OK. Sunday morning..
I woke up and wanted to get back at MLB11.... wanted to get this/my hitting issues taken care of. I went to the Good At-Bat session. I like to spend time in the Good At-Bat sessions. This gives me a variety of pitches and situations etc...
After flailing for a few sessions... something from deep within my memory banks emerged. It was an SI article i remember reading a loOong time ago where Wade Boggs, Don Mattingly and Ted Williams discussed hitting. THE nugget that I remembered this morning was this:
Weight and then Wait.
Don Mattingly's approach. Weight transfer, and then wait as long as you could on a pitch and then.. EXPLODE into the pitch.
Quote: "MATTINGLY: What I was always taught was to wait, wait, wait, see the ball and then hit it. I get my weight back -- wait, wait, wait, then throw it."
So, first part:
WEIGHT = pull stick back - when? When I could see the pitchers hand on top. (even that is a bit earlier according to the vid-tutorials, but that became my starting point) Oh, and yes, I only pull back slightly, not ALL the down on the R-Stick.
Second part:
WAIT --- for as long as i could on the pitch before EXPLODING my swing into the pitch. The benefit of this mindset, was that i ended up waiting on many pitches that were balls, pitches i definitely swung at for before.
Weight and Wait and Explode!
So then i proceeded to go into each Batting Practice Mode: Timing, Contact, Discipline, Recognition, and again with the Good At-Bat session.. I did this cycle of practice a couple of times. But by the second time in, I knew i had found my stroke. I could see the results already.. I could see and hear the solid contact being made. Amazing.
Ok.. so then i played an offline game (albeit I have my offline hitting set to 'Veteran') I won the game with 10+ hits
Next was the big test - to see if i really had learned anything. ONLINE - PLAY NOW.
Well, well, well.. 2nd pitch, a curveball I hit for a leadoff HR with Rajai Davis of the Blue Jays. I scored 4 runs in the top of 1st inn! (please.. don't quit.. please don't quit..) Just yesterday.. I was flailng early on Curveballs I thought i had good timing on..
All-in-all, I hammered 5 HR's Rajai Davis (x2), Lind, and Bautista, and Arrencebia. Final tally was 10 Runs, 15 hits!!! I still struck out 8 times, but it wasn't 14+ times!!!!
Before this game, I was hitting .173 after 8 online games.
This approach really worked for me today!!!! Weight and Wait and Explode. Wow! feels nice to have found my stroke.
NOTE #1
I used Wide 3 batting cam Online. Offline, I was playing around w/ Wide 2 but found I was laying off too many low strikes.. with Wide 3, I can see the lower pitches a bit better. I also like Wide cams becasue you get to see a little more of the distance travelled by the pitch...
NOTE #2
here is the article. It came out in 1986. AWESOME READ!!!
So it was only 1 game. I will continue this mindset.. but i KNOW I've turned a corner. Thanks SCEA San Diego - for making a great game that takes into account this 'real-life' philosphy. Kudos to you guys and gals. and Ramone.. and the Mods here, for putting up with all my negative posts so far.
Cheers!
I woke up and wanted to get back at MLB11.... wanted to get this/my hitting issues taken care of. I went to the Good At-Bat session. I like to spend time in the Good At-Bat sessions. This gives me a variety of pitches and situations etc...
After flailing for a few sessions... something from deep within my memory banks emerged. It was an SI article i remember reading a loOong time ago where Wade Boggs, Don Mattingly and Ted Williams discussed hitting. THE nugget that I remembered this morning was this:
Weight and then Wait.
Don Mattingly's approach. Weight transfer, and then wait as long as you could on a pitch and then.. EXPLODE into the pitch.
Quote: "MATTINGLY: What I was always taught was to wait, wait, wait, see the ball and then hit it. I get my weight back -- wait, wait, wait, then throw it."
So, first part:
WEIGHT = pull stick back - when? When I could see the pitchers hand on top. (even that is a bit earlier according to the vid-tutorials, but that became my starting point) Oh, and yes, I only pull back slightly, not ALL the down on the R-Stick.
Second part:
WAIT --- for as long as i could on the pitch before EXPLODING my swing into the pitch. The benefit of this mindset, was that i ended up waiting on many pitches that were balls, pitches i definitely swung at for before.
Weight and Wait and Explode!
So then i proceeded to go into each Batting Practice Mode: Timing, Contact, Discipline, Recognition, and again with the Good At-Bat session.. I did this cycle of practice a couple of times. But by the second time in, I knew i had found my stroke. I could see the results already.. I could see and hear the solid contact being made. Amazing.
Ok.. so then i played an offline game (albeit I have my offline hitting set to 'Veteran') I won the game with 10+ hits
Next was the big test - to see if i really had learned anything. ONLINE - PLAY NOW.
Well, well, well.. 2nd pitch, a curveball I hit for a leadoff HR with Rajai Davis of the Blue Jays. I scored 4 runs in the top of 1st inn! (please.. don't quit.. please don't quit..) Just yesterday.. I was flailng early on Curveballs I thought i had good timing on..
All-in-all, I hammered 5 HR's Rajai Davis (x2), Lind, and Bautista, and Arrencebia. Final tally was 10 Runs, 15 hits!!! I still struck out 8 times, but it wasn't 14+ times!!!!
Before this game, I was hitting .173 after 8 online games.
This approach really worked for me today!!!! Weight and Wait and Explode. Wow! feels nice to have found my stroke.
NOTE #1
I used Wide 3 batting cam Online. Offline, I was playing around w/ Wide 2 but found I was laying off too many low strikes.. with Wide 3, I can see the lower pitches a bit better. I also like Wide cams becasue you get to see a little more of the distance travelled by the pitch...
NOTE #2
here is the article. It came out in 1986. AWESOME READ!!!
So it was only 1 game. I will continue this mindset.. but i KNOW I've turned a corner. Thanks SCEA San Diego - for making a great game that takes into account this 'real-life' philosphy. Kudos to you guys and gals. and Ramone.. and the Mods here, for putting up with all my negative posts so far.
Cheers!
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