What I'm doing wrong, and What I can do about it?

[Dellinger]

Setup:
Difficulty (Fielding/Hitting/Pitching)- All Star

Sliders- TNK

Hitting- Timing

Pitching- Meter

Scenario:

Franchise w/ OSFM S.T., Braves. Currently in Spring Training with 8 games under my belt. I am 0-8, currently. I've lost a few games by more than 5 runs but the majority were less than 3. The CPU is scoring mostly by HRs with runners on.

Problems:

Pitching- I just don't get it. I've read quite a few threads here on the subject and what seems to work for some doesn't work for me. Or I am executing on the advice poorly, which could be true.

I'm throwing 68-72% strikes a game.
I'm walking 1-2, maybe 3 batter a game (the latter is rare.)
I'm getting bombed by no names, striking out the big sluggers, and nickle-and-dimed by the opposing pitchers when at the plate plus their pitch hitters.

I hate 2-strike counts because it turns into a 9 pitch at bat from the foul tips.
I get maybe 4-5 ground outs a game.

I've followed the advice of my catcher and I've followed my own intuition.
I've stuck to my first and second pitches for the most part and also pitched games where I've mixed it up with every pitch at my player's disposal.

I've stayed away from pitches where confidence is poor and also done the opposite.

Bottom line:
I'm not seeing ANY trends develop where I can say..."this is working better,." or "...ok, that's dumb." I see the same results from implementing strategies at both ends of the spectrum provided by this forum. I feel I'm not learning anything or improving my game.

Where am I going wrong here? What can I do about it?

[mmorg]

Re: What I'm doing wrong, and What I can do about it?

Is there anyway you can record yourself pitching? Or at least chart your pitches? You may be getting into a pattern that the CPU is able to take advantage of.

[Dellinger]

Re: What I'm doing wrong, and What I can do about it?

I often visit the in game pitch 'breakdown'... which does chart pitch type, location, hit, foul, K, etc...

It's as good or as bad of an indicator as you can get, depending on your view.

[tril]

Re: What I'm doing wrong, and What I can do about it?

you really need to know your pitchers strengths versus a batters hot/cold zone and tendencies.
also it seems like you are going for the strike out to much. the foul balls lead me to believe that the CPU/AI has adjusted to your style of pitching.
change the speeds of your pitches, switch up the pace of your pitching also.

[mmorg]

Re: What I'm doing wrong, and What I can do about it?

Also, how consistent are you on getting perfect timings on your pitches? The more perfect, or close to perfect, you can consistently get the better results you will have.

[IXI DECAY IXI]

Re: What I'm doing wrong, and What I can do about it?

I'm using the same sliders as him and I usually struggle with pitching in the first inning and cruise from there. The problem I'm having with the game is hitting. My pitch recognition has gotten pretty good and I can determine balls and strikes fairly well.

I'm using the timing hitting and I can't get more than 3/4 hits a game! I get about 2/3 walks a game but hitting is just no where in site. I'm not sure if I should be using the contact swing or normal or power. I rarely use the power unless it's 3-0 and even then they miss. I always use contact when I have 2 strikes.

It seems even when I'm on perfect timing and good contact, I'm still flying out or grounding out...

Help!?!

[cusefan74]

Re: What I'm doing wrong, and What I can do about it?

For starters never swing 3-0, because you never get a great pitch to hit. 3-1 or 2-0 you can use power swing, but look for a certain pitch in a certain location, if the pitch is not there don't swing. When you have 2 strikes use the contact swing, you will still get hits and homeruns. Everything else I use normal swing. At least that is how I do my at bats, someone else might have a better way.

[Dellinger]

Re: What I'm doing wrong, and What I can do about it?

First off, thanks for the replies...

you really need to know your pitchers strengths versus a batters hot/cold zone and tendencies.
also it seems like you are going for the strike out to much. the foul balls lead me to believe that the CPU/AI has adjusted to your style of pitching.
change the speeds of your pitches, switch up the pace of your pitching also.

I get this but I don't have the hot/cold zones appearing. I guess I should have it flash prior to the batters appearace? I thought this was a little cheap but the more I think about it, the pitchers have all the scouting reports on the players, so maybe it's not.

Also, how consistent are you on getting perfect timings on your pitches? The more perfect, or close to perfect, you can consistently get the better results you will have.

I'm not nailing it 'line on line' every time but it's pretty close. From time-to-time it'll be all over the place and the result is more or less a wild pitch. But even when I've nailed the timing on the meter... my starter misses across heart of the plate with a 4-seemer that should have been in on the hands and it ends up a round tripper. (As it should be.)


So analyze this...
So, 1st inning, playing the Yankees today in more spring training, Jeter is leading off. I get him to ground to the 2nd baseman after 3 pitches. Ends up as an E-4 because Uggla booted it. Next guy, Granderson (I think), I miss two outside fastballs. On the 3rd pitch I send a changeup down and away (2nd best pitch at this point) and I nail timing but it ends up down the heart of broadway, BOOM, I'm two runs down after 6 pitches.

At this point Jurrigens is worth as much as a someone from rookie ball because his confidence is shot and he can't throw a strike. So I have leave the ball cursor dead middle, he still outside. Finally he throws a strike but it's a double down the right field line. And the damage just continues...

I'm NOT complaining... I just don't understand what strategy to implement in a situation like this other than getting someone up in the pen and getting them on the mound in the 2nd.

When I'm in this situation, I don't have many, if any options. My pitchers confidence is broken, his pitch confidence is broken, the strike zone gets smaller (the ump misses strikes like a champ when these things happen), and I have to serve them up to hope to get a fly out or ground out.

It's like ONE mistake in a game when on the mound just leads to an absolute landslide of runs. I don't know how to counter that and get through the inning. Or minimize the impact. The only 'way out' I see is getting a reliever in the game.

[dodgerblue]

Re: What I'm doing wrong, and What I can do about it?

Not to be overly simplistic, but try going down to veteran. I did and I'm having much more fun!

[Dellinger]

Re: What I'm doing wrong, and What I can do about it?

Dodger, I hear you. I may just do that. But then I'm back to square one on sliders... any you recommend?

To others, I'm just trying to grasp the ebb and flow of the video game. Find ways to get better and understand why I'm not successful on the mound.

For what it's worth... same thing happened in my next game with Toronto. First guy (Escobar) goes down looking but the 2nd guy takes the 2nd pitch he sees deep in the first inning. It ended up a lopside defeat 13-3. 5HRs by the CPU... two were really, really my fault by leaving a guy in too long with no confidence.

[decga]

Re: What I'm doing wrong, and What I can do about it?

@Dellinger Are you using the API and a following your catcher choice of pitch all of the time? Sometimes the catcher calls for pitches in the batters wheelhouse. You have to shake off the catcher every now & then.

[Bobhead]

Re: What I'm doing wrong, and What I can do about it?

In your last scenario thing, first and foremost, you should have visited the mound after Granderson's homerun. Don't underestimate mound visits, I use them in rallies all the time, and boy do they help. I don't know what the formula was in previous years, but this year a mound visit seems to be "successful" more consistently, it's not a complete dice roll like it seemed to be before.

As for your pitch strategy in the post you just made, the first mistake I see is that you used an un-established changeup on a 2-0 count. A billion times more important than the giant pitcher confidence meter is the little meters under the individual pitches. Before you can use a pitch successfully, you have to establish it.

The pitch confidence meter for these pitches affect your chances of successfully locating it. A poorly located pitch is easier to hit, so thus the meter affects your opponent's ability to hit. Because of this, you have to always be aware of your pitch confidence.

There's two scenarios where the CPU is extremely likely to swing, regardless of the pitch and location, as long as the pitch is in the zone. One is when the batter has 2 strikes on them, the other is a 2-0 count. That's why it's important you never throw a low confidence pitch in one of these situations. The high failure rate, combined with the high swing rates, will likely only lead to trouble.

Instead, try to reverse things, and use the low-confidence pitches to start at-bats, a time when the CPU is least likely to swing. Just throw one over for a strike. Maybe do it again for strike 2, but do not for any reason, ever, throw a low-confidence pitch when there are already 2 strikes.

Another important thing is it sounds like you are throwing too many strikes. Learn to pitch out of the zone. If the hitter knows you have a high strike percentage, they know they can swing at anything. Don't be afraid to intentionally throw balls or even intentionally walk guys.

[TGov]

Re: What I'm doing wrong, and What I can do about it?

In your last scenario thing, first and foremost, you should have visited the mound after Granderson's homerun. Don't underestimate mound visits, I use them in rallies all the time, and boy do they help. I don't know what the formula was in previous years, but this year a mound visit seems to be "successful" more consistently, it's not a complete dice roll like it seemed to be before.

As for your pitch strategy in the post you just made, the first mistake I see is that you used an un-established changeup on a 2-0 count. A billion times more important than the giant pitcher confidence meter is the little meters under the individual pitches. Before you can use a pitch successfully, you have to establish it.

The pitch confidence meter for these pitches affect your chances of successfully locating it. A poorly located pitch is easier to hit, so thus the meter affects your opponent's ability to hit. Because of this, you have to always be aware of your pitch confidence.

There's two scenarios where the CPU is extremely likely to swing, regardless of the pitch and location, as long as the pitch is in the zone. One is when the batter has 2 strikes on them, the other is a 2-0 count. That's why it's important you never throw a low confidence pitch in one of these situations. The high failure rate, combined with the high swing rates, will likely only lead to trouble.

Instead, try to reverse things, and use the low-confidence pitches to start at-bats, a time when the CPU is least likely to swing. Just throw one over for a strike. Maybe do it again for strike 2, but do not for any reason, ever, throw a low-confidence pitch when there are already 2 strikes.

Another important thing is it sounds like you are throwing too many strikes. Learn to pitch out of the zone. If the hitter knows you have a high strike percentage, they know they can swing at anything. Don't be afraid to intentionally throw balls or even intentionally walk guys.

I'm having trouble pitching as well, thanks for the advice cause this will help me a lot... I more so throw too Manu pitches out of the zone than get hit hard... This year pitching seems to be more involved and I like that a lot but I have to learn it first...

[Ryan97]

Re: What I'm doing wrong, and What I can do about it?

You need to change your mindset like I had to. I use to change locations with pitch types. That dosent work.

The slider is effective because the batter needs to think its fastball, the changeup is effective cause it looks like a fastball and breaks down. The curve is effective cause it starts out high enough the batter thinks its going high out of the zone. Point is your junk needs to be thrown in the same spots you locate your fastballs. Throwing fastballs in one spot and throwing your junk somewhere else dosent work.

"How can I make it look like the pitch I just through but be different ?" Dont worry about changing speeds cause that naturally happens with pitch selection.

You should be focused on being visually deceptive. I want to work a curveball into my game I better establish some high strikes If I want them to swing or some high balls if I want them to take it. Or both if I want to mess them up. Your slider is useless if your starting it somewhere the fastball hasnt already been and change up as well. If you haven't thrown any low strikes than the chance of them biting on a change up is slim.

Point is simple if your pitching to certain parts of the zone try to "start" your pitches in the same spot to fool them. Everything needs to start with your fastball. This opens two approaches early in the game. You can focus on really moving your fastball around to establish the later at bats. Or you can gradually expand your zone during the game as you work to get guys out early as quick as possible by working the locations you establish in that at bat. Than you open up new sections in the following at bat.

Once you have gone through the lineup once you need to start to change it up. So batter (A) you started with a fastaball for a strike high. Start him with a curveball that started in the same spot as that fastball. Now you have told them your not just throwing first pitch fastballs for strikes.

Dont purposely throw for balls unless it is to get them to chase because your making them think its something else. Balls will happen when you miss the targets and the pitch will has served a purpose.

I have no idea if any of that rambling made any sense. But I try to be visually deceptive thats what I focus on.

I may start a fastball on the outer edge and miss I wont then change speeds for a strike. I may try to hit the same spot again hoping they are taking cause I just missed that spot.

You need to throw your junk for strikes too. There is a reason the game tracks strike percentages with every pitch. The AI uses this too. If your missing all day with your change up I would forget about it and try to throw it later for a strike when the AI is no longer use to seeing it. Some games you just have to let it go. When you get good with the fastball slider combo it really helps. One of the toughest pitches for people to have success with in this game is the slider. You have to find that sweet spot where it will land on that corner then your golden when working it off the fastball.

[maddmattrix]

Re: What I'm doing wrong, and What I can do about it?

I struggle with pitching as well, usually in the latter parts of the game (6th inning on). I try to use my relievers like my starters in terms of pitch placement and selection but that doesn't work obviously.

Having said that, I think far too much credit is given to the AI in this game. You don't confuse the CPU, ever. The CPU knows what pitch you are going to throw (after you select it, of course) and it knows the location. There are times when hitters go yard on a pitch they have absolutely no business swinging at, yet alone taking it out of the park. And we talk about pitch placement for particular pitches - I think its odd that the CPU is able to take borderline pitches successfully 90% of the time.

Don't get me wrong, I love the game, but this isn't http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_(chess_computer) we are playing against.