MLB 12 The Show - All Hitting Tips

[titan23]

Thought I'd make a thread on all hitting tips for MLB 12 The Show. I've been having difficulty hitting this year, which makes it a lot more enjoyable when I do get a hit. So any tips for hitting including:

-Best camera angle
-Pitch speed slider
-Sliders in general
-Timing hitting
-Analog hitting
-Zone hitting
-Zone and analog hitting
-General hitting tips
-Where to keep your eyes
-Rookie, Veteran, All-Star, HoF, and Legend difficulty hitting
-Which counts to lay off or swing on
-Best way to hit breaking pitches
-How to read breaking balls and changeups
-ETC..

As you can see, there's a whole lot we can get from this. So I'm asking the more experienced Show hitters, and others in general to share your hitting tips so everyone can have better success at the plate.

EDIT:

General Hitting Tips:
dalger21 - The key to being a good hitter in The Show is to have patience. What you have to do is watch the flight of the ball. If it comes out straight then you know it's a fastball. If it comes out in a "floating" motion then you know it will be an offspeed pitch. Don't use guess pitch.

Panthro63 - Be patient, and stay calm. Especially with guys on base, don't be embarrassed to call time a few times to take the pitcher out of rhythm - and to give yourself a breath. If I'm down 0-2 against a tough pitcher, I'll use Guess Pitch 1/6 and choose straight down/fastball. Also, look at the pitcher's ratings for BB/K. If he walks a lot of guys, get in the habit of taking the first pitch or two.

pistolpete - The key to hitting is to swing at pitches you can whomp, and don't swing at those you cannot whomp. Also, just because a pitch is going to be a strike on the corner doesn't mean you have to swing at it.

Hambones - You can hold R2 and move the right analog to influence the ball to a certain direction. up is fly ball, you can pull the ball or go oppo, or you can aim down for a ground ball.

N51_rob - Don't be afraid to strike out looking, would be my tip. A good way to see more pitches and sometimes use the info learned to draw more walks, see more pitches, see the same pitch in a similar location is to take pitches. While I am learning the strike zone I usually turn check swing appeals off.

Sinner618 - Watch the confidence meter located next to each pitchers pitch. If he's given up a few hits lately on a changeup, the confidence bar for changeup is probably lower then say his fastball. Once in a while, try guessing the lowest confidence pitch he has, cause if you guess right, you can gollywhomp that sucka. So that's my hitting and pitching tip: watch the confidence meter of each pitch.

letsgopens66 - 1. Don't be afraid to take strikes. 2. 2-0, 3-1, and 2-1 counts are your friend. 3. During the game, find your weakness and address it. 4. Use contact swing to fight off two strike pitches.

dkrause1971 - My tip is record what you doing. I have a sheet where i write the following information down after the game. The teams playing. The pitcher i faced. The CPU pitching sliders i used for control, consistency and strike frequency. Then Strike %, chased, swung, fly balls, ground balls, fouls and total pitches.

Home Run Tips:
Matrix - For home runs:
1: Use Pure Analog (either one)
2: R2+Up for Fly-ball
3: Power swing
4: Stride just early (practice in HR derby, then get a feel for actual pitcher wind ups)

Zone Analog Hitting:
Avarice - Beginning the AB w/ the left stick pressed 3/4 up. So starting 3/4 up allows me the leeway to recognize that high fastball that I would never reach had I started in the neutral position. My advice (for those using zones and especially if you're having consistent issues hitting a certain zone) is to experiment with initial left stick positions.

Camera Angle Tips:
dkrause1971 - I would suggest changing batting view. I use catcher with the view zoomed in a bit.

[dalger21]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - All Hitting Tips

The key to being a good hitter in The Show (or any baseball game tbh) is to have patient. You can't swing at every pitch that looks good coming out of the pitchers hand. Otherwise, you will spend your time frustrated because you're striking out so much or hitting weak grounders.

My RttS player always has had a high walk total simply because I don't chase pitches all that often. The key is to recognize the speed and flight of the ball. I know it is easier said than done but it is the truth. For instance, the change up is probably the pitch that people have the hardest time laying off, me included. If someone is throwing 96 then has a change up that is at 81, that's gonna be a tough match up. What you have to do is watch the flight of the ball. If it comes out straight then you know it's a fastball. If it comes out in a "floating" motion then you know it will be an offspeed pitch.

Again, the key to it all is patience. Vary your swing pattern. Don't always swing at fast balls simply because they look good. In the previous games with my RttS player, I normally average about 100 walks per year but with 200+ hits. It's all about waiting for your pitch to hit and taking advantage of it or simply taking the walk. (just like in real life to be honest)

[titan23]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - All Hitting Tips

Thank you for that tip. Should I update the first post with all the tips so people won't have to search for it?

[Proff56]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - All Hitting Tips

Thank you for that tip. Should I update the first post with all the tips so people won't have to search for it?

That's a good idea. I always have issues hitting.

[titan23]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - All Hitting Tips

Once we get more tips I will update the first post.

[Panthro63]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - All Hitting Tips

Be patient, stay calm and don't let your nerves get to you.
Especially with guys on base, don't be embarrassed to call time a few times to take the pitcher out of rhythm - and to give yourself a breath.

If I'm down 0-2 against a tough pitcher, I'll use Guess Pitch 1/6 and choose straight down/fastball. This helps me avoid striking out on junk in the dirty just because the depth perception is off.

Also, look at the pitcher's ratings for BB/K. If he walks a lot of guys, get in the habit of taking the first pitch or two.

That's how I've been surviving!

[lVlAtlZiX]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - All Hitting Tips

Ill just give my HR hitting tips:

1: Use Pure Analog (either one)
2: R2+Up for Fly-ball
3: Power swing
4: Stride just early (practice in HR derby, then get a feel for actual pitcher wind ups)

It has helped me out so far.

[drsonoma]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - All Hitting Tips

The key to being a good hitter in The Show (or any baseball game tbh) is to have patient. You can't swing at every pitch that looks good coming out of the pitchers hand. Otherwise, you will spend your time frustrated because you're striking out so much or hitting weak grounders.

My RttS player always has had a high walk total simply because I don't chase pitches all that often. The key is to recognize the speed and flight of the ball. I know it is easier said than done but it is the truth. For instance, the change up is probably the pitch that people have the hardest time laying off, me included. If someone is throwing 96 then has a change up that is at 81, that's gonna be a tough match up. What you have to do is watch the flight of the ball. If it comes out straight then you know it's a fastball. If it comes out in a "floating" motion then you know it will be an offspeed pitch.

Again, the key to it all is patience. Vary your swing pattern. Don't always swing at fast balls simply because they look good. In the previous games with my RttS player, I normally average about 100 walks per year but with 200+ hits. It's all about waiting for your pitch to hit and taking advantage of it or simply taking the walk. (just like in real life to be honest)

Wow! That is a LOT of walks and a lot of hits. A couple of questions:

1. When you say you only hit "your pitch" what is "your pitch"? Does it vary? If so, why/how?

2. I've never played RttS, only season mode on All Star with timed hitting. One of the usual complaints about not drawing walks is that the CPU doesn't throw enough balls. Is there something different about RttS or are most of us not approaching our at-bats with the proper strategy?

Thanks!

[ptbnl]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - All Hitting Tips

I'm playing RTTS and no matter what the pitch is (94 mph fastball, 89 mph fb, 78 mph curve, etc...) I am late every time. I hit to the right side in about 90% of my at-bats.

To be honest, I can't even remember pulling anything that wasn't a bleeder to the shortstop for a double play.

Is that a result of poor attributes? Or am I doing something wrong? (I have default, second-level hitting difficulty on -- I forget if it's veteran or not.)

[pistolpete]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - All Hitting Tips

There is one key to hitting and it doesn't involve camera angles, or special guess pitch commands or controls. Those all need to be tailored to what you are comfortable with.

The key to hitting is to swing at pitches you can whomp, and don't swing at those you cannot whomp. Also, just because a pitch is going to be a strike on the corner doesn't mean you have to swing at it.

[h4mbon3s]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - All Hitting Tips

The key to hitting is to swing at pitches you can whomp, and don't swing at those you cannot whomp. Also, just because a pitch is going to be a strike on the corner doesn't mean you have to swing at it.

this is such a simple tip but it's so easy to forget about. you wanna go up there and guess that low fastball that you can bomb over the fence... then you end up swinging at a curveball way out of the zone. now i don't swing if i don't know what pitch is coming or where it's going.

what really helped me out was the R2+right analog thing. I never knew about it until a couple days ago, now i'm stringing hits together and having great games, i had 18 hits in a game last night, scored 4 runs in one inning

[ptbnl]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - All Hitting Tips

this is such a simple tip but it's so easy to forget about. you wanna go up there and guess that low fastball that you can bomb over the fence... then you end up swinging at a curveball way out of the zone. now i don't swing if i don't know what pitch is coming or where it's going.

what really helped me out was the R2+right analog thing. I never knew about it until a couple days ago, now i'm stringing hits together and having great games, i had 18 hits in a game last night, scored 4 runs in one inning

So I have to ask, what is "the R2+ right analog thing"? I have never heard of that I don't think.

[dalger21]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - All Hitting Tips

Wow! That is a LOT of walks and a lot of hits. A couple of questions:

1. When you say you only hit "your pitch" what is "your pitch"? Does it vary? If so, why/how?

2. I've never played RttS, only season mode on All Star with timed hitting. One of the usual complaints about not drawing walks is that the CPU doesn't throw enough balls. Is there something different about RttS or are most of us not approaching our at-bats with the proper strategy?

Thanks!

1. It doesnt really vary. What I mean is to wait for your pitch that you can do something with. It can be that hanging slider or change up that just floats into the middle of the zone. Try to avoid the "pitchers pitch". By that I mean the fast ball low and away on the corner or high and up in the zone. You won't do anything but hit a weak grounder or pop it up. Normally, you will get one good pitch to do something with in any given at-bat. Foul off the pitchers pitch when you have two strikes on you. Settle for the walk instead of being too aggressive and getting yourself out. That's how I manage to do pretty well. I had to adjust this year because the strike zone is so big but I managed.

2. No, not really. RttS has some things that are different when it comes to the batter/pitcher interface. The DISC and VIS helps with getting more balls but the main thing is not swinging at all close pitches. I think people are just impatient in the other modes (Franchise, exhibition, etc) and don't want to just wait for a good pitch to hit. They see the ball that looks like a strike and swing away, thereby getting themselves out. Just because it's a strike doesn't mean you have to swing at it unless you have two strikes on it. If you swing just late (but not too late) you can foul it off and get something else to try to hit. In last years game, I had a year with my RttS player where I had something like 120 walks. Last night, I had a game where I walked 4 times. It's all about patient and not swinging at the pitchers pitch.

[h4mbon3s]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - All Hitting Tips

So I have to ask, what is "the R2+ right analog thing"? I have never heard of that I don't think.

you can hold R2 and move the right analog to influence the ball to a certain direction. up is fly ball, you can pull the ball or go oppo, or you can aim down for a ground ball. it's helped me out a lot.

[ptbnl]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - All Hitting Tips

you can hold R2 and move the right analog to influence the ball to a certain direction. up is fly ball, you can pull the ball or go oppo, or you can aim down for a ground ball. it's helped me out a lot.

Wait, are you on analog swinging? Because if you are, how are you swinging while aiming?