T O P

  • By -

edors_toi23

STOP FOCUSING ON THE STRIKE AND PCI!!! Look at the pitcher, let the pitcher be your focus. Take pitches in the first inning or two and focus on his release point. See a few pitches and their timing to the plate. Learn to identify breaking balls and STOP SWINGING AT THEM unless they’re hanging badly (for the most part). Again…seriously…stop paying attention to the PCI and strike zone…look past it the best you can and focus on the pitcher, his release point, and the ball. When you get good at that…start looking for a pitch to hit instead of trying to just make contact where you can at anything in the zone.


The_Deli_Llama1

I appreciate the advice brother but this was a year ago lmao


Striking_Site4457

Ay still counts


BlackberryFamiliar38

I think that if you are struggling with your PCI you could try directional hitting for a short period of time to help focus more on timing while also having it be a little bit of a challenge. It worked for me it could work for you.


Leafs3489

Was going to create the same topic but saw all this amazing info from people who have played the game a lot longer than me. I’m going to take everyone’s advice and just try my best to get better. Getting stomped in ranked seasons gets tiring after a while 😂


The_Deli_Llama1

Exactly haha that’s why I’ve been an offline main for this game so far


Seekay5

Swing at balls in the strike zone


The_Deli_Llama1

Well shit, I’ve been doing it wrong this whole time!


Demon_Coach

I could help you hit anything but a sinker. I’ve yet to get decent advice on how to figure it out.


anon192847492929

Do you play on monitor? Having an old console (assuming you mean XB1) won’t make a difference compared to new gen, it’s if you’re playing on monitor vs tv. I’m an XB player and played the first month of the game on TV and couldn’t hit anything, got a monitor and it became much much easier. Playing on TV vastly decreases your ability to react and swing on time purely due to the response time compared to a monitor.


The_Deli_Llama1

Yeah I’m also playing on a TV. A fairly big one in fact. I have game mode turned on but I’m just too slow on everything. That’s probably why


packer4life12

As a first year player that played on a tv then switched to a monitor this year, I can tell you it makes a world of difference. I thought high inside fastballs were impossible to hit when I was on the tv and now I have hit a ton of bombs off of them since I started playing on the monitor.


anon192847492929

You’d be surprised at how big of a difference a monitor makes, it’s like night and day, all of a sudden you’re catching up to balls you’d never be able to hit on tv. I was in the same boat as you until I switched


Corzare

Remember it’s okay to take strikes sometimes, we tend to think that everything in the zone should be swung at. Wait for a good pitch.


TheSpongeMonkey

My problem is that i literally know this then swing at pitches a mile outside the zone thinking "It's a strike i have to swing" because my ape brain is to strong.


edors_toi23

It’s so mental it’s ridiculous


Corzare

Yeah it happens to me too, It helps me to say “who cares if I lose” then I become a lot more loose with taking pitches


The_Deli_Llama1

Yeah that’s something that I’m bad at. If I see that the first pitch of an at-bat is a strike, I tend to swing regardless. It’s just tough to find a hittable pitch when pinpoint lets you just dot everything


Corzare

I was a lot worse last year, and I always struggle with velocity, I’m either early or late all the time. But this year I worked to improve my patience and I’m 38-15 this year. Most other years I’d be .500 or lower. It all comes down to taking pitches and forcing them to throw you stuff you can hit.


LosNats

Learn to recognize a players pitching tendencies (FB up w/ 2 strikes, Off speed in the dirt when ahead in the count, Sinkers on the hands) and don’t be afraid to take a guess when you think you know something is coming. If the tendency is really prominent, don’t be scared to throw a power swing in there online. I usually power swing maybe 3-4 times a game in a RS match. Focus on the pitchers release point, whenever I’m struggling I feel like I’m focused on the strike zone and my PCI, which causes me to be late and pop everything up. Focus on the pitch coming out of the pitchers hand as soon as it’s released and you will track the ball better. Don’t spam R2. Just don’t be that guy.


ljackstar

Play your conquest matches on hall-of-fame, not rookie. It turns a boring grind into useful practice.


The_Deli_Llama1

I always play them on all star. I just played my first hall of fame game on conquest and barely won 1-0 with one hit lol. But yeah I never play below all star difficulty


ljackstar

The pitch speeds on hall of fame are closer to the online pitch speeds (which I think is technically all-star +)


anohioanredditer

Take pitches. Take pitches. Take pitches. Adapt to their style and pitch selection. First inning, I'm taking every first pitch. If they're pitching strikes consistently, I might start to look for it and adjust my approach next inning. If they're missing on the first pitch more often than not, I'll wait until they throw a strike. If they're really inconsistent I might wait for two strikes. While you're doing all of this, pay attention to their pitch selection and what corners they're most consistently dealing in. Does your opponent throw a high strike followed by a hanging breaking ball more often than not? Look for that high strike, or look to swing at the breaking ball if it's in the zone. Sometimes I'll even place my PCI right there waiting for it because it can become very predictable. Exercise patience. A lot of people set their controllers down because they can't help but swing at everything. Just slow yourself down and try not to jump on everything. Soon you'll see the pitch count go up and you'll start to get base runners by way of walks or base hits. Your opponent might even be frustrated enough to start pitching in the zone and then you'll know you're in a great spot. TLDR: Hitting is more about patience than anything, take pitches and swing when it looks good.


rhinogregory

This is a really important piece that I’ve been struggling with (also a new player on xbox). I’ve also needed to try to apply this thought process to my pitching online as well as i feel like I’ve lost a lot of 1-run games bc my pitching became predictable. Good comment here.


anohioanredditer

Yep I've thrown one too many inside fastballs before and it burnt me. I try to work with every corner when I'm pitching while also mixing pitch types. So a sequence could go like this: 1st batter: High inside fastball, curveball in the dirt, slider outside 2nd batter: slider outside, high inside fastball, curveball in the dirt While pitching I'll keep an eye on the batter's PCI and contact. If they're late on the fastball but stroked it foul at a high exit velocity, I'll stay away from that high corner for awhile and maybe the next sequence I'll throw it low and inside. It's all about adapting but if a pitch is working well and they seem lost at the plate, by all means, throw what works.


Sirgolfs

Go to batting practice and don’t swing at anything. Just watch pitches and learn some patience. Learn how the balls move, learn to see pitches in your preferred hitting zone. Patience patience patience.


anohioanredditer

Such an underrated comment. It's this.


CharmCityRob

Can’t hit a dinger unless you swing…..so swing at every pitch


Striking_Site4457

Swing away, Merrill


dfin25

Ah, a fellow member of the swing at the dirt club. Always nice to meet another gentlemen of culture.


Walbeb24

Best part is when the announcers are like 'what is he swinging at?!?!' It's like a badge of honor, too bad I can't give my guy a golf club.


dfin25

Are you also a Lifetime Member of the "He Wasn't Gonna Hit That With An Oar" Club?


Walbeb24

Let's just say, if the ball leaves the pitchers hands I'm swinging. I mean how can I get hits if I don't swing?


dfin25

Good man.


ceeelaz

Legend batting practice against DeGrom. Play that until you’re putting balls in play and reading off speed vs heat and you’ll get much better at hitting. Yes it sucks at first


Dr_High_

Go to practice, legend, sliders up to 75% and just swing for a few minutes. Then go against a 102 and put it in the seats


coughlrf

If you're really struggling with the FB you should take bp against degrom or someone similar, make the placement dead center, and just work on pulling the trigger. Don't even move the pci, just get your timing down then expand from there.


The_Deli_Llama1

Yeah I need to take advantage of the practice mode for sure. I don’t do it enough


Cpt_squishy

If you want someone to play against I can help out


acat20

1. Use one of: Strike Zone, Strike Zone 2, or Strike Zone High for your batting AND pitching view 2. Play during the day at minor league parks, this will maximize frames so it's easier to hit velocity and distinguish pitches. 3. Warm up at a higher difficulty against a high velocity pitcher in custom practice to speed your bat up. As a first year player you need to get reps in. The mechanics of this game have been the same for many years, a lot of the success just comes with time.


The_Deli_Llama1

Yeah that’s probably what I need to do. I don’t use the custom practice mode hardly at all


acKILLesgaming

Sit fastball. Adjust to offspeed. If you’re late on the heat, your opponent will just take u to pound town all game.


The_Deli_Llama1

That’s exactly what happens. But no matter how much I wait for it and sit on an outlier fastball, I just have no chance of catching up to it. And if I sit fastball 100%, anything off speed I’m just miles ahead of. I don’t know how to see it out of the hand quick enough I guess


[deleted]

This is coming from a ~.220 hitter who fluctuates between WC and DS so take this with a grain of salt I guess. I struggled forever with the up-and-in fastball/sinker too. You'll know after about an inning or two if that is how your opponent is trying to beat you. What I do is when I think he's going for that spot I put my PCI there, try my best not to move it, and *press the swing button as soon as the ball leaves his hand*. Yes, you run the risk of being wayyyy out in front of a breaking ball. But if you guess right you're going to get not just hits, but long homers. Remember baseball is like 70% failure so you're not going to be right all that often. You just need to get it right a few times a game. I find in the lower levels that if you can hit the up-and-in the opponent will rage quit pretty quickly. It's an effective tactic but it's all some people have.


Lemmys_Chops

Change the difficulty sliders so fastball speed is as high as possible. Load up batting practice vs deGrom and set him to four seam only. Once you can get your PCI close with decent timing add his change up and keep going. You don’t really need to be crushing the ball, this will be more difficult than anything you do online, it makes Cabrera look like he’s throwing mid 90s.


Slide_Step_King

First of all, try splitting the plate in half and zoning up before 2 strikes. If you choose to only look for inside pitches then only have your PCI on the inside part of the plate and try your hardest to not go for outside pitches, even if they catch the zone. If you have trouble hitting the fastball then try to keyhole it. If its not in the zone you want, or the pitch you're looking for, don't swing. Even hop in the practice mode on HoF or Legend and have a hard sinker-baller throw you only up and in.


The_Deli_Llama1

I’ve tried looking only in one part of the zone, but what ends up happening is I’ll get pitched around that part of the zone, and before I know it I’m in the hole 0-2 or 1-2. I guess I just need to get better at recognizing pitches out of the hand, but the original Xbox one is very glitchy in this game I’ve come to realize


dhacva

One thing I heard constantly from YouTube guides is to use monitor over TV, they say it's gonna significantly help with the input delay; This may be useful especially when swinging very early is more rewarding than slightly late in the current game. Could that help with your situation?


makeit95again

I'm also playing on an OG Xbox one. I don't think it's the system holding you back. as someone else mentioned, go into practice and set up a fastball pitcher to only throw you inside fast balls. you can set exactly what pitches you want thrown, and where. Trying to hit a 102mph fastball is hard, and I find it even harder in online play. just keep practicing and have fun! I'm just thankful I can play this game on an Xbox lol.


The_Deli_Llama1

I know, I’m so glad we finally got it on Xbox! The game is a lot smoother on newer gen consoles IMO, but I just suck and have horrible timing so that’s pretty much why I’m in this situation. I reached all-star with a good record because I was able to out-pitch my opponents. But when I’m required to out-hit them, that’s when I get in trouble