This year there is a new hitting mechanic in MLB 15 The Show called Directional Hitting. The idea behind this system is rather simple. It's basically timing hitting with the ability to influence the directions of your hits by pushing the left stick in a certain direction. 

For example, if you want to hit a fly ball to try to get a runner home from third on a sacrifice fly you simply hold the left stick up as the pitch is thrown and time it up with the swing button. If you timed it correctly you should have hit a fly ball. I also noticed that you can influence fly balls to the left and right. In my first game I held the left stick in the upper left corner and got a pitch up and in and I smashed a home run with Jason Kipnis to right field. 

But this doesn't always seem to work. Say I'm doing the above and trying to hit a fly ball to right and I get a low and away breaking ball I will sometimes swing through it or chop it to the left side of the field. Now I don't know if this is done as a penalty or if I'm just missing pitches. I also have tried to hit ground balls by holding the left stick down but I have hit line drives and even fly balls. So I’m not really sure what’s going on there.

To be honest I'm not sure I even like directional hitting. It seems to function OK, but I don't find it terribly realistic. I just can't get over pushing that left stick to where the ball will be, aka zone hitting. I just think it's more realistic. As someone who's played baseball for many many years I was never taught to try to hit the ball to a certain part of the field. I was always taught to hit the ball where it's pitched. Yes, there are occasions where you want to hit a fly ball for a sacrifice fly or a grounder in a hole to potentially illicit a hit and run. But those are special circumstances and take a lot of talent to pull off. 

That’s not to say this mechanic is bad. It just may not be for everyone. I have heard some people compare it to MVP Baseball’s hitting mechanic. While I think its similar, I also think there are more factors at play in The Show. In the end it all comes down to preference. I prefer zone hitting, but a lot of people may prefer directional hitting. Either way, both hitting mechanics work well and are well done. 

So tell us what you think of the new Directional Hitting mechanic in this years game.