I use classic hitting as well.
If you want to hit the ball to right field, you need to point the left stick to the left. If you want to hit it to left, you need to point the left stick to the right. It seems backward but I think there's a reason for this.
I've found that just leaving the left stick alone works wonders. I hit balls where they're pitched and I like the timing based system better. I just got too frustrated with the left stick, but true doing what I mentioned above and you should see some better results.