I swing at everything..

[TheBadMammaJamma]

Alright, well not EVERYTHING. MLB 12 The Show is my first MLB game since like.. 2004. And I've got an awful habit. I tend to swing at almost every single pitch. Even if it's obvious that it's as far away from the strike zone as possible, my nerves get the best of me, and I'll swing. When I finally decide to take a pitch, it's almost always a strike, which further forces my awful habit to continue. I'm still new to this game ... just picked it up about a week ago. Has anybody else had a terrible habit like this? And if so, what's the best way to break it? I've been doing Batting Practice like crazy, but it hasn't seemed to influence anything.

Because I swing at everything, I don't get many hits, and end up striking out, swinging almost always at balls.

Edit: Wow. So I decided to change the pitch speed to 4 rather than 5, and I know this is only a temporary fix.. but it helps me a lot. Hopefully seeing the ball come towards me a biiiit slower will allow me to study the releases of these pitches, and eventually I'll be able to bump it back up.

[nomo17k]

I think somebody is going to post a set of links about hitting tips that have been discussed in this forum over the years...

My suggestion for someone at your stage is to only try to hit fastballs down the middle. Start with hitting difficulty at Rookie or Veteran (pitchers throw more deep strikes down the middle at these levels). Lay off EVERYTHING that doesn't seem like coming to down the middle, even if you think they'll be strikes. That way you'll develop eyes for judging balls and strikes on the black, which you'll never develop if you keep swinging and making them strikes. (Remember, once you swing, everything is a strike, automatically!!!)

Once you get the hang of it, try to expand your "swing" zone. That's how I would do it.

[Johnson0311]

Force yourself to take pitches. It takes time. The first time you get walked you'll feel like you hit a grand slam.

[37]

Lowering the pitch speed definitely helps but i noticed i was still late on Verlander's fastball at 4 so i had to lower the pitch speed down to 3 and that along with lowering the CPU strike frequency to 2 has helped me immensely in having better plate vision and discipline

[dodgrsfn]

You're chasing cause you're trying to hit every pitch that's thrown. Instead, try focusing on recognizing pitches only to the center of the strike zone and adjust once you have two strikes. Once you get used to not swinging at pitches not to the center, your discipline to swing at good pitches will get better. I also lay off breaking and off speed pitches early in the count because for me, I'd rather hit a fastball in the sweet spot. BTW, I play with zone hitting with the PCI on and on veteran mode.

[dodgrsfn]

I read your update about changing the pitch speed and someone else's about strike frequency. I'm not real big on that cause it really is a matter of just learning to train your eye to pick the ball up once out of the pitchers hand and then recognizing the trajectory and pitch type of the ball.

Hitting practice of all the modes really helped out, but the one that really helped me out was the timing mode training against a hard throwing pitcher (95-97). It forced me to recognize and move my PCI to the spot quickly in order to hit the ball with good timing. When I did the training, I was thinking, make good contact, make good contact. It forced me to move the PCI quickly and the timing was usually good too. Hope this helps.

[bockclock]

What hitting setting do you use? When you do make contact, are you hitting it solid or not?

Using pure analog, I find it much easier to time the pitch as well as read the break. If I use zone, my patience goes out the window, causing me to swing at pitches out of the zone, or I swing too early and over the ball, resulting in weak dribblers to the infielders.

[Bobhead]

Hold your thumb further away from the X button, that way even when you try to swing early... you don't.

I get antsy sometimes too, and my solution is to move my hand and keep my thumb pressed against the bottom of the controller.

You know the cylinder that the right analog stick is in? I keep my thumbnail pressed against the very bottom of that cylinder. It keeps you from swinging 3 years before an off-speed pitch arrives, and also gives you more time to stop yourself if you are attempting to swing at a bad pitch.

I can draw a picture or take a photo if you don't understand the description, but really any place will work, just make sure it's a good distance away.