Zone hitting a disaster - question about directional

[Aviator87AC]

I gave it a long time before writing this, but after weeks of struggling and a broken controller - I feel it is time. Is anyone else completely fed up with zone hitting? I'm assuming many gave up on it early on and some may have never tried it, but the zone hitting is a complete failure in 2016. And before you say "oh, you mean it's too realistic?" - it's not.

I strive for 1-4 or 2-5 games and a .250 avg. Zone just doesn't provide that and far too often I lined a fastball up with perfect timing and just pop out over and over again. My RTTS player is in his 3rd year now, which means he's an 80 overall and has respectable attributes - yet still grounding out on almost every play (with or without a hitters count). The off chance he gets a hit feels like a miracle.

So tonight I switched to Directional and oh my god - what a difference. I immediately felt more in control of my swing than I had with zone hitting. I still struck out and had some unlucky outs, but the difference is I was now slapping grounders down, instead of everything turning into a deep fly ball.

So my question is this, with directional hitting - does the direction you "aim" have ANY impact on whether or not contact will be made on the pitch? Should I be "aiming" at all for where the ball is or only for where I want to hit the ball? For example, if it's a fastball in on the hands and you "aim" out and away, will you be more likely to swing & miss or just make poor contact?

[SpikeSpiegel]

I just bought the game not too long ago after not playing for 4 years, and I always played on Legend. Zone hitting is so hard even with the slower default pitch speed compared to older versions. Getting a freaking single is harder than a HR. You either just nail the ball or make an easy out, I wouldn't be surprised if I've hit more extra base hits than singles.

[Stolm]

I am definitely not seeing what you are seeing with Zone.

I have only ever used Zone + Analog in The Show, and the only difference I notice this year, is I have to be a lot more accurate when centering the ball up. Makes it harder to get a hit, but when I center it up, I hit it hard. No pop-ups or softly hit balls like previous years.

[IcyVegeta]

I love zone hitting this year. The only adjustment I've made is placing my PCI a tad higher on average compared to last year. Power swings squared up go yard if you have the reflexes for it and your player only has to have about 50 PWR if you catch it right.

[RockPowderDownLoL]

if you are facing a hard throwing pitcher the game will not start you players stride earlier and you may need to use zone plus analog with the stride to begin your batter's stride earlier so that he is in his hammer position by the time the ball is released and his foot needs to be down by the time the ball is halfway to the plate. on all-star this isn't a problem but on legend you are just going to push everything opposite field unless your batter has a short stride but every stride is unique and you need to time them all slightly differently. the game does an excellent job replicating real hitting. zone is great for making contact but against flame throwers on zone i simply can't pull anything or hit for power.

[RockPowderDownLoL]

the timing window for directional is smaller and when i used directional last year i would just hold it in and if i got something away i would move it away and push the ball but i tried to pull everything

[TheWarmWind]

To answer the OP's actual question:

I've found that yes, the direction you aim does have an impact, both on the quality of contact (based on the balls location) and certain bonuses/negatives that will be added. I play with a unique slider set though so your experiences may differ.

I'll explain further. This is true of MOST, but not all hitters. A part of directional is learning the individual hitters strengths and weaknesses.

Pulling gives a slight bonus to power, while also changing the ideal locations for balls slightly inside. It also slightly opens of the timing window for a little earlier.

Pressing up also adds a slight bonus to power, but at the cost of vision (you will swing and miss more). It will also move your ideal location for a ball down, so high strikes will more often than not turn into ugly popouts.

Pushing gives a slight bonus to contact, while also moving ideal location slightly away. It also opens up the timing window for a little later.

Pressing down gives a bonus to vision, but at the cost of power. Power hitters don't do well with this, often just pounding the ball into the ground for an easy out, but it's also good for fouling things off, and is the ideal swing for some leadoff hitters.

You take these factors, the situation AND the hitter at the plate into consideration when picking a swing. I generally pick before the pitch and then wait on my pitch, letting it go if I don't get it. Hopefully this helps. Enjoy!

Edit: I should also add that some players get more of a bonus when picking their ideal swing type. For example an extreme pull hitter will get more of a bonus from pulling, and less from the other swings.

[Aviator87AC]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheWarmWind

To answer the OP's actual question: I've found that yes, the direction you aim does have an impact, both on the quality of contact (based on the balls location) and certain bonuses/negatives that will be added. I play with a unique slider set though so your experiences may differ. I'll explain further. This is true of MOST, but not all hitters. A part of directional is learning the individual hitters strengths and weaknesses. Pulling gives a slight bonus to power, while also changing the ideal locations for balls slightly inside. It also slightly opens of the timing window for a little earlier. Pressing up also adds a slight bonus to power, but at the cost of vision (you will swing and miss more). It will also move your ideal location for a ball down, so high strikes will more often than not turn into ugly popouts. Pushing gives a slight bonus to contact, while also moving ideal location slightly away. It also opens up the timing window for a little later. Pressing down gives a bonus to vision, but at the cost of power. Power hitters don't do well with this, often just pounding the ball into the ground for an easy out, but it's also good for fouling things off, and is the ideal swing for some leadoff hitters. You take these factors, the situation AND the hitter at the plate into consideration when picking a swing. I generally pick before the pitch and then wait on my pitch, letting it go if I don't get it. Hopefully this helps. Enjoy! Edit: I should also add that some players get more of a bonus when picking their ideal swing type. For example an extreme pull hitter will get more of a bonus from pulling, and less from the other swings.

Thank you very much for this write up. I will use it to tailor my new RTTS that I will be starting this week (ps, what sliders are you using? ).

As for the comments about zone being better / worse this year, the PCI doesn't end up where I physically move the control stick. This is perhaps my biggest gripe with zone hitting right now. I literally scout pitchers before I go up against them, so I have an idea of what they might throw. Too many times I've waited patiently for my hitter's count, sat on that big breaking ball, aimed down to line up and popped out only to see the PCI actually ended up in the dirt. In fact, pulling the PCI down into the dirt became such a problem, that I just stopped moving the stick altogether. That's not the way it's supposed to work.

Playing zone on All-Star is fun and cuddly, but playing in the majors on HoF or Legend is unforgiving. If you're a simulation junky, like me, directional seems like the way to go as it takes player stats into a lot more consideration (if by simply taking PCI error out of it).