MLB The Show 09 Pitching help.

[J-PyRo]

Bought it today. Suck at pitching. Help NAO.

[*†*Oz70NYC*†*]

The key is feeling out the pitching animation the particular pitcher has. The long his delivery, the slower the power meter fills up. It's all about timing. The more power you put behind a pitch, the harder it is to hit the middle of the accuracy meter (the blue that it swings back to with the yellow line in the center). But obviously, stronger pitches are faster, and harder to hit. When pitching from the stretch (When a runner is on base) all pitchers will shorten their delivery, thus making you need to react faster in your set up. The same premise falls into play, just faster. Hitting your spots depend on many things. How good the pitcher's arsenal is, where his confidence level is, how much energy he has, etc. Often times the game will make pitches not go where you set them up to go, that you can't alter...not even by increasing the accuracy sliders. You just have to improvise a little, and get creative like a real pitcher would.

Some tricks to take into account are getting the 1st pitch strike in. That sets the tempo, and gives you a cushion as to how you can go after the batter the rest of the at bat. When you fall behind, you're pretty much forced to throw a "get it in" pitch, and against an Albert Pujols or a Ryan Braun, chances are they'll make you pay on those pitches. So DON'T FALL BEHIND IN THE COUNT! (I know, easier said then done when you're having trouble with pitching by default.) The next tidbit of info is that fouls are your friends. They're still strikes. A guy fouls off two pitches, he's still down 0-2. You get guys to hit into fouls by throwing out of the zone. Not every pitch you throw needs to be in the strikezone. Make guys chase your pitch from time to time. They'll either foul it off, swing through it, or take it for a ball depending on how close the pitch is...or the ump might actually call it a strike...a double edge sword because it can happen to you as well. The next and most important thing is that when you have a guy down 0-2 in the count, the last pitch should be NO WHERE near the zone. 0-2 counts means he has to shorten up his swing and try to make contact. Make him miss. Throw that spliter low and inside. Throw that slider middle away so that it breaks at the outer half waaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of the batter's reach. He'll either take it if he has high plate discipline, or he'll swing through it like a doofus. (This happens more in close games, and the later innings when the CPU team is down.) The most Ks I've got in a single game so far is 13, but that's because they made the hitting AI on 09 much smarter. I whiffed 21 in a game on 08.

So to sum it up...

- The longer a pitchers delivery...the longer the power meter charges up.

- Not every pitch has to be a payoff pitch.

- Getting ahead in the count is key against good hitters.

- Not every pitch has to be in the zone, especially when ahead in the count. You'll either make him miss, make him foul the ball off or make him hit a weak roller for an easy out or a double play.

- Don't be afraid to pitch a guy inside. How many guys do you know can actually hit that high and tight 97-99MPH fastball?

[J-PyRo]

Was trying to play a little bit like my MLB 2k5 days on the PS2, but unfortunately that super easy 3 crosshair bit is long gone for pitching. BUt, after Raw, I booted up the Tigers vs the Yankees, mostly to see if my "Let's go A-Roid" chants would come thru... which it didn't, and I ended up with 9 strike outs for Verlander. Now, if only I had better timing on Sabathia's fast balls (way early) I probably would have smoked them... still had the first four hits in 2 innings.

[*†*Oz70NYC*†*]

One of the things they also did was change how easy it was to hit the longball. It's all dependent on not only the pitch, but your timing and direction as well. You pretty much have to be on a pitch 100% to smoke one. I kinda dig the fact that they made it harder, because having 40 HRs at the allstar break should be a rare feet, not something that happens every season, especially is you use created players.

[J-PyRo]

*loves how fat his guy looks*

It's cool how they can call sign his name too, so it actually says "Jon Preston" when the announcers or broadcasters announce him. (Takes notes for his future unlicensed wrestling game)

I think Road to the Show is stupid though. I want to just import my guy onto the Tigers or something... although I'd have to find some where else to put Cabrera, since he's in my spot >_>

[*†*Oz70NYC*†*]

You'd have to make him outside of Road To The Show mode in the normal Create A Player mode to put him on a team to use outside of the game mode unfortunately. We (Me and 3X) don't even bother with that mode, we play the 2 Player Franchise mode. He takes the Yankees, I take my Houston Astros. (Lance Berkman = MVP...period)

[Mistah Showtime]

Apr 15, 2009 10:37:38 GMT -5 *†*Oz70NYC*†* said:

You'd have to make him outside of Road To The Show mode in the normal Create A Player mode to put him on a team to use outside of the game mode unfortunately. We (Me and 3X) don't even bother with that mode, we play the 2 Player Franchise mode. He takes the Yankees, I take my Houston Astros. (Lance Berkman = MVP...period)

No Mets?

Cardinals.....FTW!

[Mist3r X]

Best pitching advice for Yankee fans in MLB 09: Put Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen and call-up Phil Hughes. It works in the game like it did in real life! XD