Drawing Walks in RTTS

[allhailben7]

I made a speed/contact CF and I have taken the most conservative approach I can possibly take at the plate, but I can't draw a reasonable amount of walks. I have lowered both Strike Frequency and Pitcher Consistency to 4 to help, but I still have games where I literally only get like 3-4 pitches out of the zone in 4+ at-bats.

I'm only 25 games in, so it might not be the best sample size, but it's starting to get pretty frustrating. I only have 4 walks in 109 plate appearances, along with 7 strikeouts. I watch the first pitch in 90+% of my at-bats and usually watch the second as well. Because of this, I'm currently sitting at a 50-55% strikes taken rate. I've also done a good job at recognizing borderline/out-of-zone pitches, with a sub-25% balls chased rate... but I still can't draw walks.

This is killing me on 2 fronts: 1) I have a low OBP because of the poor walk rate and 2) I am stuck in the .250-.270 range because I am constantly getting to 1-2 or 0-2 counts before I get a real swing in.

Another point: out of the walks that I *have* drawn, 2 of them were 7+ pitches (has to be one of the most rewarding things in the game, drawing a walk out of an 0-2/1-2 count).

Is anyone else having this much trouble trying to draw walks in RTTS?

[Schreibi34]

Re: Drawing Walks in RTTS

I just played a couple of games in my RTTS but if it's like in 13 you won't draw many walks until you raise your Plate Discipline Attribute to a certain point. Once it is good enough for the league the Pitcher will start to "help" you a bit drawing your walks.

[bcruise]

Re: Drawing Walks in RTTS

This is probably a side effect of the difficulty shift in RTTS - that is, on AA and MLB you're not truly playing on the difficulty level it says. The difficulty is one step lower on AA, and if, for example, that step is All-Star (stated) down to Veteran (actual), the CPU is going to pump strikes and rarely try to get you to chase/walk you. It will do that at the higher levels (especially HOF and Legend), but it'll also be harder to hit for a good average.

If you want more details on that check my recent post in the RTTS thread. I'm sure sliders could help too, but I haven't really done much with them outside of Nomo's CPU testing.

[olig23]

Re: Drawing Walks in RTTS

I thought I'd give this thread a bump.

Is it just me that finds it difficult to draw walks? I am not a free-swinging hitter, in fact I rarely swing at the first pitch and often find myself ahead 2-0. However, it seems I always end up with a 3-2 or 2-2 count and drawing walks feels unusually difficult. I would need to be leaving borderline calls that could be a strike out in order to take a more realistic number of walks.

I am perfectly open to the possibility that it is simply that I am not so good at reading the path of the ball, I sometimes find myself fighting off pitches that are obviously too far inside, but I would say I read outside and low pitches quite well in general.

I just wanted to see if it were me, or if this is something many others find too?

Also, does plate discipline affect this? If so, how? I assumed it only affects check swings as opposed to the CPU pitchers location.

[jmik58]

Re: Drawing Walks in RTTS

I wish QC were available in RTTS.

Other than that, you have to play around with sliders such as "Strike Frequency" or anything related to the CPU pitcher ability. Just be careful you don't make them so bad that everything starts floating down the heart of the plate.

[bcruise]

Re: Drawing Walks in RTTS

I thought I'd give this thread a bump.

Is it just me that finds it difficult to draw walks? I am not a free-swinging hitter, in fact I rarely swing at the first pitch and often find myself ahead 2-0. However, it seems I always end up with a 3-2 or 2-2 count and drawing walks feels unusually difficult. I would need to be leaving borderline calls that could be a strike out in order to take a more realistic number of walks.

I am perfectly open to the possibility that it is simply that I am not so good at reading the path of the ball, I sometimes find myself fighting off pitches that are obviously too far inside, but I would say I read outside and low pitches quite well in general.

I just wanted to see if it were me, or if this is something many others find too?

Also, does plate discipline affect this? If so, how? I assumed it only affects check swings as opposed to the CPU pitchers location.

It's not just you. Whether because of the low discipline or whatever (the attribute description does say it's a factor in walks), it's extremely hard to draw a base on balls in RTTS with those low-rated players. I wouldn't say the CPU pounds the zone on me non-stop as I can reach 3 ball counts quite often, but it just doesn't want to give me that 4th ball. Even on Legend, where the CPU probably tries to make you chase the most with its pitching strategy.

I'm no slider expert - not anymore, anyway - but I'm messing around with the CPU pitch consistency slider to try to find a balance between earning walks and just being spoon-fed them.

[dalger21]

Re: Drawing Walks in RTTS

Increase plate DISC and VIS. I've been playing RttS since '08 and each year, I increase those stats and eventually end up averaging 100 walks per year. I never had to mess with sliders to achieve this either. At the very beginning of your RttS career, you won't draw many walks. Once you put pts towards discipline and vision, you will see more walks.

[Stolm]

Re: Drawing Walks in RTTS

This is probably a side effect of the difficulty shift in RTTS - that is, on AA and MLB you're not truly playing on the difficulty level it says. The difficulty is one step lower on AA, and if, for example, that step is All-Star (stated) down to Veteran (actual), the CPU is going to pump strikes and rarely try to get you to chase/walk you. It will do that at the higher levels (especially HOF and Legend), but it'll also be harder to hit for a good average.

If you want more details on that check my recent post in the RTTS thread. I'm sure sliders could help too, but I haven't really done much with them outside of Nomo's CPU testing.

The difficulty shift is definitely one of the causes for the low walks. I recommend playing one above your normal difficulty for AA, and then lower it back once you reach AAA.

Another reason I believe is because of your created players low power stats. Even if you are tearing the cover off the ball with lots of homers and extra base hits, you probably won't see them pitch around you very often until your power stats are at a certain level.

Anyways that's my experience. Hoping next year we see a revamp of the difficulties and the overall AI.

[jmik58]

Re: Drawing Walks in RTTS

Another reason I believe is because of your created players low power stats. Even if you are tearing the cover off the ball with lots of homers and extra base hits, you probably won't see them pitch around you very often until your power stats are at a certain level.

I think you just nailed it right there.

The issue is how the CPU perceives your RTTS player. My guy Rory McMahon (see link in signature below) is a power hitter but I've barely touched his contact ratings. He has a contact rating of like 50, which is incredibly low. When I play I use zone hitting where I control the PCI with my left thumb, therefore "overriding" his contact ratings.

Since McMahon has such low contact ratings, the CPU sees no reason to pitch around him. What they don't realize is that a human player is influencing the RTTS player's ability to make better contact.

This likely wouldn't impact someone playing with a different hitting interface, but that's what I use so I deal with it. If I was to increase Rory's contact ratings I'm sure the CPU would pitch around him more.

These are just theories but it makes good sense to me.

[PhilliesFan13]

Re: Drawing Walks in RTTS

Increase plate DISC and VIS. I've been playing RttS since '08 and each year, I increase those stats and eventually end up averaging 100 walks per year. I never had to mess with sliders to achieve this either. At the very beginning of your RttS career, you won't draw many walks. Once you put pts towards discipline and vision, you will see more walks.

This right here.

[JohnnyP1119]

Re: Drawing Walks in RTTS

Increase plate DISC and VIS. I've been playing RttS since '08 and each year, I increase those stats and eventually end up averaging 100 walks per year. I never had to mess with sliders to achieve this either. At the very beginning of your RttS career, you won't draw many walks. Once you put pts towards discipline and vision, you will see more walks.

Yeah...my guys started around 35 or so in both vision and discipline and I had to work my butt off just to draw about a walk about once in every 10-15 games. Now I'm around 55 with both and I've been drawing on average like one every 2 or 3 games.