Tracking Pitches

[Lunytic]

I've searched under everything I could think of but I haven't found anything dealing with how you track a pitch.

I'm not refering to timing, but rather location. Everyone seems to say the same thing, just wait for a [insert favorite location here] pitch and hit it. Okay, but how the heck do you identify where the pitch is going to end up?

I've played 20 games plus a half a dozen mini hitting games and I still can't figure out how to recognize where the pitch is going more than 10% of the time.

Any help, hints, insights, or suggestions for someone who is not interested in becoming a hardcore MVP player but would like to be able to hit by doing something other than just swinging at 60% of the pitches would be much appriciated.

[Roscosuper]

As far as "predicting" where the pitch is going to be located, that's not how you should approach your hitting.........I'm mean, based on the type of pitch and the pitcher throwing it, you should have an idea where the pitch is "going", but if you were able to predict everything, the game wouldn't be called baseball.

Best thing to do, is to get to know the pitches.......for instance, a "curveball"......after the ball leaves the pitchers hand, you should see a little "hump" motion in the movement of the ball.....after you've identified the pitch as a curve ball, you then know the ball is going to break at some degree down/down and away...........so you have to make a quick guess "is the ball breaking into the zone or out of the zone"..........the more you see the more you'll get use to it..........

Play a game and just watch pitches.......try just to swing at just fastballs.....what I find is that, if you practice looking for fastballs you'll learn a lot about the other pitches.........but remember, different pitchers can make the same pitch "look" different........baseball is alot about deception and intimidation.......you don't have to worry about the intimidation, but the computer is going to fool you......I don't think the pitching game helps that much, because they throw everything in the zone.....they do change speeds alot, so it will help with your timing.....but I think your going to just have to do alot of practicing.........you'll figure it out sooner or later, and then you'll be complaining about how easy it is.....just have fun with it, and don't get mad it you get fooled now and then, it's designed that way.....good luck

[Lunytic]

I appriciate what you are saying, howerver, it makes me incredibly mad that no one creates a game that you can play out of the box. Every game that is worth anything (don't get me started on those NFL Blitz type baseball games) has gone uber-hardcore, making everything as difficult as possible so the best out there enjoy it.

Being told I have to play month or more of games in order to be able to hit is frankly, [insert the verb-form of a word that would get me in trouble].

I just want a realistic baseball game that I can open the box, install, and play. I guess it backs to High Heat 2003.

[p_rushing]

try lowering the pitch speed, it will give you more time to see the pitch and figure out where it is going

[Jitter]

Hmm.........The batting minigame flashes where the pitch is going to be (left, right, or middle). As for in an actual game it is tougher, but not rocket science. Try one of the camera mods. I use Jims combo datafile w/ batter view 5. I think it gives you a little bit better idea where the ball is going. Just use the hitters eye, or your own eye to identify the pitch then you should have an idea what its going to do. You shouldnt expect to come out and crank 50 HR's a game besides that would get so boring youd prob quit playing after a week. You need to have some challenge factor in there.

[KenDammit]

Its simple to do. It seems a lot harder to do when you see it in writing vs. trial and error.

For example, you're facing a right handed pitcher. He throws a 4-seam, 2-seam, curve, slider, and changeup.

A 4 seamer is going to be a pretty straight ball...You can easily tell if the pitch will be outside or inside as soon as it leaves his hand.

A 2-seam fastball is just as easy to read, even with the change of direction it has. If the ball moves all the way across his body as it leaves his hand, you know its going outside. If it doesn't move all the way across, then you know its going to be middle/in.

a slider is very easy to read, because its a relatively flat pitch. If you see it starting inside as what would appear to be a ball, its going to be a middle/in pitch. If you see it starting as what would appear to be an inside strike, its going to break outside or be a ball outside.

Curves are a tricky pitch to judge because they have two relative directions of break, all determined by the pitcher thats throwing it. Sometimes it will break more side to side and less down, or sometimes it will be a straight 12-6 drop. For reading it, you follow the same idea's as before, determining whether its inside, middle, or out as SOON as it leaves the pitchers hand, and you will have to learn the break of the particular pitcher before you can effectively determine where the ball will end up.

Thats a little help, should be good enough to get you started practicing and improving.