[Bobhead]

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.