Detailing the Changes to Hitting Coming to MLB The Show 19

[WaitTilNextYear]

I think the new paradigm of "forced inefficiency" of secondary pitches and/or spamming the same pitch will be quite interesting. I doubt people will be happy with how it's tuned right when the game releases--they will probably need a few patches before getting something that isn't too overbearing about how you choose to mix pitches but also accomplishes their underlying goal of people online not cheesing as much with throwing 90% offspeed.

Not really a fan of the "tiering" that I'm hearing (bout to drop this mixtape) with pitch 3 getting worse faster than pitch 2...and this is because pitch 2 might actually not be as good of a pitch as pitch 3 but it could be more of a setup pitch that is thrown more often. Unless, the game ships with P1-P5 ranked by effectiveness somehow (which it won't, knowing this as someone who has done pitch edits for several years) I'm not sure it makes a lot of sense. I think we can all get on board with smart batter AI that could find patterns in what you're doing and exploit that against you, but I'm unconvinced that making the actual pitch physically worse just because it's thrown more often (seems illogical) is the right way to accomplish this. Again, this is where the knowledge that this is really intended in hum vs hum online games is helpful to understand why they went this route.

It'll be interesting to see how this new system interacts specifically with relievers, many of whom basically only throw 2 pitches and oftentimes will throw one or the other several times in a row.

Finally, it would be nice if the focus on pitch sequencing would've come along with a realization that a minimum of 3 pitches or a maximum of 5 pitches is pretty restrictive. Again, almost all relievers only throw 2 pitches. There are several starters (Tanaka, Bauer, Keuchel, Darvish etc) that throw at least 6. As one of those starters with a deep arsenal, it would help avoid these repeater penalties if you had your entire repertoire to select from.

[bcruise]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

I didn't realize it was every time, but if that's the thing, then I don't consider that a big deal personally.

I do have some concerns about the stumble in offline play, but not in the scenario described here. And that's for one simple reason - the CPU does not do this move, ever. And I have no problem nerfing something that could be used to game the AI (or another user due to the game mechanics) into the ground. This is apples and oranges to the rocket bunting situation IMO, because that was a key part of baseball that became difficult/impossible for people do.

That said, I'll miss the rush of hitting that 50/50 back pick to first (which is more like 80/20 once I've seen it a few times) when people would try to spam this move.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by bcruise

I do have some concerns about the stumble in offline play, but not in the scenario described here. And that's for one simple reason - the CPU does not do this move, ever. And I have no problem nerfing something that could be used to game the AI (or another user due to the game mechanics) into the ground. That said, I'll miss the rush of hitting that 50/50 back pick to first (which is more like 80/20 once I've seen it a few times) when people would try to spam this move. Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Yeah as an offline player I don’t see this as a big deal because the CPU never returns on a pitchout, and I don’t either.

And you’re right, this doesn’t fall in the same category as rocket bunts

Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[underdog13]

If they just made the offspeed pitches less effective overall, there wouldn't be need for this bandaid fix for tiered pitches.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[nemesis04]

Does this make the individual pitch type confidence irrelevant now? Basically the pitch is going to deteriorate based on use. I wonder why they just did not make it more difficult to establish confidence on the lower tier pitches which would result in less effectiveness? That way seems more believable to me.

[Cycloniac]

Quote: Originally Posted by nemesis04

Does this make the individual pitch type confidence irrelevant now? Basically the pitch is going to deteriorate based on use. I wonder why they just did not make it more difficult to establish confidence on the lower tier pitches which would result in less effectiveness? That way seems more believable to me.

I was just about to ask this myself because this has suddenly become confusing

If I max out my pitch confidence for my third pitch in a five pitch arsenal, does that mean I won't be penalized for continuing to throw it?

If my third pitch is a fastball, does that mean the penalty for overthrowing it will be relatively less than if it was a breaking ball?

Hmm.

[KBLover]

Quote: Originally Posted by Cycloniac

I was just about to ask this myself because this has suddenly become confusing If I max out my pitch confidence for my third pitch in a five pitch arsenal, does that mean I won't be penalized for continuing to throw it? If my third pitch is a fastball, does that mean the penalty for overthrowing it will be relatively less than if it was a breaking ball? Hmm.

I'm not really sure how "confidence" worked (or what it means in baseball terms, especially since pitchers already have a "variable stuff" to them), though I'm guessing it's a ratings modifier? If so, then the (over)usage modifier could just be another in the pile along with the fatigue modifier, playing hurt, etc.

So, high confidence + good pitcher + good stamina left = more wiggle room from the over-usage modifier.

Having to use lower "confidence" pitches, especially if they are weaker pitches could be another adventure.

[RogerDodger]

Quote: Originally Posted by nemesis04

Does this make the individual pitch type confidence irrelevant now? Basically the pitch is going to deteriorate based on use. I wonder why they just did not make it more difficult to establish confidence on the lower tier pitches which would result in less effectiveness? That way seems more believable to me.

Your suggestion makes more sense to me, or make the AI smarter as well. One thing we don’t know from SDS to my knowledge is how this will affect the AI. Will AI pitching also deteriorate? Will my catcher amend pitch call strategy? It’s been built for online games.