Extremely Low BABIP

[zpq12]

I don't know if anyone else is having this problem, but I'm not sure what I could be doing differently:

I guess fastball on every pitch. I swing at other pitches, but only if they are right over the middle. My timing and eye have improved greatly. I can draw a few walks and I strike out a realistic amount of times, and most times even less. However, every ball I hit is a popup, a grounder or right at someone. I rarely hit a solid liner - must of my hits are of the goundball to the hole variety. I look at the pitch info pop-up after the at bat and more often than not I have at least good timing and my contact is good(I just use timing hitting for the time being).

Because of this I'm lucky to scrape together 4 or 5 hits per game. Unless I hit a home run I go scoreless. I'd estimate in aggregate that I have played 30+ games. I choose good hitting teams because I've been so punchless on offense. I've been playing with some confidence for the last 20 or so.

I don't feel overwhelmed by the game any longer. I feel like I have a good grasp on how to approach an at-bat in the game, yet I have, I kid you not, maybe 15 liners and maybe 5 runs that have not been homers. Its a joke.

I have no clue what I could be doing wrong. My approach is sound, my timing and contact are good, but my BABIP must be hovering around .150, at the very best. Can someone help me here? I'm getting really frustrated. I like a good low scoring tense game, but its not fun to go punchless into the night as it were, every night.

TL;DR: I'm not hitting bad pitches, hitting them with good timing and contact, but getting awful results.

[captainda9]

I would have to pretty much agree with everything you said.although unlike what you experiance i rarely hit a ground ball.its getting on my nerves.i have been one the biggest ''show guys'' since 08.i literally havent touched the game 7+days cause the realism just isnt there.on every other front im sucked into the game/mlb setting the show provides.but this year the hitting is off.i dont know how to put it.i have the same approach as you basically.i guess fastball inside everytime.its a pop up no matter what happens.i have messed with sliders/plr tweaks nothing works.how many times can i hit it RIGHT at someone? sorry for the rant on your thread this game just has me frustrated to no end.

[Qrusher14242]

i have the same problem....i'm not sure what to do? i mean i make good contact, but its always right at people. Or its a fly ball that they always get to. I almost look forward to when i dont make good contact and it somehow gets by them. Last year it wasnt nearly this bad. I like the pitching, but not what to do about hitting. It's kind of out of my control after the ball leaves the bat. Why am i getting punished for great contact and great timing?

[Sinner618]

I used to have the same problem..
Here's what I did, try it if you like...
I used to guess fastball low every time, every pitch.. the AI seems to catch on, as whenever you swing at a slightly low fastball, you're likely to swing at a low breaking ball just because the location lit up... and if you swing at that, you may swing at one even lower... you guess fastball every time, it goes straight to someone for an out, that pitchers fastball confidence just went up, as did his overall confidence.. and I used to find myself in quick 3 or 4 pitch innings swinging like that..I find it very difficult to scrap out runs when the opposing pitcher has a full confidence bar and I'm constantly swinging at his highest confidence pitch...
At the start of the game, I go first time through my lineup's at bats without using guess pitch, guess location or swing influence AT ALL.. the key is to try and work a pitch he uses a lot, usually whatever pitch is his "x button" pitch which is 9 put of 10 times a 4SFB, to work that pitch down to a half a green bar of confidence.. watch all his pitches closely as soon as they leave his hand, recognize what they look like as they come to you, and swing at what looks reasonable, take a few pitches looking sometimes, don't use the power swing unless there's 2 or more on and you're ahead in the count, use normal swing on even counts, and with 2 strikes try using contact swing more on stuff that looks close to the edges to try to stay alive, but sometimes, striking out looking is ok...
The second time through my lineup, I may have seen his "x" pitch 60% or so of the time, and the others a fair number too.. if I start the inning with the top of the lineup, say around 5th or 6th inning, and I've been taking pitches and working counts up to this point, his energy bar should be around half or so.. and his confidence in fastball may be high, so guess fastball, but not location..you've been up for 9 at bats without using guess pitch or location, so the location crutch isn't neccesary as yove been training yourself to recognize the pitch as it comes to you.. if he delivers the fastball in a decent spot, use normal swing to try and get on.. guy at first, no you're #2 comes up, you just got a single with a fastball, so his fastball confidence may be lower now, he may not trust it just yet, so his other pitches may come into play.. perhaps his changeuphas little confidence in it, but he's gonna try it in stead of the pitch that he just gave up a hit on.. guess changeup, and this time guess location too, wherever you feel like, but if you've recognized a tendancy that this pitcher has, you may want to guess there... if he delivers, great, if not, he'll probably be throwing the first couple carefully, so taking a couple pitches and sitting on whatever you guess and waiting could give you a great hitters count, perhaps a couple curves around the outside for balls, and while you're taking those pitches, his other pitches which weren't that great of confidence pitches to begin with slowly drop more the longer he goes without using it..a 2-0 count and he'll probably bring one in, which you need to be ready for... if you can get a low confidence pitch that you guess thrown to you in your location with a runner on first and a 2-0 count, that has a higher chance of finding a gap for extra bases then swinging at low high confidence fastballs with no one on and a 0-2 count... if you can get a guy at 1st and 2nd or perhaps 2nd and 3rd with noone out, now you've got you're #3, 4, and 5 guys ready to shine.. try the same method with these batters, even if you guess fastball, and he throws a low confidence changeup, you already went several innings without using guesspitch so by now you can clobber a low confidence pitch without it even being what you guessed... if you're #3 guy comes through, they'll probably hurry and pull the pitcher, and the reliever coming in may not have had a lot of time, so he may take the mound with all his pitches at low confidence, so take the same method, choose something that's not his highest confidence pitch and sit on it while trying to protect you're count...

Also,remember the same thing as you're pitching, but in reverse... if you just gave up 2 hits on fastballs, the next guy you face is lookin for you're lowered confidence fastball.. I like when the opposing pitcher comes up, I use my lowest confidence stuff on him, cause swinging stikes, strikeouts, or even a ball put into play that results in an out, whichever pitch is used for that gains confidence from all that, especially the swinging strike 3 or the strikeout looking pitch, it'll build it back faster...

When I STOPPED guessing every pitch of every at bat, and picked the right MOMENTS to utilize it, my hitting and scoring and ultimately winning got much better..

[N51_rob]

I would ween myself off guess pitch. It punishes you when the pitch isn't what you guess. Try to use it more situationaly. I used to have the same problem when I was guess pitch dependent. Now that I never use it my contact is much solider. Try it for a game or two might be just the thing.

[Qrusher14242]

i've never used guess pitch. I do try to look for a change up sometimes, cause if i don't there's no way i can hit it. Hitting is just much harder than last year...i used to be relatively good at this game, but not anymore. Last year if i made good contact it seemed i could get hits. Guess i'll RTTS for now, its no fun losing every game i play.

[Heroesandvillains]

It's the penalty of always guessing FB that's causing your problems.

I do guess pitch and location, but not every at bat or even every inning. I use it mostly when I actually have an idea as to what is coming, and sometimes (very rarely) use it to determine offspeed versus fastball. But the latter is dangerous. Sure, you know what's probably coming. But you guessed wrong. And the penalty for doing so is definitely there.

Use it wisely.

BABIP does seem lower this year. But not THAT low. Take some of the suggestions in here; start using the Pitcher Analysis screen to make your guesses more informed, and post back.

[mmorg]

Quote: Originally Posted by zpq12

I don't know if anyone else is having this problem, but I'm not sure what I could be doing differently: I guess fastball on every pitch.

I stopped reading right there. Stop using guess pitch.