Why can't I hit?
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@JiggidyJJ said in Why can't I hit?:
@thumpasery said in Why can't I hit?:
@JiggidyJJ said in Why can't I hit?:
Below is how I approach each at bat, may help you. I'm by no means a great player, but think I'm a little better than average and can compete most times. My online average is .274 and a 2.72 ERA. My ranked record is 25-14 on allstar. My current record on the the hall of fame difficulty event is 19-17, so not great but can hang.
I generally do not swing at the first pitch, unless it's a mistake pitch like down the middle or a pitch I feel really good about like low in the zone. When I have one strike, I will start cheating either high in the zone or inside with my PCI depending on the tendencies I'm picking up from the opponent. With 2 strikes I generally cheat high and inside as this is most peeps go to strikeout pitch. Biggest thing to remember is discipline, discipline, discipline. After about 2 innings or so, if my opponent is consistently pitching a first strike high in the zone or inside, then go ahead and start cheating and take advantage. Or wait till there are runners on base to get the big 3 run HR. Once you connect with a couple of these they will typically stop, so let them think they are getting one on you and then deliver when it counts the most. Hope this helps.
This is helpful, thank you. I sometimes think a pitch is going to be a mistake pitch and then it drops, but I suppose that happens at times to everyone. I will try to be consistent with this and see how it goes.
If this happens a lot to you then you may try starting your pci low in the zone and moving up to the higher pitches. Point being, compensate to your weakness for me it was high and inside pitches that I really struggled with. I was flailing pretty bad with just keeping the pci in the middle and trying to move to the ball. Once I made this adjustment it helped tremendously and now am getting more comfortable with keeping the pci in the middle. I ain't going to lie though its not an overnight fix. I've put a lot of ABs in
p.s. practice mode helps alot. If your playing on allstar, practice on hall of fame and face a tough pitcher like kluber. All star will get much easier.
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So.... i just tried a couple games on a monitor and it seems much better. Albeit I still suck and was playing on a 55 inch walmart special. When I was just a tad bit late I'm now a tad bit early. I'm starting to learn in this game that every millisecond counts. Could also be the placebo affect. Will update if i think it does make a substantial difference after a larger sample size
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And like I said, Zone with show 16 camera. If you suck at hitting, that camera gives you th a most time to react to pitches.
How does the show 16 view give you more time to swing?
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@thumpasery said in Why can't I hit?:
I play virtually all my games on All Star difficulty in Ranked Seasons and am hitting around .225 online, which I know is really bad. I've watched tons of hitting tips videos and nothing seems to work for me. I try to look for the "bump" at the release point to determine if it's an offspeed pitch, but a fastball released just a little high looks the same to me, so I'm either late on the fastball or early on offspeed. I feel like I have to swing early to catch up with the fastball, so I'm often swinging at pitches out of the zone. I try batting practice with the sliders turned up, but I just flail for however long I take batting practice and don't notice any improvement, so it feels pointless. I play on a 55" Samsung TV in game mode, and for a variety of reasons a monitor isn't really an option, so I'm wondering if not having a monitor is the majority of my problem, or if there could be other factors at work. Does having a monitor make pitch speeds look slower? I have the original (pre-Pro) PS4; does having a Pro make a difference? My internet is Comcast with a WiFi connection and averages about 25Mbps when tested on the PS4; is that good? Bad? Irrelevant? I've read that connection quality can impact pitch speeds pretty dramatically; is this true, and how much of a factor is it compared to the difference a monitor makes? Do any of the TV settings apart from game mode (which HDMI input you use, HDR setting on or off, 1080 vs 720) matter?
I'm also probably at the upper end of the age spectrum for people playing this game (I'm 48) and my eyesight isn't perfect. I'm just wondering why I'm so bad at hitting and if it's one issue or a combination of things, and if there's anything I'm missing or if it's possible to just not be very good and not able to improve.
Thanks!
I'm 55, no monitor, haven't gotten past All-Star in ranked seasons. You can do this! I say be patient, even if it means taking strikes, especially inside ones. Practice on "Steal phase" of conquest, because nothing is really lost on the outcome. Practice, not swinging and recognizing the breaks. I'm still VERY vulnerable on sliders that come straight and below the zone.
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@over50beatdown said in Why can't I hit?:
I'm 55, no monitor, haven't gotten past All-Star in ranked seasons. You can do this! I say be patient, even if it means taking strikes, especially inside ones. Practice on "Steal phase" of conquest, because nothing is really lost on the outcome. Practice, not swinging and recognizing the breaks. I'm still VERY vulnerable on sliders that come straight and below the zone.
I actually made it to Championship Series a few years ago, but this year I think I've maybe gotten to the mid-750s once before collapsing and falling back. This season I can't get out of Pennant Race, which led to a lot of frustration and this post. I'm also trying to learn analog pitching (used to use pulse, but the randomness started to bother me), so maybe I'm trying to do too many things at once, not sure. Thanks for the tips. I can actually hit pretty well in Conquest games, even on Legend, but online is a completely different experience. I'm wondering if it's connection related, as I played two games this morning, and on one I couldn't react to the fastball no matter what I did, got three hits total and lost 5-0, add the other game I seemed to be able to react to pitches (certainly not perfect, but better) and my timing was better and I won 7-3. I think the frustration comes from not really knowing if I had a better approach in the second game, or just a weaker opponent/better internet connection/more favorable RNG. Maybe that's just the nature of the game for the majority of us who can't put the PCI on the ball consistently.
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OP-- i really relate to a lot of things in this thread. I am a long time player in my mid 30s now, who just switched from directional to zone this year. i had tried zone in years past but couldn't master it and always went back to directional.
i'm a .220 hitter in RS this year so far, with a 95-65 record. Made CS once so far. about a month or two into the year i decided to give zone a real shot and went down a similar path as you. watched a ton of vids, etc. here are some random thoughts:
-- KFs have definitely helped me. i use the high rise, convex kind (color doesn't matter) and i feel they allow me to do "small movements" a lot better than just the stick by itself. honestly, for $15 it is well worth trying. I don't think any of the streamers play without them.
-- got a monitor maybe 2 weeks ago. has made a difference but not as much as the KFs imo.
-- as a zone hitting/PCI noob, i have good days and bad. when i am having a bad day it is usually because i am wildly flailing trying to reach every pitch. This is not a good approach for me. focus on small movements with the PCI (like, tiny) and try to hunt pitches in the middle 1/3rd of the zone. ignore high and low pitches.
-- related to the above, again as a PCI noob, i find it helps me if i tell myself to focus on lateral movements of the PCI only. partially this is because the game auto-moves the PCI down if you swing late and up if you swing early. focus on moving the PCI left-right only and hunt pitches in that middle zone only. refuse to swing at pitches not in that zone (much easier said than done)
-- one other thing that really helps me is, pre-pitch, i have started aligning my PCI vertically with the release point. i find that this REALLY helps me read where a pitch will end up because i can "see" both the release point and the PCI in my periphery. sometimes leaving the PCI in its initial resting point means i can't really "see" my PCI because i am so focused on the pitcher's release point.
-- oh and that really is the #1 hitting tip-- find the pitcher's release point. this is the absolute #1 key to becoming a better hitter.
-- try SZ offset view if you have trouble with high/inside pitches, esp fastballs. it leaves me a bit vulnerable to reading outside pitches when facing same handed matchups, but in oppo handed matchups, it is fantastic, because it makes it so the pitcher's release point is in the middle of the strike zone rather than the edges (if that makes sense)
-- if you're super frustrated with your hitting in RS, try playing some BR. i find that hitting against some crappier pitching on AS difficulty can really help me feel good about my hitting
(have put up some big crooked numbers that rarely happen for me in RS, makes me feel good at least even if it doesn't translate lol)i'm hitting .260 this season and able to compete for the most part. biggest thing is i am slowly becoming more disciplined and able to take walks again as i get better with PCI. even though i miss zone hitting, i am enjoying learning and getting better at the PCI and hope i can make WS some day.
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@lucas8181 said in Why can't I hit?:
@eatyum said in Why can't I hit?:
It sounds like you are in your head way too much. Hard to get consistency when you're trying to do a million things at once.
As for your other questions,
- Yes a monitor would probably help some
- A monitor isn't really making the pitch speed slower, it's more about input lag. (As in from the time you press the button to the batter swinging etc)
- No having a pro really doesn't make any significant difference.
- 25 Mbps is not bad, not great, kinda average.
- Connection can affect gameplay at times yes
One correction, monitors have nothing to do with "input lag", it doesn't change how quickly you swing the bat.
A monitor will have a quicker refresh rate, meaning: The pixel will change quicker, letting you see whats happening in real time. A TV's slow refresh rate means that by the time your TV pixels update, you are seeing things that already happened. Your TV is a time machine, holding you back a few precious milliseconds (Or in many cases, 50-100 milliseconds)
So no, the pitches won't move slower, but you will no longer be reacting to what happened in the past. Your TV is behind the action, the monitor is not.
Playing on a TV will absolutely cause you to have to guess, because by the time you see the ball on your TV, it's already in the glove in the game.
This is true in all reaction based online games. You'll notice a big difference in FPS, sports games, etc.
Playing on a monitor is not going to help with your pci placement.
Also, monitors have a lot to do with input lag. The entire reason why people use them is to reduce input lag.
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I won't admit my age but you played JV when I was playing Varsity.
Anywho...try this batting practice approach, to increase your swing speed. Once you've quickened your bat you'll be able to pull those high and tight fastballs. Also, sit on pitches, after a couple of innings you'll get a good idea of how your opponent is trying to pitch you. Literally just wait for your pitch and crush it.
Before you go to batting practice adjust your sliders for the computers fastball speed, and location. Save your sliders settings and go to batting practice.
In batting practice choose Nolan Ryan (boomers) for the pitcher (his pitch speed is intense, choose the team with the most players you'll use online, change your batting to Legend. Make it batting and yes for repeatable. Make the count 3-0, this will give you more opportunities to time up fastballs over the plate.
This will be painful at first, but you WILL quicken your batting response over time.
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@thumpasery said in Why can't I hit?:
@over50beatdown said in Why can't I hit?:
I'm 55, no monitor, haven't gotten past All-Star in ranked seasons. You can do this! I say be patient, even if it means taking strikes, especially inside ones. Practice on "Steal phase" of conquest, because nothing is really lost on the outcome. Practice, not swinging and recognizing the breaks. I'm still VERY vulnerable on sliders that come straight and below the zone.
I actually made it to Championship Series a few years ago, but this year I think I've maybe gotten to the mid-750s once before collapsing and falling back. This season I can't get out of Pennant Race, which led to a lot of frustration and this post. I'm also trying to learn analog pitching (used to use pulse, but the randomness started to bother me), so maybe I'm trying to do too many things at once, not sure. Thanks for the tips. I can actually hit pretty well in Conquest games, even on Legend, but online is a completely different experience. I'm wondering if it's connection related, as I played two games this morning, and on one I couldn't react to the fastball no matter what I did, got three hits total and lost 5-0, add the other game I seemed to be able to react to pitches (certainly not perfect, but better) and my timing was better and I won 7-3. I think the frustration comes from not really knowing if I had a better approach in the second game, or just a weaker opponent/better internet connection/more favorable RNG. Maybe that's just the nature of the game for the majority of us who can't put the PCI on the ball consistently.
I’m saving online play for next year, I’ve still got a LOT to learn but I actually love the game! It’s light years ahead of the last time I played Video game baseball, 2005 I think!
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@thumpasery said in Why can't I hit?:
I'm so bad getting the PCI to the ball that I can't even really complain about that stuff. I'd like to hit well enough to start blaming the game, but unfortunately I'm pretty sure it's me.
People may not agree with this so much, but maybe give directional hitting a go for a bit. Not necessarily with the intention to stick with it, but I think you may find it easier to focus on pitch recognition and patience if you don’t have to worry about PCI placement simultaneously. Pick your swing influence (pull, push, loft, etc) and just wait for your pitch. Once you get a little better at that, switch back (or not).
I’m 46, and while I certainly don’t consider myself good, I hang about 20 games over .500 in RS, and I find that’s good enough for me to have fun while I’m playing.
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@dcordash1 said in Why can't I hit?:
@thumpasery said in Why can't I hit?:
play virtually all my games on All Star difficulty in Ranked Seasons and am hitting around .225 online, which I know is really bad. I've watched tons of hitting tips videos and nothing seems to work for me. I try to look for the "bump" at the release point to determine if it's an offspeed pitch, but a fastball released just a little high looks the same to me, so I'm either late on the fastball or early on offspeed. I feel like I have to swing early to catch up with the fastball, so I'm often swinging at pitches out of the zone. I try batting practice with the sliders turned up, but I just flail for however long I take batting practice and don't notice any improvement, so it feels pointless. I play on a 55" Samsung TV in game mode, and for a variety of reasons a monitor isn't really an option, so I'm wondering if not having a monitor is the majority of my problem, or if there could be other factors at work. Does having a monitor make pitch speeds look slower? I have the original (pre-Pro) PS4; does having a Pro make a difference? My internet is Comcast with a WiFi connection and averages about 25Mbps when tested on the PS4; is that good? Bad? Irrelevant? I've read that connection quality can impact pitch speeds pretty dramatically; is this true, and how much of a factor is it compared to the difference a monitor makes? Do any of the TV settings apart from game mode (which HDMI input you use, HDR setting on or off, 1080 vs 720) matter?
I'm also probably at the upper end of the age spectrum for people playing this game (I'm 48) and my eyesight isn't perfect. I'm just wondering why I'm so bad at hitting and if it's one issue or a combination of things, and if there's anything I'm missing or if it's possible to just not be very good and not able to improve.
Thanks!I'll take a shot. First, I believe there is a good chance this is a bait post where the "good samaritans" from the forum can give everyone tips while offering up the illusion that it really makes any difference because the AI decides the outcome of everything in this game.
If not, I apologize for my cynicism.
When it comes to batting the AI is exceptionally covert with it's dictating of outcomes. It's coded to use the vibration of the controller as well as the audio..along with the PCI animation of course, that suggests how your swing matched up against the pitch. In reality nothing the batter nor pitcher intended..actually happened to the degree the animation-audio-vibration suggests. It's smoke and mirrors.
So, that's the first hurdle to getting better. Realizing it's not so much your ability as what the software is coded to depict. Then just living with the truth. You can't, no matter how much you practice, get better at a game that is not a true simulation. It takes you for a ride and you enjoy the experience when you win...try not to get to upset when you don't.
It's remarkable that the same people are in the top 50 every year. It's not skill, instead, SDS juices their accounts so that they get better pre-determined results. Also, I hear Bill Gates is injecting microchips into vaccines, and we never landed on the moon.
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@halfbutt said in Why can't I hit?:
@lucas8181 said in Why can't I hit?:
@eatyum said in Why can't I hit?:
It sounds like you are in your head way too much. Hard to get consistency when you're trying to do a million things at once.
As for your other questions,
- Yes a monitor would probably help some
- A monitor isn't really making the pitch speed slower, it's more about input lag. (As in from the time you press the button to the batter swinging etc)
- No having a pro really doesn't make any significant difference.
- 25 Mbps is not bad, not great, kinda average.
- Connection can affect gameplay at times yes
One correction, monitors have nothing to do with "input lag", it doesn't change how quickly you swing the bat.
A monitor will have a quicker refresh rate, meaning: The pixel will change quicker, letting you see whats happening in real time. A TV's slow refresh rate means that by the time your TV pixels update, you are seeing things that already happened. Your TV is a time machine, holding you back a few precious milliseconds (Or in many cases, 50-100 milliseconds)
So no, the pitches won't move slower, but you will no longer be reacting to what happened in the past. Your TV is behind the action, the monitor is not.
Playing on a TV will absolutely cause you to have to guess, because by the time you see the ball on your TV, it's already in the glove in the game.
This is true in all reaction based online games. You'll notice a big difference in FPS, sports games, etc.
Playing on a monitor is not going to help with your pci placement.
Also, monitors have a lot to do with input lag. The entire reason why people use them is to reduce input lag.
But it's NOT input lag. Input lag is....a lag between you hitting a button, and the game/console/controller reacting to that signal.
At no time can a display change the amount of time it takes for the hardware to process your command.
A display ensures that you see that command being executed as quickly as the hardware can make it happen.
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How long have you been playing the game? It takes a long time to become a good online player (at least for me it did). It's significantly harder to hit against a real person than against the CPU even on legend. Learning how to pick up on tendencies and working yourself into good hitting counts takes a lot of experience. And also, learning what pitches you can hit well and make good contact on is huge. If you can do that you can look for that pitch until you have two strikes and don't swing unless it's there. For me, I can't hit low and in so I just don't swing at it unless I have two strikes.
As for the monitor argument, does it make a difference? Yes but I wouldn't say it's significant until you're playing on legend. Last year I played on a 65" TV and made World Series numerous times. I switched to a monitor this year and have only made it once so far so take that for what it's worth I guess.
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I've been playing since the game was on PS3, first one I bought had Ryan Howard on the cover, so I don't have the excuse that it's all new to me, unfortunately. The only pitches I hit well are mistakes down the middle, and you generally don't see many of those. And one of my issues with waiting for my pitch is that, if I actually get the pitch I'm waiting for, I get excited and swing too early and pull it foul more often than not. But I enjoy the game enough to keep at it, so I guess that's something.
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@lucas8181 said in Why can't I hit?:
@halfbutt said in Why can't I hit?:
@lucas8181 said in Why can't I hit?:
@eatyum said in Why can't I hit?:
It sounds like you are in your head way too much. Hard to get consistency when you're trying to do a million things at once.
As for your other questions,
- Yes a monitor would probably help some
- A monitor isn't really making the pitch speed slower, it's more about input lag. (As in from the time you press the button to the batter swinging etc)
- No having a pro really doesn't make any significant difference.
- 25 Mbps is not bad, not great, kinda average.
- Connection can affect gameplay at times yes
One correction, monitors have nothing to do with "input lag", it doesn't change how quickly you swing the bat.
A monitor will have a quicker refresh rate, meaning: The pixel will change quicker, letting you see whats happening in real time. A TV's slow refresh rate means that by the time your TV pixels update, you are seeing things that already happened. Your TV is a time machine, holding you back a few precious milliseconds (Or in many cases, 50-100 milliseconds)
So no, the pitches won't move slower, but you will no longer be reacting to what happened in the past. Your TV is behind the action, the monitor is not.
Playing on a TV will absolutely cause you to have to guess, because by the time you see the ball on your TV, it's already in the glove in the game.
This is true in all reaction based online games. You'll notice a big difference in FPS, sports games, etc.
Playing on a monitor is not going to help with your pci placement.
Also, monitors have a lot to do with input lag. The entire reason why people use them is to reduce input lag.
But it's NOT input lag. Input lag is....a lag between you hitting a button, and the game/console/controller reacting to that signal.
At no time can a display change the amount of time it takes for the hardware to process your command.
A display ensures that you see that command being executed as quickly as the hardware can make it happen.
Dude, I’m no expert, but if input lag is not a factor, then why do all the best gaming monitors and TV’s have the lowest input lag?
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Some players just suck. Not a big deal don't beat yourself up over it.
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@thumpasery said in Why can't I hit?:
if I actually get the pitch I'm waiting for, I get excited and swing too early and pull it foul more often than not.
I hit the most majestic foul ball home runs that you will ever see.
Eric Davis is a master at this...LOL -
@tylerslikewhoa said in Why can't I hit?:
Some players just suck. Not a big deal don't beat yourself up over it.
What a jerky thing to say. Go be a bully elsewhere sissy
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I know it’s already been said, but I just purchased a $120 24-inch gaming monitor last week and made the switch from my 55inch tv. Even with game mode on, the difference is night and day. Hitting is substantially easier with the monitor. You don’t have to purchase an expensive one to get started.
