I hear what your saying here but for me I've had to train myself to a little bit of both. You have to keep an eye on the ball icon to line up your batting cursor for sure. And, one has to watch the pitcher as well to gauge the speed of the pitch as well as watch out for the mistake pitch that is thrown right in the middle of your stationary batting cursor.
If one does just one or the other of these then failure is probable. One has to do a little bit of both which is challenging but also provides rewards in the hitting department.