Feature Idea - Plate Disc
 

When playing with players manually, it feels like plate discipline doesn't do a whole lot. I thought about a feature where the higher the discipline rating that a player has, the easier it is for the user to determine a strike or a ball. I believe that it impacts check swing ability, but I feel like much of it is wasted.

Currently, outside of check swings it feels like user controlled Juan Soto has the same discipline as user controlled [insert 200 k player here]. Since you are batting for every player, your discipline ability is basically applied to every hitter.

The feature could help simulate discipline ratings better. Maybe it could highlight the top, bottom, left, or right of the zone either red or blue depending on if it's a strike or a ball.

Maybe the higher the rating, could lead to any of the following, or a combination of them

1.) The more often it triggers.
2.) The more often it is accurate
3.) The more often it triggers on close pitches.

It doesn't have to be every pitch, but I feel like it could be cool to simulate this idea.

Re: Feature Idea - Plate Disc
 

This could be tested (and I haven’t done so) but what it *feels* like to me is that guys with high discipline ratings get thrown more balls than they otherwise would. So like a guy with 50con/50pwr/99disc is gonna see way more balls than a guy with 50con/50pwr/0disc.

I’d also argue that low-discipline guys see way more pitches that look unhittable af while high-discipline guys get more pitches that look like they float in.

Could just be my imagination though. Without dev confirmation who tf knows.

I play clean-screen so no interest in visual gimmicks tbh.

Re: Feature Idea - Plate Disc
 

If low disc gets more unhittable pitches, doesnt that make it easier for the user to lay off of them, counteracting the low disc? And if high disc gets more balls (especially borderline calls) doesnt it make it harder to lay off?

Idk maybe im just **** at the game lol. I play with the Padres and 128 games in Soto has the 2nd least walks on my team and the most walks belong to Machado > Tatis > Grisham. Maybe its just me being bad, maybe its bad luck, but it feels like disc is doing nothing for me.

Re: Feature Idea - Plate Disc
 

2K simulated this pretty well. With players who had good discipline, the game would display the pitch type as it was coming for example.

Can't remember if it was tied to discipline, but:
https://youtu.be/Yv5E1W49Rkc?t=461

Re: Feature Idea - Plate Disc
 

MVP 07: NCAA Baseball (best overall baseball game imo) had this feature in the form of pitches flashing a specific color that corresponded to the pitch type soon after the pitcher released the ball. Hitter's with better abilities (not specific which one exactly), would see the color flash at release point whereas color flashed later for worse hitters. I can't remember the exact colors, but there was a specific color for sinkers, knucklers, breaking pitches (sliders, curves, etc.), and change ups. Fastballs were colorless if I remember correctly. The whole point was for this to simulate the hitter's ability to understand the release point and see the spin on the ball. EA's MVP series was ahead of it's time.

Re: Feature Idea - Plate Disc
 

That's pretty cool. That would be awesome, or maybe the top - bottom - left - or right of the zone lights up to show it's on that location.

I know some in here are very good and can draw walks/hitters counts regularly and not strikeout much, but I think at least a toggle option to help out those lf us who are not very good at the game such as myself.

The good players in here will never need this, but for some players who lack discipline when hitting a hitter like Soto has the same discipline as Tatis. I mean every stat (power, contact, vision, speed) is clearly differentiated among hitters but the discipline rating feels similar to the QB awareness rating in Madden in that during user control it has little to no impact.

Re: Feature Idea - Plate Disc
 

In terms of that mechanic, it's more or less already in the game as guessing location using Guess Pitch - it's just not tied to ratings in any way (and neither is MVP's color-coded pitch tell system). 2K's mechanic mentioned upthread WAS ratings-driven, with the frequency of it happening being controlled by the player's "Eye vs Lefties/Righties" (2 separate ratings) as well as a related slider.

I'm using 2k12 for reference here, as it's the one I still have installed on my PC - just as a change of pace from time to time.

Re: Feature Idea - Plate Disc
 

The guess pitch is cool, and I have used that from time to time. I meant more so if it happened automatically driven by ratings. Whether the ratings increased the accuracy of it, the frequency, or a mixture.

I have never played 2k but the system sounds pretty cool!