MLB 11 The Show - How an old SI story turned my hitting around - cheechoo98's Blog

cheechoo98's Blog

MLB 11 The Show - How an old SI story turned my hitting around

Posted on March 13, 2011 at 07:53 PM.

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OK. it was Sunday morning..

I woke up and wanted to get back at MLB11.... wanted to get this/my hitting issues taken care of.
The consensus in the community is that there is something different/wrong about MLB 11's hitting mechanic. At the time I'd say about 99% of the people online have a sub .200 Batting Average. I myself was hitting .173 after 8 online games. The previous year in MLB 10, I had a .314 BA after 200+ online games. So what the Heck is different/wrong with this year's game??? Simply put, It's the new Analog Hitting mechanic.

I liken it to the childhood game of 'patting your head and rubbing your tummy in circles at the same time'. Only, in MLB 11, it's 'pull back on the stick and try and read the pitch'. Nearly impossible so far.

So on this Sunday morning, i loaded up the game endeavouring to get better and 'figure it out'.
I went to the Practice/Good At-Bat session. I like to spend time in the Good At-Bat sessions. This gives me a variety of pitches and situations etc...

After flailing for a few sessions... something from deep within my memory banks emerged:
It was an old Sports Illustrated article i remember reading a loOong time ago where Wade Boggs, Don Mattingly and Ted Williams discussed hitting. THE nugget that I remembered this morning was this:

Weight and then Wait.

Don Mattingly's approach. 'Weight transfer', and then 'Wait' as long as you could on a pitch and then.. EXPLODE into the pitch.

Quote: "MATTINGLY: What I was always taught was to wait, wait, wait, see the ball and then hit it. I get my weight back -- wait, wait, wait, then throw it."

(I've included the link to the article at the bottom in NOTE #2)

So, first part:
WEIGHT = pull stick back - when? When I could see the pitchers hand on top. (even that is a bit earlier according to the vid-tutorials, but that became my starting point) Oh, and yes, I only pull back slightly, not ALL the down on the R-Stick.

Second part:
WAIT --- for as long as i could on the pitch before EXPLODING my swing into the pitch. The benefit of this mindset, was that i ended up waiting on many pitches that were balls, pitches i definitely swung at for before.

Weight, Wait, Explode!

So then i proceeded to go into each Batting Practice Modes: Timing, Contact, Recognition, and again with the Good At-Bat session.. I did this cycle of practice a couple of times. But by the second time in, I knew right away, I had found my stroke. I could see the results already.. I could hear the solid contact being made. Amazing.

Ok.. so then i played an offline game (albeit I have my offline hitting set to 'Veteran') I won the game with 10+ hits

Next was the big test - to see if i really had learned anything. ONLINE - PLAY NOW.

Well, well, well.. 2nd pitch, a curveball I hit for a leadoff HR with Rajai Davis of the Blue Jays. I scored 4 runs in the top of 1st inn! (please.. don't quit.. please don't quit..) Just the previous day, I was flailng early on Curveballs I thought i had good timing on..

All-in-all, I hammered 5 HR's Rajai Davis (x2), Lind, and Bautista, and Arrencebia. Final tally was 10 Runs, 15 hits!!! I still struck out 8 times, but it wasn't 14+ times!!!!

Before this game, I was hitting .173 after 8 online games.
This approach really worked for me today!!!! Weight and Wait and Explode. Wow! feels nice to have found my stroke.

NOTE #1
I used Wide 3 batting cam Online. Offline, I was playing around w/ Wide 2 but found I was laying off too many low strikes.. with Wide 3, I can see the lower pitches a bit better. I also like Wide cams becasue you get to see a little more of the depth perception of the pitch...

NOTE #2
here is the article. It came out in 1986. AWESOME READ!!!
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/bas...ashbacks/1986/

So it was only 1 game. I will continue this mindset.. but i KNOW I've turned a corner. Thanks SCEA San Diego - for making a great game that takes into account this 'real-life' philosphy. Kudos to you guys and gals. and Ramone.. and the Mods here, for putting up with all my negative posts so far.

As well, I am glad that I read that SI article back in 1986. I treasured it back then, reading, listening to 3 experts talking about hitting, trying to glean everything as a youngster to improve my own hitting in real life. It's amazing how that real-life discussion has made me a better hitter in a video game, oh so many years later!

Comments

# 1 FroznYogurt @ Mar 14

Nice read, I will definitely try this once I get the game.

# 2 crbuke @ Mar 14

interesting, I will have to try it.

# 3 JustinJones @ Mar 14

thanks, this is going to help my horrible batting average online

# 4 abcabc @ Mar 17

"This approach really worked for me today!!!!
Weight and Wait and Explode. Wow! feels nice to have found my stroke."

I'll try it out on her next time!