The key is to keep the hitter moving around in the box and creating some inertia.
Always stay way back in the box to float with the pitch and getting max contact on "RBI's Sweet Spot". Moving around in the box also helps getting into your opponents dome. Moving around generates momentum when hitting the ball and gives you time to go with the pitch or pull it while in motion. Great Hand Eye also sets the men from the boys.
How do you guys hit in RBI? Any strategies? I will say that against nasty curvevballers like Reushl and Vlnza, I am in the middle to the top of the box, but still moving.
Great post, Dark Side. I agree with all of your points, especially the part about moving around really gets into the pitcher's dome. I just recently started watching where the catcher sets up. Sometimes he'll set up inside and give the pitcher an inside target and the pitcher will throw it right there. If you see him setting up inside, move further back from the plate to connect with the sweet spot.
one key is knowing just what kind of stuff the pitcher has.....when facing a tough guy to hit, i make double time on the patience at the plate, but when a loser comes into pitch i tend to get way more agressive.
i like hang around the middle of the box, right in the middle so i can slap at one way out there, or bail back for one tight inside. my place in the box tends to change due to situation such as if the pitcher is tired or if its a lefty vs a righty type match-up.
I also use the tettleton.
i let the game come to me and i dictate from there what to do. man i wish i had gotten more experience before the Columbutt tourney. :( Id probably finish much better now.
Quote from: DamnTheCowboys on 08/31/05, 03:25:47 PM
Great post, Dark Side. I agree with all of your points, especially the part about moving around really gets into the pitcher's dome. I just recently started watching where the catcher sets up. Sometimes he'll set up inside and give the pitcher an inside target and the pitcher will throw it right there. If you see him setting up inside, move further back from the plate to connect with the sweet spot.
I believe DS was referring to batting against a human opponent, not the computer. BTW, there is no relationship between where the catcher sets up and where the pitch is thrown.
For curve pitch - middle box, nearer the bottom by just a hair. Always tettleton, as I don't have the reaction time for anything else...
Always middle to the very end. If I've got a good hitter up, it's always the middle and moves back as the count gets into the pitcher's favor. With how often the good players work the outside corner (I didn't realize that that's all that was done until Columbutt) I find it somewhat better to stay at the very bottom of the box.
I also recently started doing epileptic fits in the box, doesn't really help to much except as Darkie said, get the momentum going so you can go either way and don't lose a split second having to make a quick decision. I compare it to when I return a serve in tennis, as the toss is in the air, take a step or two up so it's easier to go side to side.
I like to stay toward the back of the box, but I sometimes get into the habit of being in the front if I have played Baseball Simulator 1.000 recently - in that game, you can hit a drop ball before it sinks by standing at the front of the box.
If playing against someone who uses JoeDirt's paint-the-corners pitching strategy, you almost have to stay at the back of the box, because the ball breaks really late when it cuts the corner.
Quote from: Stock on 08/31/05, 03:59:28 PM
Quote from: DamnTheCowboys on 08/31/05, 03:25:47 PM
Great post, Dark Side. I agree with all of your points, especially the part about moving around really gets into the pitcher's dome. I just recently started watching where the catcher sets up. Sometimes he'll set up inside and give the pitcher an inside target and the pitcher will throw it right there. If you see him setting up inside, move further back from the plate to connect with the sweet spot.
I believe DS was referring to batting against a human opponent, not the computer. BTW, there is no relationship between where the catcher sets up and where the pitch is thrown.
Yes, you are correct sir. Human opponents, always. Computer RBI is just BP.
Quote from: BeefMaster on 08/31/05, 07:12:57 PM
I like to stay toward the back of the box, but I sometimes get into the habit of being in the front if I have played Baseball Simulator 1.000 recently - in that game, you can hit a drop ball before it sinks by standing at the front of the box.
If playing against someone who uses JoeDirt's paint-the-corners pitching strategy, you almost have to stay at the back of the box, because the ball breaks really late when it cuts the corner.
Good call. In my battles with the elite players in my high school rbi league and tourney finals, A couple guys were really masters at painting the corners. It became a guessing game cause sometimes they would break the ball just outside of the black for minimal contact if you were in the back of the box, and when you took one, that is one they painted the black for a strike. Then when you really overanticipated for that outside, they would bust inside. To counter this, I just floated up and toward the outside pitch to goot good contact. In this type of pithcer-hitter duel, it really helped to have good and power hitters to take it the other way for a gapper or a bomb.
League championship games and tourney finals were always like 2-1,1-0, or 3-2. And I usually won with my giants.
Quote from: TBT on 08/31/05, 03:52:41 PM
one key is knowing just what kind of stuff the pitcher has.....when facing a tough guy to hit, i make double time on the patience at the plate, but when a loser comes into pitch i tend to get way more agressive.
i let the game come to me and i dictate from there what to do. man i wish i had gotten more experience before the Columbutt tourney. :( Id probably finish much better now.
I agree with my boy TBT--with the stipualation that along with knowing what kind of stuff the opposing pitcher has, it is even more important (by far, in my mind) to know how your human opponent pitches. You can be facing a guy with lights out stuff, but if you can get a good read on pitching patterns and likely pitches in specific counts, you can own the rbi world.
Quote from: JoeDirt on 09/01/05, 07:07:42 PM
Quote from: TBT on 08/31/05, 03:52:41 PM
one key is knowing just what kind of stuff the pitcher has.....when facing a tough guy to hit, i make double time on the patience at the plate, but when a loser comes into pitch i tend to get way more agressive.
i let the game come to me and i dictate from there what to do. man i wish i had gotten more experience before the Columbutt tourney. :( Id probably finish much better now.
I agree with my boy TBT--with the stipualation that along with knowing what kind of stuff the opposing pitcher has, it is even more important (by far, in my mind) to know how your human opponent pitches. You can be facing a guy with lights out stuff, but if you can get a good read on pitching patterns and likely pitches in specific counts, you can own the rbi world.
True blue TBT and Joe Dirt. Humans are creatures of habit. Knowing the players and your human opponent inside out is a must in order to be the best.
It is crucial to get near the front (as DS said) with a curve pitcher, because they can nip corners well and place the ball out of your reach of you stay back in the box. For fastballers, it is better to stay back just a bit (much like in real life).
For some reason, I have begun to move my left-handed batters to the far right-hand side (far away from the plate) and move them toward the plate with the pitch. For some reason I feel like it allows me to adjust better to the pitch - entirely psychological I'm sure. This tactic (standing far away and moving toward the plate with the pitch) does not work as well for me with righties, as I have always been poorer with the righties anyway.
Quality posts by everybody.
During my visit home last summer, I played about 15 games, and I noticed that when I was middle-top in the box, I got better contact hits and gappers, but less home runs. The results were actually impressive because I got more hits and longer rallies instead of kind of playing the educated guessing game. I just played for solid contact with all my hitters. Any other styles out there?
As far as taking pitches go (anything goes), I rarely do it. I like to make it happen with my hitters cause I have confidence with my hitting. I am not saying I swing at everything, but I will not take hittable pitches to wear down the pitcher. Of course I will take two strikes most of the time with a pitcher, and maybe one or two with some of the weaker hitters or if they have been slumpin.
Just wondering...(I'm dead serious now). I've been playing the game for about 15 years, but I still can never hit Saberhagen (when a real player is using him). How do people approach hitting him? It could just be a mental block because of past abuse...right now I just shuffle around the box, guess to which side of plate he's going to through and rip away. This does not work well. If I'm patient, he just nips the corner. Part of the problem may be that I pretty much always use Boston, and they're loaded with righties.
im sure you already know to take a lot of pitches to wear him out. one thing that is apaparent to me is that side armers have a breaking ball that seems to catch a lot of the plate even as they catch the corner.
say you have a righty up and saberhagen is on the 3rd base side of the rubber.....if your opponent throws a lot of curve balls from that side, then as the pitch is thrown you need to slide up in the box. then its a mater of whether or not its gonna catch any of the plate.
moving around as the pitch is thrown can help to not give away just what pitch you are expecting to see.
Quote from: chewbarod on 12/09/06, 10:18:13 AM
Saberhagen- How do people approach hitting him?
When I played my fiercest adversary (AM) all the time, I won a majority of my games when this knucklehead came in to keep Jimmy Key's gem going. Saberhagen's normal speed fastball kind of floats over the plate with not that much bite on curves.
Saberhagen's curve is easier to pick up from any side of the mound he is pitching on. It either breaks early for a ball or too late right in the happy zone. He can be effective at times when he mixes in some hard stuff, if you are out guessing yourself or if you opponent is winning the guessing game.
Saberhagen does get tired early, so taking strategic pitches can be a huge benefit. I'd rather knock him out of the game with my sticks and only take when it is obvious my opponent will try and get me to chase a ball.
When I got a righty up, I am on top of the plate moving laterally the whole time. This puts me to in great position to hit Saberhagen's floating fastball or curve over the outside of the plate. If you can time your shift towards the oiutside part ok, you should be able to hit Saberhagen's ball with the sweet spot of the bat. Shifting also allows you time to recover for the cutball inside, and it you time it right with you shifting with the break of the ball, it should be a hard single, gapper, or bomb if indeed you make solid contact.
With a left handed hitter, I prefer to stay back in the box as well as shifting side to side the whole time. This puts me in great position to hit the inside pitches and the late breaking ball coming back in on the outside corner.
If you catch Saberhagen making a mistake with a bad break or horribly pitched fastball trying to escape the happy zone, then the results and percentages should be in your favor due to the nature of Saberhagen's pitching slot and angles.
Here is my take on the sidearmers in rbi; Bedrosian is the best siderarmer for one inning and maybe a third because he is the hardest thrower from a funky angle, then I would go with Saberhagen,
Bob Ojeda, Jesse Orosco and Charlie Kerfeld in that order.
Quote from: The Dark Side on 12/09/06, 02:01:02 PM
Bedrosian is the best siderarmer for one inning and maybe a third because he is the hardest thrower from a funky angle, then I would go with Saberhagen, Bob Ojeda, and Charlie Kerfeld in that order.
Ojeda isn't a sidearmer. I think you mean Orosco.
Quote from: Nacho on 12/09/06, 02:15:30 PM
Quote from: The Dark Side on 12/09/06, 02:01:02 PM
Bedrosian is the best siderarmer for one inning and maybe a third because he is the hardest thrower from a funky angle, then I would go with Saberhagen, Bob Ojeda, and Charlie Kerfeld in that order.
Ojeda isn't a sidearmer. I think you mean Orosco.
Fuck, what a bonehead mix up. Orosco it is, and my bad in a huge way. This is going to look stupid, but I am fixing that in my original post. I am an idiot at times and see Mike D's "things you have done trippin" thread for an explanation for my shaky memory.
Quote from: chewbarod on 12/09/06, 10:18:13 AM
Just wondering...(I'm dead serious now). I've been playing the game for about 15 years, but I still can never hit Saberhagen (when a real player is using him). How do people approach hitting him? It could just be a mental block because of past abuse...right now I just shuffle around the box, guess to which side of plate he's going to through and rip away. This does not work well. If I'm patient, he just nips the corner. Part of the problem may be that I pretty much always use Boston, and they're loaded with righties.
I think the bold is part of your problem. Don't shuffle, just stay consistent. Hit him the same way you hit all other guys.
And like TBT said, he has a harder time bringing the ball back, so you can sit on that.
Quote from: chewbarod on 12/09/06, 10:18:13 AM
Just wondering...(I'm dead serious now). I've been playing the game for about 15 years, but I still can never hit Saberhagen (when a real player is using him). How do people approach hitting him? It could just be a mental block because of past abuse...right now I just shuffle around the box, guess to which side of plate he's going to through and rip away. This does not work well. If I'm patient, he just nips the corner. Part of the problem may be that I pretty much always use Boston, and they're loaded with righties.
I feast on sidearmers.