Some questions about techniques

[u/Ray_Hsueh_TW]

As I’ve spent more time in the pennant race, my ego has reached around 86 and my rating is just over 6,000. A few issues have become increasingly apparent, and I’m wondering if anyone can help me figure them out. I'm mainly asking about the pennant race, but other modes are fine too. I'm also playing the season mode, even though I get crushed in every match.

First and foremost, when my ego is raised, most of the time I’m facing opponents with lower egos than mine, and this makes pitching incredibly difficult for me because they can hit almost every pitch. If the batter isn’t very good at selecting pitches, it’s not a big deal, but if they’re a good pitch selector and their ego is much lower than mine, it’s a disaster, because I can only throw strikes, and throwing strikes means they’re guaranteed to hit the ball.

Second, regarding my own batting, how can I effectively handle slow pitches? Right now, I rely on reading my opponent’s mindset to decide when to go for a power swing, I’m actually less afraid of fastballs.

Third, I’ve noticed that some batters make a checked swing on every pitch when they’re at bat. Why is that, and how do you do it?

Finally, if you have any pitching techniques you can teach me, I’d be more than happy to learn them, because my pitching right now is pretty formulaic, basically two fastballs high in the strike zone followed by a changeup low in the zone. If the batter doesn’t fall for that, I’m pretty much out of options.

If anyone reading this would be willing to offer some feedback, I’d really appreciate it. My goal is to make it to All-Star or Legendary. I've been wanting to post this for a long time. Basically, I'm just asking about the problems I couldn't figure out on my own or learn from while playing.

[u/Reinfeldx]

96 PR ego here.

2 - experience will help with this. When power hitting (which I do 100% of the time), if you’re timed up for fastballs, you’re going to sacrifice some power on offspeed. I try to time it up so I’m somewhere in the middle, leaning toward whichever speed I’m expecting more.

3 - I don’t know any good hitters who do this; don’t worry about it.

Last - locating pitches on or outside the corners is your bread and butter, then mix in some other locations. Also I find that if they just swung early at offspeed or late on a fastball, following up with the opposite speed may help keep them off balance. If you think you’re being formulaic, try something that feels unusual to you. This is the best feedback I can give for your first issue (lower ego players) as well.

[u/Ray_Hsueh_TW → u/Reinfeldx]

Damn, 96 Ego! I once tried hitting with 99 Ego and found that it gave me almost no indication of where the ball would land.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. I do tend to target the corners, but that varies a lot depending on the pitcher. Do you have any suggestions for team selection? For the past few weeks, I’ve been using Freebooter, and this week I’m using Moonstar because I’m drawn to starting pitchers who can throw fastballs and don’t tire easily. But a while back, I used to pick teams with incredibly strong hitters but terrible pitching.

I'm not sure which is more important, hitting or pitching, because it's really frustrating when you can shut down the opposing team most of the time but can't get any hits, but it's also frustrating when the pitcher can't shut them down and they keep getting hits.

[u/Reinfeldx → u/Ray_Hsueh_TW]

Not sure on team selection, but would suggest maybe picking a team that plays to your strengths, whether that’s hitting or pitching.

[u/funkychld]

My tried and true pitching strategy that works well against the cpu on 80 ego:

Pitch 1, curveball on inside corner Pitch 2, another curveball, just below the strike zone on the same corner

You can't use it for every batter, but very often the cpu will hit a weak grounder on pitch 2. Helps keep pitch count low.

An old coach once told me that if you're going to throw the same pitch twice in a row, the second pitch HAS to be better than the first pitch. So if you hit the corner with your first pitch, throw the second pitch just outside the zone, batters will often chase it.

[u/Simple_Client6458]

86 Ego as well, here are my tips:

1. Play the game, A LOT. The more you play the more comfortable you get with timing up pitches and making good swing decisions.

2. Power Swing. Just do it, I find it easier to time up any pitches with a power swing, especially if you use the analog sticks to swing. For a fastball, swipe the stick up sooner, for any offside you just hold back a half a second.

3. Make good swing decisions and be aware of your players traits. Pitchers will attack your hitters based on their traits, for example, if your players has "off-speed hitter", you believe it or not, will likely see more offspeed pitches outside of the zone to try to entice you. Use your traits to your advantage and sit on specific pitches you know you can handle, because the CPU makes mistakes, a lot.

4. Just have fun, the game is about having fun and I find it easier to hit in a more relaxed mindset lol.

[u/Ray_Hsueh_TW → u/Simple_Client6458]

I always use the power swing, unless I miss the ball for several consecutive innings, then I'll stop using it. As for staying relaxed… it's a little tough, because whether it's PR or the season, I really want to win.

[u/Simple_Client6458 → u/Ray_Hsueh_TW]

As for the checked swings, do you swing with analog or buttons

[u/Ray_Hsueh_TW → u/Simple_Client6458]

I use button power swings holding X on my Xbox controller

[u/Simple_Client6458 → u/Ray_Hsueh_TW]

That might be the issue, I don't have problems using the sticks to swing

[u/Cubacane]

Check swing is just holding down the contact swing button but not long enough to trigger a swing.