Contact - Swings & Misses - Strikeouts

[countryboy]

Ok..

I've debated for a few days about whether to start this discussion or not, as I thought maybe it was just me and getting acquainted to the new pitching and hitting changes. But after 60 or so games, I'm wanting to see what others thought of my "issue".

Before I start, I'm playing on Default Legend with Meter Pitching and Zone hitting. I play every single pitch of every single game. This is also with a carryover franchise, so I'm not using MLB '19's default/updated rosters.

Now my "issue".

Does anyone else feel like that contact is too easy, thus allowing for fewer swings and misses, thus leading to fewer strikeouts? And when I say contact, I'm not necessarily talking about putting a ball in play, but also foul tipping a ball by just getting enough bat on the ball to keep an at-bat alive.

I understand that is very subjective and difficult to state with any type of certainty, aside from opinion, that an issue may or may not exist. And this isn't coming from a place where I feel cheated, or feel that I should dominate, or feel that I'm definitely better than the results. This comes from a place of wondering, based on my experience this year vs last year using the same pitchers and the same settings. And this issue goes for both myself and the AI.

For instance..I have Jack Flaherty who has a K/9 rating of 97. This rating, unless I am completely mistaken, influences the ability of the hitter to get the bat on the ball, depending obviously on other factors like, but not limited to, how "perfect" my pitch (meter feedback), the hitter's contact rating and vision rating.

I am not suggesting that Flaherty should be averaging double digit strikeouts each game. I'm not suggesting that he should average a set number of strikeouts per game based on this rating, but I feel as though he would be averaging more if not for the "issue" of too easy to make contact on good/great pitches. Last year, Flaherty averaged about 8 strikeouts per game when I view the stats. This year in 5 starts, he's averaging just under 2 (1.8). Now granted it could be a fluke for one player, but I'm seeing this across the board with my staff and the CPU staff as well. Even against great pitcher's from the CPU, I'm able to fight off enough good/great pitches in order to keep an at-bat alive to get a mistake pitch that I can handle better and put into play. And this is with weak hitters, including pitchers.

It seems, in my experience that a vast majority (easily 90% in my experience) of strikeouts happen because the hitter takes strike 3. Rarely do they swing and miss for a strikeout. Rarely do they swing and miss at all.

My pitching staff which finished in the Top 3 last year in strikeouts, is in last place in total team strikeouts as a staff, 50+ strikeouts behind the 29th place team. Offensively, we are have struckout the least in the majors, 25+ ahead of the 2nd place team. Now offensively, human error factors in to elevate the strikeout numbers by a couple per game I would guess.

I know that I can try to "fix" this "issue" with sliders, but I don't mess with sliders. I refuse..LOL. I know a suggestion would be to try HOF pitching, but I don't feel that would fix the issue, because I'm able to pitch well on LEGEND and none of my other pitching stats are "out of whack".

Anyways, I'm rambling (and need to get back to work), so I'll stop there and see what the community says.

[Caulfield]

yep, I bumped the CPU timing slider to 7 . I wish there were a 6.5 on the scale , I think that would be perfect for me

[TheWarmWind]

Yes, it's not just you. Currently have taken a hammer to both the timing and the foul frequency settings for both human and cpu.

Not sure how you can solve this issue without sliders though. Might want to get over that, especially if you're an offline only player. The default sliders are balanced for online play, where things like lag are a factor.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Operation Sports mobile app

[countryboy]

I'm not a fan of adjusting sliders because I feel like doing so is forcing things to happen instead of them being organic. I also think its an endless cycle of trying to find the "perfect combination".

Also like I said, I didn't have this issue last year using the same exact settings. If this is a universal "issue" then I'm hoping SDS will look into it and see what needs to be tweaked/adjusted.

[Drty_Windshield]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

I'm not a fan of adjusting sliders because I feel like doing so is forcing things to happen instead of them being organic. I also think its an endless cycle of trying to find the "perfect combination". Also like I said, I didn't have this issue last year using the same exact settings. If this is a universal "issue" then I'm hoping SDS will look into it and see what needs to be tweaked/adjusted.

I'm actually quite the opposite, I feel like the default game feels forced, while a well tested and balanced slider set feels much more organic and natural.

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Drty_Windshield

I'm actually quite the opposite, I feel like the default game feels forced, while a well tested and balanced slider set feels much more organic and natural.

I appreciate that opinion, but I don't want this thread to get side tracked into a discussion about the need for sliders in general.

I'm curious if others are experiencing this issue while playing on settings similar to last year. Has anyone had to make changes to their sliders, or "normal" settings to resolve this "issue"

[KnightTemplar]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

I'm not a fan of adjusting sliders because I feel like doing so is forcing things to happen instead of them being organic. I also think its an endless cycle of trying to find the "perfect combination". .

This game out of the box, in my opinion, MUST be adjusted with sliders. I would bet few play at default. I certainly don’t/can’t. They can’t make a game out of the box that suits everyone’s ability. If so, don’t you think, there would be only one level of difficulty.

If they took the sliders out it would make this game aggravating for most. Use them countryboy. Don’t go crazy with them, adjust, test, repeat until you find a balance.

And yes, gameplay took me awhile. Hell, I’m playing on HOF now.up an entire level.

[bcruise]

I've been working hard on this too, playing a lot of games with high K/9 guys. I feel like the strikeouts are there and I do definitely get the CPU to chase with meter legend (sometimes chase rates of up to 50% which is really high). What I don't see a lot of is swinging and missing in the strike zone - so a very high percentage of my K's are from chases or called strike 3's.

CB - what would you say the CPU's chase rate (Swings Chased/Balls) is against you when you pitch with a guy like Flaherty? It's easier to discuss this if we put some numbers to it.