MLB 11 The Show Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here

[swaldo]

Quote: Originally Posted by SmallBall

I'm having a lot of trouble achieving lower pitch speeds and softer breaking balls by moving the right stick up slowly on my pitches. If I'm unable to master this, I might just go back to the meter, which I always liked anyway. Otherwise, analog pitching is great.

You dont need to move it up slowly. A normal, smooth stroke sets the minimum pitch speed. From there just speed it up in varying degrees to increase velocity. I think the natural instinct is to move it up quickly - I was. you have to concentrate and just keep the up & down smooth rather than jamming it.

Also consider some pitches will only go 1 MPH slower than the pitchers rated speed. You might get pitches a bit slower by slightly overthrowing the pitch too. This basically puts more spin on the ball thus reducing velocity. Also, balls thrown high will always be faster than balls thrown low.

[BobSacamano]

Quote: Originally Posted by swaldo

- While messing with the pitch meter I threw a curveball that literally landed in the grass half-way to home plate. The bounce was so big that the batter hit a single off it. That was really cool, and it will be really awesome if someone loses a World Series game from something like that.

Sorry to repeat myself but people are seeing this enough for me to think that it's most definitely a glitch. When the pitch comes in it is registered as being close to a strike, which it is obviously not.

I know the demo isn't a final build, just hoping this catches someone's attention!

[nmycon]

Quote: Originally Posted by BobSacamano

Sorry to repeat myself but people are seeing this enough for me to think that it's most definitely a glitch. When the pitch comes in it is registered as being close to a strike, which it is obviously not. I know the demo isn't a final build, just hoping this catches someone's attention!

a batter is allowed to swing at a bounced pitch.

if he hits it, he can run. Runners can score off the hit, etc.

if the batter swings and misses it's a strike, if he takes the pitch its a ball, if it hits him, its a HBP walk.

However, the batter can take the pitch even if it's right down the center of the plate and it will be a a ball.

[swaldo]

Quote: Originally Posted by nmycon

a batter is allowed to swing at a bounced pitch. if he hits it, he can run. Runners can score off the hit, etc. if the batter swings and misses it's a strike, if he takes the pitch its a ball, if it hits him, its a HBP walk. However, the batter can take the pitch even if it's right down the center of the plate and it will be a a ball.

Vlad hit a double off the wall (off a bounce) when he played for the Expos. But yea I'd say it's a glitch, CPU batters are swinging at curveballs out of the zone no matter how far away it is.

[PsychoBulk]

Ive seen the curveball land 10 ft short of the hitter and bounce on numerous occasions, too many really, but ive no doubt this wont be seen in the full game (i hope), this is a December build we are playing after all.

[davewins]

Quote: Originally Posted by JT2111

One more thing I just noticed I had a ball hit to my 1st basemen right at him and as he was going to first he started taking short choppy steps as he got close to the bag and as a result the runner beat out an infield ground ball right at my 1st basemen!

This happened to me as well. I hope this doesn't happen in the full version. He went over to step on 1st but took his sweet time doing so and as a result it was an infield single.

I'm impressed with how challenging they made hitting. I put it on Legend and I went 56 innings without scoring a run LOL. It was from 10:15am to 4:30pm. I hit for both sides. I think by the 30-something inning I just started getting really anxious. Yogi Berra said it best. "Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical." This holds true to VIDEO GAME baseball as well! LOL

[nmycon]

Quote: Originally Posted by swaldo

Vlad hit a double off the wall (off a bounce) when he played for the Expos. But yea I'd say it's a glitch, CPU batters are swinging at curveballs out of the zone no matter how far away it is.

if they could drastically tone it down that would be awesome

like once bounced pitch every 40-50 games, and not necessarily having every batter swinging at it.

it will add realism if used sparely enough, but looks silly when it happens so often.

Also after doing further reading, a ball must pass the front of the plate in order to be called a strike.

Because the pitch bounces, i dont think it can be called a strike whether the batter swings or not...

[davewins]

The biggest thing that they got right with hitting is the fact that GOOD PITCHING BEATS GOOD HITTING. Fastballs on the low outside corner are GOOD pitches. Almost in real life unhittable for the most part. Maybe it's just me but I am noticing that you have to look for mistakes in order to have a better chance. You aren't going to hit "pitcher's pitches" hard. If a pitcher makes a great pitch he is rewarded correctly. If a pitcher screws up and the hitter executes than the pitcher is penalized. Hope I am making myself clear.

I just feel that overall pitches on the corner are much tougher to hit like they should be. This year it feels like you really have to get a good pitch to hit. You can't hit the good pitches on the corners or off speed stuff low in the zone which is realistic. One of the most accurate quotes in baseball is "good pitching beats good hitting." This is actually an incredible job by the dev team simulating this.

The most important thing in successful hitting in this game is patience and waiting for your pitch and executing on your pitch. Wait for the pitcher to make a mistake and execute on it. Changeups low in the zone are extremely difficult to hit as they are in real life. If they get a couple inches up in the zone though, that's another story.