Zone hitting Strategy/Advice

[Bobhead]

I know we have a generic thread for hitting strategy a few pages back, but it seems zone players are in the minority in that thread, so I wanted to have a thread that pertained specifically to zone (and analog zone) hitting and how all the various zone players go about their business.

Do you guess PCI location? Do you react to the pitch? Do you have any special things you do to help you at the plate? Where do you keep your hands in relation to the controller and the analog stick?

Anything and everything you can think of that relates to zone hitting, feel free to share it here.

I know for me, the biggest problem seems to be responding to fastballs up and inside, especially to righties. I just can never seem to react quick enough to those pitches, and if it's not a swinging strike, it's usually a late-swing foul ball.

[ILiveForThis]

I use Zone Analog extensively and I have the same problem you do with fastballs. For some unexplained reason, my finger controlling the PCI goes "down" instead of up. And this got me thinking and changing my philosophy at the plate..

I have started taking borderline pitches (except with 2 strikes). The best you're gonna do with those pitches is pop them up or roll them over. So, instead of swing at a crappy strike, take the pitch and go onto the next. You'd be surprise by the improvement of hit quality. Also, Contact Swing is your best friend on 2 strike counts where you are behind (0-2, 1-2). If you can battle back to 2-2, go back to normal. A strike will be coming that you can drive.

Other than that, it's see pitch, react, hit pitch for me.

[HechticSooner]

As far as the high and inside strike most batters have issue getting around on that pitch even in RL. Thus the only time that I worry about that pitch is A) when I have to because I have two strikes or B) if I have a hitter that has hot zones up and in. In the cases of B) most times that batter likes the ball up period so I will start with the PCI up anyway especially since most of the time those types of hitters are power hitters so I'm wanting a ball up in the zone to crush anyway.

[Heroesandvillains]

I used Zone for years and I always pre-loaded based on patterns and hunches. I'd then adjust on the fly if I saw the pitch well.

That said, thank goodness for Timing only.

[HechticSooner]

Quote: Originally Posted by Heroesandvillains

I used Zone for years and I always pre-loaded based on patterns and hunches. I'd then adjust on the fly if I saw the pitch well. That said, thank goodness for Timing only.

No way I'm way too much of a control freak, the first time that it said perfect timing and the PCI was set at swing and miss I'd ****ing flip!

[dman08]

Using zone hitting has been tough but I've made a few adjustments in this year's game. I turned off the strike zone and guess pitch. With these features off I tend to focus a lil more on the pitch, it's location and speed to get my timing right. It's funny how detailed this game is when u pay attention to it. I make sure I know the pitchers different pitches as well as speed of their fastball so I have a general idea of what to expect and what kind of timing I might need. I know a lot of people wonder how you can read the strike zone without the visual, well it's obviously the plate from side to side. As far as the top and bottom of the strike zone it's usually the bottom of the knee for all hitters and unless the batter has his hands upright the top of the zone is usually at the elbow of the batter. I play the count to get a pitch in the zone I want which is normally middle of the plate outside or middle up. You have to realize that you're not always going to get that pitch but when you do u have to make the pitcher pay. As far as fastballs up and in that's a pitcher's pitch honestly. Most hitters in real life do nothing but pop up or miss that pitch completely. You're better off laying off that pitch unless you're sitting on 2 strikes. This is the beauty of OS. Similar gamers being able to help one another out.

[bmill777]

I've been trying to master zone since '09 and hers what turned the corner for me

1. Sitting on a zone. I pick 4 of the 9 squares in the strike zone and sit up and in, up and away, low and in, or low and away depending on where the batters hot zone is. The extra split second u get from not having to move the pci is enormous. Also my chase % has dropped way down and I'm drawing more walks.....3-4 a game on avg

2. Downsize your tv. I switched from my plasma w 30ms input lag to a 22" w zero input lag and I can tell quite a difference. A baseball reaches the plate in about 400ms.....half of that time is spent reading the pitch and the other half is spent w your actual swing. If you get 200 ms to make a decision then u casee how important an extra 30 ms is.

3. Use the pitch edit rosters, osfm v3. There is too much disparity between fastballs and breaking pitches this game. Setting accurate pitch speeds is pretty huge IMO. Most guys change ups are 7 or so mph slower than thier fastballs......in this game it's a 10+ mph diff for most guys. Fix that and it's and easier more realistic hitting experience.

I play on hof hitting by the way

[baseballsim]

Even though it's uglier this year I would recommend turning on the PCI indicator (That yellow thingy). Also Heroesandvillains strategy might be good strategy rather than trying to move the left stick on the fly.