Ranked Pitching style. New guy post.
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Hey all.
So after boycotting this year, I bought the game for ten bucks this week.I’ve managed to get a decent team together pretty quick grinding September Monthly and Finest programs and have been working my way up in ranked.
I’ve noticed as I hit the 400’s that most of my opponents just spam the very bottom of the zone with offspeed 90% of the time.
Is this the norm or just bush league all star tactics? If it is common moving up, do any of you ever change your hitting approach to directional as if you were facing a knuckleballer?
What about hitting cameras? I’m generally a strike zone offset guy, but am not having tons of success against this type of opponent. Even when I square stuff up, I’m not getting great outcomes.
Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend!
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@halfbutt said in Ranked Pitching style. New guy post.:
Hey all.
So after boycotting this year, I bought the game for ten bucks this week.I’ve managed to get a decent team together pretty quick grinding September Monthly and Finest programs and have been working my way up in ranked.
I’ve noticed as I hit the 400’s that most of my opponents just spam the very bottom of the zone with offspeed 90% of the time.
Is this the norm or just bush league all star tactics? If it is common moving up, do any of you ever change your hitting approach to directional as if you were facing a knuckleballer?
What about hitting cameras? I’m generally a strike zone offset guy, but am not having tons of success against this type of opponent. Even when I square stuff up, I’m not getting great outcomes.
Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend!
Common. In the last handful of event games I played this event almost all my opponents did the same thing.
All you have to do is keep the pci down there. Don't swing until they start throwing strikes. (I purposely put the controller down until I get two strikes on me)
Once you start hitting them; they'll mix it up or quit and then msg you that you suck because you're not a 'free swinger'.
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@X-FREEZE-OFF-X
Thanks for the reply.Yeah, I walked four times in my previous game and finally hit one 450’ with JD, but only managed one run on three hits today and took my first L.
What hitting view are you using?
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If you’re able to square them up consistently you may want to have players with breaking ball hitter and bad ball hitter quirks as well. You’ll get a better pci and velocity on pitches out of the zone (in theory).
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Great suggestion!
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@halfbutt said in Ranked Pitching style. New guy post.:
@X-FREEZE-OFF-X
Thanks for the reply.Yeah, I walked four times in my previous game and finally hit one 450’ with JD, but only managed one run on three hits today and took my first L.
What hitting view are you using?
Strike Zone. But 99.9% of the time, if they bring out a pitcher that has a Slider as their primary pitch, they'll throw in the dirt.
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@halfbutt It's called Snore pitching, it gets worse as you go higher up, I think i took 8 walks the other night in one game, I'm also very patient and often have starting pitchers at 70 or more pitches by the 4th when I'm on. Pick up the pattern of the opponent, a lot of guys pitch me how i pitch, so it becomes easy to predict, offspeed away, away then sinker inside is almost a staple to pitching in this game, that and high cutters away. JUst force you opponent to throw strikes by being super patient, they will get lazy at some point and throw get me over pitches.
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@chucky97___
That’s an appropriate name, for sure. I’ve noticed a lot of players that pitch this way have losing records with like 400+ games played.Oh well. I’ve lost two straight now so I guess I’d better get used to it!
Oh, and I see the old “runner takes an extra step at first, pitcher steps off” battles are still a thing.
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@halfbutt yep the better players learn to attack in the zone and when to leave the zone, cant stand players that either try to dot everything or just wont give you a strike no matter what. Its boring to walk non stop
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As most have said, its pretty common practice. That said, nothing get nuked harder than pitches on the bottom line. I would suggest spending the first inning taking a lot pitches and paying attention to where the pitches start for a stike compared to a ball. Once you get that as a reference point, taking pitches low is much easier. If it starts high, send it 450.
Go to practice mode and select only the bottom two rows and have the pitcher throw nothing but breaking balls. Cant tell you how much this type of practice helps.
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@kcartledge
Excellent advice. -
NGL, this 4-500 range is kind of torture. Everyone pitches in this way, plus the bunting and stealing, combines for a much less enjoyable game.
Oh well. At least I only paid like $10-15 for this year!
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@halfbutt 400-500 level is where the typical player casual esque is rated, these are the people in my opinion complain the most about the game but then play the game in ways they make everything unenjoyable, they'll hold r2, steal every time, bunt, bunt dance, its the worst level, then when you hit a big homerun, they dashboard.
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I’ve been hanging about in the 700s for the past week and even flirted with the 800s. The one thing I enjoy is people don’t quit.
the 400-500 range i am lucky to get 3 innings.OP
I use strike zone 1.
I use pulse pitching which I really don’t recommend but I’m lazy and I like it.
However the most important bit of advice I can ever give you is to take pitches. Aim to make the inning last 25 pitches. Have that as your mindset. It infuriates the other player and will
Make them nervous. -
@chucky97___
I honestly don’t mind if my opponent quits after I finally score. It’s great to play 9 innings but less great when your opponent plays in the way you describe. -
Also, can we talk about the “pause before you throw a challenge fastball” tactic?
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My latest opponent paused himself to death this way. It was in an event game no less! His timer ran out and I guess he wasn’t able to make a pitching change. I waited for him three times and finally Andy Ibanez, of all people, walked it off with a three run shot.
Go figure.
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@halfbutt
That is a valid point.
It has happened to me when the guy is 0-2, 1-2 he pauses for 20 seconds. Then I seem to give up a HR. Why does this happen
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@halfbutt said in Ranked Pitching style. New guy post.:
Hey all.
So after boycotting this year, I bought the game for ten bucks this week.I’ve managed to get a decent team together pretty quick grinding September Monthly and Finest programs and have been working my way up in ranked.
I’ve noticed as I hit the 400’s that most of my opponents just spam the very bottom of the zone with offspeed 90% of the time.
Is this the norm or just bush league all star tactics? If it is common moving up, do any of you ever change your hitting approach to directional as if you were facing a knuckleballer?
What about hitting cameras? I’m generally a strike zone offset guy, but am not having tons of success against this type of opponent. Even when I square stuff up, I’m not getting great outcomes.
Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend!
Welcome back. I remember you being a positive person with game issues. Always good to take a break.
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Thanks man!
Yeah, I’m enjoying the game a lot more now that I’ve had nearly a year off.I started playing 21 again but it was pretty tough to find a match, so the opportunity to get 23 for $10 was a no brainer!
