Noob Guide to Hitting in MLB 09: The Show

[RaychelSnr]

This year, baseball fans have been greeted by a welcome change in MLB 09: The Show: an increased difficulty level while at the plate. Not only is there an entirely new difficulty level, Legend, but each other level, from Rookie to Hall of Fame, has been made more difficult. With that being said, I will attempt to shine a light on some base-level batting strategies that will help players get the most out of the offensive side of their game -- and hopefully increase their overall batting average in the process.

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[scooteristkai]

Thanks a lot, that is actually good stuff you´re writing there!

I´m just coming to my computer from my RttS career, where I made a complete fool of myself at the plate.

MY biggest problem is that I aim and press the swing button almost always at the same time resulting in a not-aimed-swing mostly

Gotta work on my mechanics first before Iwork further more on pitch recognition!

[michfan16]

This does help, i might take more pitches in RTTS

[JerseySuave4]

best way to hit IMO is to always guess a low fastball. That way if you get the pitch type right but location wrong you know to look for a fastball that isn't low. If you get the location right and the pitch type wrong, you know to look for a low off-speed pitch. If you get both wrong, you know its not a low fastball so you look for a breaking ball that isn't low. It makes it a lot easier because if you get the pitch type wrong and it isn't a fastball, you know its an off-speed pitch so you can prepare to time it better than guessing a different pitch type every time and trying to then figure out what it's going to be if you get that wrong. And i choose to guess a low pitch because those are sometimes the hardest to tell if its in the strike zone or not so if you get the location right you can focus on the lower part of the zone to see if it's gonna land in the zone.

[Gossennator]

I played the demo and I thought it was great, I was just so terrible at batting that that aspect wasn't fun for me. But I am getting this game sometime this week so hopefully Ill continue to get better at batting...also I cant wait to try out batting practice seems like a lot of fun.

[jWILL253]

Good stuff. I find that you shouldn't always look for the fastball. I like to look for the curveball on an 0-2 count. I find the curveball that lands in the zone the easiest ball to hit because of the slow velocity of the pitch itself. But, it backfires sometimes, because some virtual players will resemble their real life counterparts: can't hit a curveball to save their life.

[eddd]

Great tips, I am fairly successful at making contact but the problem I have is 90 percent plus when I make contact I either ground out right to an infielder or I hit a fly ball right at an outfielder. Any suggestions or tips for hitting line drives that fall in front of outfielders or in the gaps or seeing eye ground balls through the infield?

[whosgotcha]

Good information. Believe me, i really need all the help i can get.