I can't figure out zone hitting and it's driving me insane

[RockPowderDownLoL]

pay attention to the pitchers front foot as the pitch is coming towards you while still focusing on the ball in righty vs righty or lefty vs lefty matchups.

[bigdave117]

bump for more opinions

[sirjam]

Strike zone cam def helps although I'm intrigued about off set after being mentioned in this thread. I keep it in the middle and then try to adjust with the pitch. Pay attention to your feedback so you know why you were off.

[bcruise]

Quote: Originally Posted by nomo17k

I recommend reading the Hitting section of the in-game Strategy Guide for tips on the PCI placement. (Go to pause menu while playing a game, then Controls & Strategy -> Hitting). If you are not good at moving PCI while the pitch comes to you (I'm one of these people), one thing you can do is to preload PCI near the place where you expect a pitch and only swing if the pitch comes near that zone and lay off if it's not in the zone.

This is my approach before two strikes (at which point I will try to react to the ball to just get it in play) and it allows me to play effectively on HOF default.

As long as I'm focusing I'm capable of laying off anything that's going to move outside of my PCI (visible or invisible - I have a pretty good idea of what most of them look like on HOF, and how the opposing pitchers' ratings will affect their size), especially balls that will miss left or right. Up and down do fool me at times - but I see that as just a hitter getting fooled when he expected a fastball and the ball just dives out of his sight (or the reverse).

With this approach I will take many corner strikes. If I start to pick up on patterns then I'll start loading my PCI in a spot where I'm guessing the pitch will be going (but still not moving it during the pitch).

Aside from the obvious - not chasing after pitches that I'm going to make poor/no contact on - this approach gives me the advantage of being able to focus more on my timing in hitter's counts - and I can really do some damage if I time up a fastball heading straight into my PCI. I don't think I'd be able to turn on and pull fastballs with any other approach.

[sdatkins]

I am by no means a zone hitting expert, but I hit fairly well on All Star. I always start with my PCI in the upper third of the strike zone, because I have a bad habit of moving my PCI down for everything. If I ever played online, which I don't, all a player would have to do is throw me up in the zone and I would hit fly outs and pop ups all day. Having my PCI up in the zone allows me to hit anything middle down very, very well, since I drop my PCI, so those are the pitches I swing at unless there are two strikes, then I just try to fight off anything up. I also struggle with pitches in, unless they are offspeed, so I look middle away as well.

As far as knowing what pitch is coming, it is all about repetition. Figure out what camera works for you and stick with it. I switched to strike zone last year and my plate discipline has gotten a lot better. The toughest pitches to recognize are sliders down, running away, I still chase those a decent amount, but for me the hardest is definitely the change up and splitter that are down in the zone. I for one still think the difference in speed between change up and fastball is far too great, especially for guys who have it as their 4th or 5th pitch. Anything up in the zone is usually pretty easy to read once you get the hang of it.

[Aviator87AC]

I switched to directional hitting last year and never looked back. Zone hitting is what a lot of us grew up with playing baseball games but it just isn't implemented properly in MLBTS to be consistent or rewarding at the major league level on all-star or above.

That being said, the first and most fundamental thing I'd do is learn the different flight paths of each pitch type. Know the difference between a cutter and a 2SFB. What's a running fast ball and how does it differ? A curveball can look a lot like a slider until it breaks. Understanding these aspects of pitching will not only make you a better hitter, it'll give a greater appreciation to the experience of The Show.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, learn how much you need to pull or push the analog stick for zone hitting. I found myself popping out a lot and realized I had a habit of pulling the stick down at the last second as I went to swing. Start off by leaving the stick neutral (no input). Then try giving varied amounts of input as you choose.

Lastly, set your "swing area". Just because it's a strike doesn't mean you have to swing. This is perhaps one of the hardest and most important rules to learn, especially as a new player. It's unnatural to let a pitch go by for a strike. In fact, instinctually we always try to hit the ball. Set a swing area for yourself and stick to it. Then set a pitch type that you're looking for and stick to that. My two favorites are a breaking change up, up over the plate and a 4SFB slightly in. If the pitch isn't your type or in your area, don't swing. More times than not, it's called a ball anyway.

Once you identify these idiosyncrasies and establish parameters on when to swing and when not to, you'll build a solid hitters profile - especially for zone hitting.

[Bunselpower32]

It's going to sound trite and really cliche, but do batting practice. Just do it over and over and over. Pick a guy with a slider and no curve, and then a guy with a Curve and no slider. Learn those pitches. You have to be able to distinguish between those pitches and a fastball if you want any success, and trying it with a guy that throws both won't help.

I used to swing at every single offspeed pitch because unlike real life, you can't see the spin. But after taking Matt Carpenter through hours of batting practice, the difference out of the pitchers hand became more and more obvious. I'm nowhere near an expert, but I'm not terrible at picking out balls and swinging at strikes.

Something else that helped me immensely just this year was a quote I heard from Tommy Herr (For those that don't know, in 1985 he had 110 RBI on only 8 home runs). He said "An average major league pitcher will give you about one good pitch to hit during an at bat. As a major league hitter, it's your job to not only find it, but do something with it." What he meant here was that before you get 2 strikes, if a pitch isn't center cut or somewhere you like it, don't swing, even if it's a strike. There's a good pitch somewhere in there, and it may just be that it comes with two strikes, and if you swing too early and get out you won't even see that pitch.

As far as the PCI goes, that was another story, more practice and since I play offline with a higher pitch speed, I don't have time to place it perfectly, I just basically react.

[KeeganJacobs]

What is the big difference between Analog vs directional hitting ? It looks like Analog is better because the PCI automatically moves to the ball and all we have to do is decide normal, contact, or power swing with the right stick vs directional, we pick which direction to hit the ball?

As for camera, i just can't decide between zoom, strikezone, or fish eye.

I just would like one that gives me enough time to read the pitch and can read if its breaking too low cause sometimes the break seems to be in the strike zone but then when i see the results, its way down.