For the love of all that is baseball fix it already

Every year defense is horrible. Outfields take sweet time throwing ball to cut off, cut off takes sweet time getting it in. Also tagging is horrible! So many plays at the plage should be outs but the catcher just casually swing his glove over instead of diving over to make an aggressive tag.

Why am being salty you might ask. Fair enough what happen is: Right fielder threw the ball to the cutoff man the runner thought I was going home with the throw so he went for second. Had my cut off man biggio (diamond fielder) caught the ball and relayed it with any urgency he would have been out by a mile. But no, he crow hops twice then lobs it over like he's just casually getting the ball back to the pitcher.

Even when the fielders do react with urgency it still takes way to long to get the ball from an outfielder to a desired base. In real baseball the ball is thrown almost immediately and you only really see gather steps when they are trying to throw out a runner who is tagging.

Still a good game. Still loving it. Just feel like defense has been the same for a long time. We should have quick throws for when we just want to hurry the ball back in. Should have more risky throws with tighter windows but higher velo. I think of madden when you hold the button for a bullet pass and you tap for a lob pass.

Just thoughts and venting. bad storm in Houston so I have to much time on my hands lol. Happy gaming

I feel like its def better than last year. The outfielders don't lolly gag throwing the ball in with people on bases

My biggest issues with defense so far:

• Catchers are suuuuuper slow to react to bunts/swinging bunts. Had a guy beat out a bunt that never made it to the infield grass that was technically popped up first....Piazza takes forever to stand, then feels like he needs to pull off his mask...then gets a slow pick up animation...then throws.
• Players throwing with no urgency after getting the ball in from the OF (like throwing to 2B but guy keeps going and then trying to throw it to 3B to get him out....delays the throw and throws it slowly).
• Tagging is awful, ball needs to be there several steps early for any chance of an out....
• Animation locks. FFS why is this a thing. Fielding a bunt by Lofton with my 1B, I'd have a chance to get the guy out if I dive at him with the ball but when I get close it auto locks you into a foot race to 1st...(where I could realistically just reach out and tag the guy) but hes safe because neither tag happens nor do I get to execute my dive attempt.
• Middle infielders not covering bases on OF hits. Runner on first rounds 2nd too far but I throw behind him expecting him to go back. Ball gets there before him but guy is 3 feet off the bag and has no urgency to move. Instead of an out, hes now safe.

Lol... did you see Piazza play “defense”? Kidding. Fair points. Not sure if there is a way around the animation locking though from a programming perspective (I really don’t know enough about how it works)

@khain24_psn said in For the love of all that is baseball fix it already:

My biggest issues with defense so far:

• Catchers are suuuuuper slow to react to bunts/swinging bunts. Had a guy beat out a bunt that never made it to the infield grass that was technically popped up first....Piazza takes forever to stand, then feels like he needs to pull off his mask...then gets a slow pick up animation...then throws.
• Players throwing with no urgency after getting the ball in from the OF (like throwing to 2B but guy keeps going and then trying to throw it to 3B to get him out....delays the throw and throws it slowly).
• Tagging is awful, ball needs to be there several steps early for any chance of an out....
• Animation locks. FFS why is this a thing. Fielding a bunt by Lofton with my 1B, I'd have a chance to get the guy out if I dive at him with the ball but when I get close it auto locks you into a foot race to 1st...(where I could realistically just reach out and tag the guy) but hes safe because neither tag happens nor do I get to execute my dive attempt.
• Middle infielders not covering bases on OF hits. Runner on first rounds 2nd too far but I throw behind him expecting him to go back. Ball gets there before him but guy is 3 feet off the bag and has no urgency to move. Instead of an out, hes now safe.

1. piazza defense was awful irl, but catchers are taught to take their mask off when making any play - that's not just an animation, that's a baseball thing
2. i've noticed this going both ways from having no urgency to turning into a superhuman throwing a dart from the of wall to a base from their back foot after making a running catch
3. agreed here, it's definitely not as fast as it is irl. imo the big thing is the computer catching the ball way ahead of the base and then having to bring the glove back for the tag. it's much quicker & efficient to let the ball do the work and travel for the shortest length to tag - not sure how they could code that differently though
4. that's part of the animation library based on defender fielding level. want better & quicker animations? use a better defender at that position
5. more often than not, middle infielders won't cover a bag on hits to the outfield. depending on which side of the of it's hit to, one of the middles will go out to get the throw and the other will be somewhere 'near' the base. there's no reason to stand on the base & cover - this is a baseball thing, not just a poor animation

@brrxdy_psn said in For the love of all that is baseball fix it already:

@khain24_psn said in For the love of all that is baseball fix it already:

My biggest issues with defense so far:

• Catchers are suuuuuper slow to react to bunts/swinging bunts. Had a guy beat out a bunt that never made it to the infield grass that was technically popped up first....Piazza takes forever to stand, then feels like he needs to pull off his mask...then gets a slow pick up animation...then throws.
• Players throwing with no urgency after getting the ball in from the OF (like throwing to 2B but guy keeps going and then trying to throw it to 3B to get him out....delays the throw and throws it slowly).
• Tagging is awful, ball needs to be there several steps early for any chance of an out....
• Animation locks. FFS why is this a thing. Fielding a bunt by Lofton with my 1B, I'd have a chance to get the guy out if I dive at him with the ball but when I get close it auto locks you into a foot race to 1st...(where I could realistically just reach out and tag the guy) but hes safe because neither tag happens nor do I get to execute my dive attempt.
• Middle infielders not covering bases on OF hits. Runner on first rounds 2nd too far but I throw behind him expecting him to go back. Ball gets there before him but guy is 3 feet off the bag and has no urgency to move. Instead of an out, hes now safe.

1. piazza defense was awful irl, but catchers are taught to take their mask off when making any play - that's not just an animation, that's a baseball thing
2. i've noticed this going both ways from having no urgency to turning into a superhuman throwing a dart from the of wall to a base from their back foot after making a running catch
3. agreed here, it's definitely not as fast as it is irl. imo the big thing is the computer catching the ball way ahead of the base and then having to bring the glove back for the tag. it's much quicker & efficient to let the ball do the work and travel for the shortest length to tag - not sure how they could code that differently though
4. that's part of the animation library based on defender fielding level. want better & quicker animations? use a better defender at that position
5. more often than not, middle infielders won't cover a bag on hits to the outfield. depending on which side of the of it's hit to, one of the middles will go out to get the throw and the other will be somewhere 'near' the base. there's no reason to stand on the base & cover - this is a baseball thing, not just a poor animation

Yes I know catchers take masks off all the time. In a video game is totally unnecessary outside of realism, which oddly enough, makes the guy totally unable to field his position therefore ruining the realism.

Counter points:

1. This is more about reaction than actual fielding. I dont know Piazzas reaction stat but its still laughable that he a runner is half way down the line before he even moves to get the ball.
2. This makes no sense. I'm running directly to my right a few feet in front of the base to get to the runner. Game takes control from me as a player and forces me to run to the base like I hit the base button. I get fielding animations come with better fielding but this isn't a fielding animation...its overriding control.
3. Yes I'm aware of standard positioning. Lets not act like players don't throw behind runners in real life either to get them out when they over- commit. I'm not saying every time but whenever the guy starts rounding a base and gets a good way past it, someone should be covering the base behind him.

Oh and I'm going to add one more thing to the throw urgency -- Canceling a throw animation. The amount of time it takes them to re-load a throw to the new base is insane. No real player fakes a throw then takes that long to throw to a different base.

Not a programmer so no idea what can be done to fix these, if anything but just some things I've noticed which hurt the game play imo.

I haven’t played in a couple years and the new quick branching infield animations are a game changer.

@go4stros25_psn said in For the love of all that is baseball fix it already:

Every year defense is horrible. Outfields take sweet time throwing ball to cut off, cut off takes sweet time getting it in. Also tagging is horrible! So many plays at the plage should be outs but the catcher just casually swing his glove over instead of diving over to make an aggressive tag.

Why am being salty you might ask. Fair enough what happen is: Right fielder threw the ball to the cutoff man the runner thought I was going home with the throw so he went for second. Had my cut off man biggio (diamond fielder) caught the ball and relayed it with any urgency he would have been out by a mile. But no, he crow hops twice then lobs it over like he's just casually getting the ball back to the pitcher.

Even when the fielders do react with urgency it still takes way to long to get the ball from an outfielder to a desired base. In real baseball the ball is thrown almost immediately and you only really see gather steps when they are trying to throw out a runner who is tagging.

Still a good game. Still loving it. Just feel like defense has been the same for a long time. We should have quick throws for when we just want to hurry the ball back in. Should have more risky throws with tighter windows but higher velo. I think of madden when you hold the button for a bullet pass and you tap for a lob pass.

Just thoughts and venting. bad storm in Houston so I have to much time on my hands lol. Happy gaming

It's by design.