CB's Guide to Hitting

[countryboy]

I've seen numerous people start threads because they are struggling with hitting. So, instead of offering advice in each thread, I thought I would start my own with my advice. Granted I'm not a guru at the game, nor am I the God of hitting in MLB the Show. But I've played for years and have been fairly successful when playing.

So here my tips/advice. It should be noted that hit with Zone hitting on Hall of Fame Difficulty.

*Become a 2 strike hitter Best advice that I can give is that you will never become a good/great hitter until you become a good/comfortable hitter with two strikes. You are almost, almost always going to get one pitch to hit in any given at-bat. More than likely, unless your facing a dominating pitcher, you're going to see 2 or maybe even 3 hitter pitches in an at-bat. The key is to not miss that pitch. Also, that pitch may not come until you have two strikes in the at-bat. One of the biggest issues that people have is that they are afraid to hit with two strikes or afraid of striking out and will swing at anything in or even near the zone. Learn to be comfortable hitting with 2 strikes and your hitting will get better and better.

* Hitters have hot and cold zones. You want to obviously hit the ball in the hot zones. So typically in the first pitch of the AB I look for fastball in my hitter's wheelhouse. If its there, I swing out of my shoes, if not, I take it and move on to the next.

* Utilize the BATTER ANALYSIS screen. This tool is so useful, so USE IT! Learn how a pitcher is getting each of your hitters out. Maybe he keeps busting you inside with hard stuff and then tosses soft stuff away. Use that information against the pitcher. Know in any given at bat what the plan of the pitcher is and do your best to disrupt that plan with a plan of your own. Remember he may not pitch each hitter the same based on attributes and hot/cold zones. For example, maybe he's tossing hard stuff up in the zone to Kolten Wong, because Wong has trouble getting to pitches up in the zone. On the other hand, he throws pitches down and away to Jhonny Peralta because Peralta hits pitches up in the zone hard, but struggles down and away. KNOW THIS! I use the Batter/Pitcher Analysis in each at bat after the first because of how it helps and how useful it is. Granted, it doesn't guarantee a hit each time or even contact, but knowing a pitcher's plan/pattern is half the battle when at the plate.

* Be patient Don't get let frustration from one at-bat carry over to the next at-bat. If you strike out, you strike out. If you pop out you pop out. Remember the greatest hitters of all time are only successful 3 out of 10 times at the plate. Remember to, stay calm, stay poised, and treat each at bat as a new opportunity to produce offensively.

I really hope this helps.

Now go get'em!

[sccavs64]

Thanks for posting this! I'd like to throw in a few tips as well, if you don't mind.

I hit on Hall of Fame with Zone hitting and consistently get 8+ hits a game.

I play with the PCI off and the strike zone off, I just feel like I can see the ball better, even though it's probably just a mental thing, but I definitely noticed a difference in my performance. So all I see is my batter, the pitcher, and that's it, no other UI. Helps my eyes focus.

I'd just focus on finding your sweet spot, I think every person is different. It's 40X easier (at least to me) to hit balls down in the strikezone, so I look for those. I feel I can only hit pitches up in the zone consistently with my best hitters, and I only look for high pitches on 2-0 and 3-1 counts with my 3-5 hitters. On any other count, if the pitch is up in the zone (i.e. I have to move the left stick up even a slight nudge) I don't swing.

I also look at the backdrop and the surrounding scenery in the background to help me determine the location of the pitch. It sounds weird, but it really helps. The image below is from the Show 13 I believe, but it doesn't really matter. If I'm hitting with Jay Bruce here, as soon as he steps in the box I tell myself 3 things. 1) Take the first 2 pitches. 2) Don't swing at anything above the base of the outfield wall, anything that's located even with the outfield wall or higher will more than likely result in a popout unless I absolutely crush it. 3) I use the pitchers mound for reference. If the pitch is located where the pitchers mound is, don't move the left stick since it's right at the belt. If it's above the mound, the pitch is up and vice versa.




I also never use the guess pitch feature, I just react to each pitch. I think guessing each pitch is too distracting and just gives me something else to think about.

Hope these work for someone else too!

[Ghost Of The Year]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

* Be patient Don't get let frustration from one at-bat carry over to the next at-bat. If you strike out, you strike out. If you pop out you pop out. Remember the greatest hitters of all time are only successful 3 out of 10 times at the plate. Remember to, stay calm, stay poised, and treat each at bat as a new opportunity to produce offensively.

Amen, brother. It sounds so simple & easy, but while it may be the former, it definitely ain't the latter.
And if I may go one step further, this applies to each pitch within a given at-bat:
Don't let frustration from a strike on one pitch carry over to the next pitch. If you swing at a pitch in the dirt, put it out of your mind immediately & get the next pitch. Treat each pitch as a new opportunity to produce.
Great advice CB!

[saucerset]

Lots of really good info in this thread.

I spend the majority of my time in batting practice using the good at bat and the bat control features. I also go into my franchise and see what pitchers I have coming up on the schedule and what ball park we are playing in. Then I set up batting practice with that pitcher and the ball park. It's a good way to see his style of pitches and getting a good visual on the strike points in the backdrop behind the pitcher.

*edit* There is an old saying that I have been going by this year - 'If it starts low, let it go'. It's hard for me to lay off those sometimes but I have noticed a positive difference in my hitting when I follow the rule.

[tbbuccaneer87]

Quote: Originally Posted by saucerset

Lots of really good info in this thread. I spend the majority of my time in batting practice using the good at bat and the bat control features. I also go into my franchise and see what pitchers I have coming up on the schedule and what ball park we are playing in. Then I set up batting practice with that pitcher and the ball park. It's a good way to see his style of pitches and getting a good visual on the strike points in the backdrop behind the pitcher. *edit* There is an old saying that I have been going by this year - 'If it starts low, let it go'. It's hard for me to lay off those sometimes but I have noticed a positive difference in my hitting when I follow the rule.

I hear ya on the low balls, but those change-ups that start in the strike zone and drop are soooo tempting :/.

[sccavs64]

Does anybody have any sort of "odd" tricks they use outside of the game?

For instance, I play with the lights off in my room so it's pretty dark. I play in the same computer chair each time. I have my TV set up so it's directly at eye level when I sit in my chair, and I sit pretty close to the TV (I play on a pretty crappy 32 inch RCA, nothing special). And I usually play while drinking a cup of coffee or two, I always make sure I have some caffeine in my system.

But then again I'm weird so..

[canes21]

Camera angles help out tremendously too. I can never use the default views in the game. I hate seeing what the catchers sees and trying to hit. I always have to set up my camera closer to what you would see as the hitter. Obviously it won't be first person, but I have it offset and zoomed in to the point that I can't see the entire hitter most of the time.

It makes it much easier for me to recognize pitches because it's close to an angle I hit with in real life for 15ish years growing up. It also makes matchups matter more to me because it's much easier seeing opposite hand pitchers with the zoom and offset. I also find it easier to see and turn on inside pitches. It does make a good breaking away slider deadly, but that's also real life and if you know what you're looking for, like real life, you can lay off of it. Overall I just feel the angle makes each pitch more like it's real life counterpart because the angle you're seeing it from is more to true to life.

If we could have a first person angle that'd be great. Whichever game had it before was neat and I used it quite a bit, but it definitely needed work.

[obie]

I play on HOF using zone htiting. I don't really have a problem locating a pitch and timing it, but when I do make contact, it is usually a pop up. What am I doing wrong?

I typically have the ball close to the center of the zone, but not 100% on the middle dot. I feel like I get cheated a lot. Runners on base, the pitcher throws a high fast ball. I have placed the zone there and get perfect timing and its a pop up. It is very frustrating.

What do you guys think of just leaving the zone in the middle and turning the zone graphic off? Guys in my league do that and they are doing really well.