red and stop the meter just before the sweet spot so that the fastball rises, which makes it faster and harder to hit. Batter fouls it off. Now I'm up 1-2. I just showed him a fastball high in the red while stopping the meter just before the sweet spot. Now I'll throw a slider below the knees the same exact way, because the arm motion will look the same but the batter will be trying to protect against the heat. Slider, low, red power, stopping just before the sweet spot to throw a little harder. Batter swings right through and looks like an ------ in the process.

[eyeamg0dly]

Re: The CPU does not swing at balls

I, too, average about 10 K's a game.

The CPU definitely does swing at balls, but you need to learn how to pitch.

That involves varying your pitch speed and release a lot.

Here's how it might play out. Maybe I throw a breaking ball to start the at bat, yellow power and hitting the sweet spot for a called strike. Then I throw a fastball the same way, yellow power sweet spot trying to hit the low outside corner (never throw soft and in, or soft and up!!)... but it's a ball. Well now the pitcher has got the speed of my breaking ball AND fastball when I throw in the yellow. Time to bring the heat. I throw a hard fastball in the red and stop the meter just before the sweet spot so that the fastball rises, which makes it faster and harder to hit. Batter fouls it off. Now I'm up 1-2. I just showed him a fastball high in the red while stopping the meter just before the sweet spot. Now I'll throw a slider below the knees the same exact way, because the arm motion will look the same but the batter will be trying to protect against the heat. Slider, low, red power, stopping just before the sweet spot to throw a little harder. Batter swings right through and looks like an ------ in the process.

you got the right idea. its not always about location, varying your speed helps alot. read the batter, is he late swinging? early? do your pitches have good movement? or great movement?

a fastball in the yellow is around 2mph slower then one in the red. that may not seem like alot but it can really mess up the timing of the batter.

cpu batters are offering at some stuff i could never get away with in last year's game. if setup well, i can get them to offer at curveballs in the dirt, this was unfathomable in '09

[bkrich83]

Re: The CPU does not swing at balls

Throw a changeup low & inside? This should never be done...at least in real life. The reason being that even if a batter is fooled and caught off stride he can still pull it with power, sometimes with only one hand. By throwing it outside the best they can do is hit it weakly in the infield.

In addition, most changes tail away from a pitchers hand which is why most pitchers will only throw it to opposite handed batters. Tommy John threw his changeup off his ring & pinky fingers, try throwing that inside to an opposite handed batter! No thanks. For the most part the change is a pretty weak pitch, you don't want it tailing inside to a batters power zone which is low & inside. More power/slugging % is generated from that zone than pitches right down the middle! Although the middle zone has a higher overall batting average. Even the great Bob Gibson stated he hated throwing low & in. He would throw his nasty slider there hoping to get a double play but it really made him nervous.

Suppose you are a right handed pitcher with a Fastball, slider, curve and changeup. Here is how you'd pitch...

RH BATTERS:

Fastball
Slider
Curve
Rare change outside & low

LH BATTERS:

Fastball
Change
Slider - back door or you can bust them inside...or use them as mentioned above for double plays.
Occassional Curve

So my rule (which is sim style, or how the majority of big leaguers pitch) is to throw changeups mainly to opp handed batters - aiming most low & away. I want it to either tail outside for a ball or slice the edge/corner for a strike. Yes, there are "masters" who can get away with inside changeups but they are a rare breed. If the game is not punishing you for throwing too much low & inside - especially a change then something is wrong. I don't know because I don't have the guts to do it.

And I agree, the CPU needs to swing at more balls, especially on 0-2 or 1-2 counts. I think they should install a defensive swing system or at least make the batters more interested at very close pitches when they are behind in the count.

I was listening to Kevin Kennedy on MLB Home plate the other day, and he was talking about how a lot more RHP's are throwing changeups to RH hitters. The notion that a RHP shouldn't throw his change to a RH hitter is for the most part dead.

[swaldo]

Re: The CPU does not swing at balls

I was listening to Kevin Kennedy on MLB Home plate the other day, and he was talking about how a lot more RHP's are throwing changeups to RH hitters. The notion that a RHP shouldn't throw his change to a RH hitter is for the most part dead.

Yea, I've heard more pitching coaches are trying to encourage their players to throw the change inside more often. I think this probably applies to pitchers who have great movement and control though. Batters will certainly have their say in this and they will adjust. Whatever the case it will be interesting to see how it pans out.

Basically, in order to square up an outside pitch you have to swing late. If an outside changeup does it's job and a batter swings early then the best he can do is hit it off the end of the bat.

To square up an inside pitch you have to swing early. Well, the changeup is designed to make a batter swing early so they will be able to get the sweet part of the bat on the ball. I think part of their theory is simply based on the fact that batters will not expect an inside job. But hey, watching sluggers send 79MPH low & inside pitches 450 feet will be fun to watch

Jamie Moyer is one of the best changeup hurlers ever, and here is a recent pitch fx chart of his changeup locations (I think it's from 2008.) You can clearly see where he was aiming in general and most pitchers will have similiar location charts. A chart against left handed batters was not included because he did not throw many to them.

Moyer_Jamie_CU_RHB.png

[CPT]

Re: The CPU does not swing at balls

this amy be too simple but could a guy not simply knock down the cpu contact (which effects vision) and up the timing to offset the fact that some timing is hindered with the lower contact slider?

[BatsareBugs]

Re: The CPU does not swing at balls

I find that the CPU ends up chasing less the more I'm around the zone. I've played about 40 games now and for my starters where the strike to walk ratio is between 55% and 66% I tend to get hitters to chase. Example: I had Jake Peavy's Running Fastball, Cutter, and Slider running in and out of the strikezone with the occasional changeup, but I didn't try to get the hitter 0-2 by being around the zone often. As a result along with Peavy's high stamina (allowing me to get near 105 pitches), I usually rack up high K counts with Peavy. Now Peavy is a highly rated pitcher, but I've been able to do this with Mat Latos, Ricky Romero, Stephen Strasburg, Mike Leake, and Jeremy Hellickson.

In some starts with Strasburg, Cole Hamels, Hellickson, and Chris Young, I found myself in trouble in the late innings and to no surprise, 75% or more of my pitches were strikes. In those games, the hitters eventually started getting good hits in their third at-bats and swung early in the count (as well as lay off any pitch that's a ball).

[Maynard]

Re: The CPU does not swing at balls

as a team i just had 12 K vs the twins. at least 4 were looking and i am sure 1 or 2 were out of the zone