Anyone tips to avoid striking out?

[Ees110]

I have serious problem laying off pitches. I see that it's going to be out of zone but for whatever reason I still cant stop myself from swinging, especially with 2 strikes. My box score usually has low number of walks and ton of strike outs. I'm hoping that as I play more I will be able to lay off more. Not looking too good right now though.

[saucerset]

Quote: Originally Posted by Friar Fanatic

I started up a test franchise to practice my hitting ability (using the Padres). I am just doing hitting and quick simming the pitching so I can get a lot of practice in while also looking at the sample numbers. Im on default All-Star except I bumped up foup freq to 6 and user timing to 7. Im still striking out between 14-18 times a game lol. I try to be patient but I chase pitches out of the zone a ridiculous amount. I have my pitch speed on 4 for fastballs and 3 for offspeed. Any tips would be greatly appreciated lol

New this year in practice mode, they finally brought back straight batting practice. You can select the pitcher and batter and even the pitch location. It helps to work on timing. I start off with the PCI on and just practice tracking the ball without swinging. Track it better with your eyes and your thumb will follow.

[My993C2]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ees110

I have serious problem laying off pitches. I see that it's going to be out of zone but for whatever reason I still cant stop myself from swinging, especially with 2 strikes. My box score usually has low number of walks and ton of strike outs. I'm hoping that as I play more I will be able to lay off more. Not looking too good right now though.

Give it time. I too hardly drew any walks at all in the early days and definitely struck out more than I should have when I first began to play the game. It took hundreds and hundreds (if not thousands) of plate appearances to learn the sight pictures. I still strike out these days, don't get me wrong. But I draw far more walks and strike out far less than I used to.

[ZoltanZ]

I still swing at bad pitches all the time still and I have been playing this game for years. Its hard to be patient sometimes and wait for your pitch. The worst is guys who throw a lot of junk. Everything looks good out of their hand and then it ends up in the dirt.

I personally feel like certain moments have made me a worse hitter. You need XBH or a HR and the CPU won't throw you anything in the strike zone. That forces you to chase bad pitches because a walk does nothing for you in those moments. They just reinforce bad habits.

I usually try to sit on fastball down the middle or look for a high looping breaking ball that they hung. Thats when I let it rip. If the pitch starts low in the strike zone, it will end up out of the zone typically. Don't be afraid to take a strike too. I used to feel like I needed to swing at everything that was a strike and that led to poor contact and easy outs.

[jeffy777]

Much of it boils down to having the right mindset before each AB. Don't think:"If this is in the zone, I'm swinging", think this way instead: "I am ONLY swinging if this is right in my wheelhouse!" (At least until you get to 2 strikes, then you have to go into protect mode).

That alone makes a HUGE difference and I guarantee you will swing at less garbage and borderline pitches that you otherwise would've missed or resulted in weak contact. Make the pitcher pitch to YOU.

Also don't be in a hurry. Getting into a hitter's count helps a ton, so don't be afraid to watch a good one go by on the first pitch.

[bcruise]

Quote: Originally Posted by jeffy777

Much of it boils down to having the right mindset before each AB. Don't think:"If this is in the zone, I'm swinging", think this way instead: "I am ONLY swinging if this is right in my wheelhouse!" (At least until you get to 2 strikes, then you have to go into protect mode). That alone makes a HUGE difference and I guarantee you will swing at less garbage and borderline pitches that you otherwise would've missed or resulted in weak contact. Make the pitcher pitch to YOU. Also don't be in a hurry. Getting into a hitter's count helps a ton, so don't be afraid to watch a good one go by on the first pitch.

All of this. I've felt for a long time that the main reason people have such a struggle hitting in this game/series is that they are in a two-strike mindset on every pitch of an AB. You will almost never be in good hitters' counts (let alone walk) if that is your approach. This is evident in the number of people who struggle with grounding into double plays every year and then come here to complain about it. On lower levels it's possible to get away with it....sometimes. But even then you're going to make contact on the edges of the contact PCI zone much more often than in the middle, and hit into easy outs as a result.

Your chances of solid contact and a positive result increase the more you try to look for/identify one pitch and wait until the pitcher throws it there. Even if a pitch is going to be a strike, unless you already have two strikes, just take it if it's not going where you want it to be.

Check out the Hitting - Other Tips Pages 5 and 6 in the in-game guide for some more stuff you might not be familiar with about how hitting works in the game.

[jcar0725]

Quote: Originally Posted by bcruise

All of this. I've felt for a long time that the main reason people have such a struggle hitting in this game/series is that they are in a two-strike mindset on every pitch of an AB. You will almost never be in good hitters' counts (let alone walk) if that is your approach. This is evident in the number of people who struggle with grounding into double plays every year and then come here to complain about it. On lower levels it's possible to get away with it....sometimes. But even then you're going to make contact on the edges of the contact PCI zone much more often than in the middle, and hit into easy outs as a result. Your chances of solid contact and a positive result increase the more you try to look for/identify one pitch and wait until the pitcher throws it there. Even if a pitch is going to be a strike, unless you already have two strikes, just take it if it's not going where you want it to be. Check out the Hitting - Other Tips 2 Pages 5 and 6 in the in-game guide for some more stuff you might not be familiar with about how hitting works in the game.

I've gotten way better at hitting over the years by simply having a plan. I wait for a hanging breaking ball in the zone. By doing this, I find it way easier to judge the strike zone all around. And I can react when the CPU grooves a fastball.

If I don't have that kind of plan, then I'm reacting to every pitch thrown and I can't react fast enough because I'm not just focused on one zone.

[Rmiok222]

Honestly you’ve had all great advice in this thread. I’d agree with the ones who say to change your camera. Try the show 15 camera. It helps with low pitches. Practice mode this year is really cool too because you can make the cpu pitcher throw ALL breaking balls low if you’d like too, if that’s what you’re struggling with.

One thing nobody has said though, when I get in a funk, I purposely take the first pitch of an at bat for awhile. For one it kind of “calms me down”. It makes me less giddy. So just being relaxed, chilling out knowing you’re taking pitch one can help me me from time to time. One other thing is the cpu uses pitch confidence really well, if you keep whiffing at changeups they will keep throwing them frequently so I’d keep that in mind too. Kevin Gausman was killing me my last game I played with a splitter.


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