Wednesday, March 10, 2010

MLB 10 The Show Tips - Pitching, Batting, Road to the Show


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MLB 10 The Show Tips - Pitching, Batting, Road to the Show

First of all, don't panic! MLB 10 The Show is HARD - I mean REALLY hard. Do yourself a favor and practice. When you first put the game in, go straight to practice mode. The only exception is if you've mastered MLB 09 The Show - then you can probably go ahead and start the Road to the Show, Franchise or Online play. This article is not for you, this article is for people like me who completely SUCK at this game.

The best thing to do is practice. Practice pitching first as that is what you will spend most of your time doing. The first thing to realize about pitching in MLB 10 The Show is that the optimal "line" you are trying to hit on the pitching meter is at the beginning of the curve, towards the middle - NOT at the end of the meter where the colors are (yellow, orange, red). I must have spent 2 hours trying to land the line in the color zone when all the time it is supposed to land in the middle of the whole curve - the color part is just the power. After that it is just a matter of how good your pitcher is at throwing the different pitches. Pitchers with higher skills can throw more pitches correctly etc. If your pitcher sucks then he's just going to suck - there's nothing you can do about it.

Next practice batting. The x button swings normally and the square button swings for the seats. One article I read on MLB 09 The Show said to start (before the pitch) by raising the left joystick up before you swing. In practice mode in MLB 10 The Show you won't need to worry about the pitch count, but it is essential in regular gameplay. Just like the real game, pitch count will determine what kind of pitch you are going to get next. It is wise to let a few pitches go by, especially if you are up in the count. You've got to be really patient. MLB 10 is not an arcade game where you're going to hit home runs constantly - or even get a hit for that matter. You have to wait for your pitch. Oh yeah, and if you're first starting out, set the game on Rookie.

Fielding in MLB 10 The Show is pretty much like any other baseball game - just run to the ball (there is no sprint button in case you're looking for one) pick it up and throw it to the right base or you can throw to your cut off man (R1).

Base running is an art form but the easiest way to do it is R1 means return all runners, R2 means steal (before the pitch) and for some reason R2 means STOP the runner after the pitch. L2 (before the pitch) will make all runners steal - which is good for the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs. The MLB 10 The Show book that comes with the game spends almost the entire time talking about base running - there's 6 pages on it. Read it and you will probably be even more confused then when you started. Just remember that after the pitch L1 advances everyone and R1 makes everyone go back.

To sum it up, practice a lot, drink several beers before attempting to play in the first place. And remember that this game is meant to simulate REAL baseball and therefore it might move a little slow and require a shit load of patience.

If you have specific questions, please post them as a comment - no sign up required - quick commenting - and we will try to answer your questions quickly.  Thank you!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

After playing for a few more days, I've found that if you set your mind on where you want your hit to go - that is BEFORE the pitch is thrown, then you will do better. Try to picture hitting a certain part of the ballpark, like a picture ad on one of the walls in right field, or maybe just the gap between the shortstop and second base.

If you are having a hard time hitting the ball at all, you might try leaving the joysticks alone and just swing straight with the x button. You will end up hitting mostly boring ground balls, but you will get more of the hits that go straight up the middle past the pitcher. The only way to get really creative hits (and home runs) is to move the left joystick toward the right spot when the ball arrives. If you get really good at watching pitches and can direct the joystick well, you can almost hit any ball regardless of how crappy of a pitch. I've hit home runs off TERRIBLE pitches before just because I knew where to aim as the ball came.

Sometimes I just guess! When your batter FIRST takes the plate, press your L3 button down and look at the history of pitches that have been thrown to you throughout the game. If the pitcher usually throws your first pitch low and inside, aim your first swing low and inside and see what happens - you might hit the jackpot - or the bleachers in center field.

Anonymous said...

The biggest tip I can give for hitting is to focus your eyes on the pitchers throwing arm and shoulder. Do not stare at the batter or anything else. Pretend that you are at bat and the timing will come. After a while of doing this the pitches seemed slower and I was able to pick my pitches.

Anonymous said...

If you find that you a fouling off a lot, stop using the left joystick to control your swing location and just use the X button all by itself. Obviously you will have to wait for a strike to hit this way since you won't be able to control the direction of your bat, but it will make your hits more true and you will get more hits and less foul balls. What I usually do is guess the pitch as a fast ball (if the pitcher has one) and then wait for a nice juicy change up or curve ball to swat.

Kansas City News said...

Ah, the secret home run technique has been discovered! To hit more homers, (and of course to strike out more often), hold the left joystick in either the upper left or upper right corner while holding down the X button to swing. It's important to hold down the X button for a few seconds - this works well.

Kansas City News said...

Oops, what I should have said above was "and of course POP UP more often" - if you use the above technique of holding the left joystick in the upper left or right corner then you will hit a TON of crappy pop flies.

Anonymous said...

in practice mode i can hit constant homeruns on hall of fame mode but when i go to rtts at bat i cant even hit a single on rookie and i realise in the start i realise my stats arent good but all my at bats or popups behind the plate or groundouts do you have any tips on an eaisier position or any idea what i can do better

Kansas City News said...

Go to the online store and purchase training points. Build up your SPEED stat first then build up your hitting contact and power stats next. You will get more hits soon.

Part of the reason why you will suck for the beginning of your RTTS career is that you are not a starter yet and the coach is only putting you in to pinch hit. It is very hard to get a hit when you only get one at bat (pinch hit) - so hang in there and don't try to kill the ball every time - just try for a nice chop grounder through the gap or hold the left joystick hard right or hard left and hit that liner down the sideline for a double/triple.

Most of all - buy the points at the online store.

MLB The Show Tips - Hitting, Pitching said...

Someone asked the question "what does get base on balls mean"

In Road to the Show mode, your coach will ask you to do many ridiculous things. Go to the training page from the menu and look at these goals regularly and make sure that you do as many of them as you can or you might get benched. To answer your question, "get base on balls" means to take a walk. Let the opposing pitcher walk you. The best time to do this is during the 1st inning. The 1st inning is the hardest inning to get a hit in and the pitcher is more likely to throw you trash. Take a walk and make coach happy.

Anonymous said...

i started on rookie in road to the show, and i only worked on my power stats first. every time i had stat points i put them on power. i did this for my 2 minor league seasons. I made it to the majors my 3rd year and hit 27 dingers on a decent chunk of at bats, however i struck out wAYYY too much and my average stayed at 303 that year. since i had maxed out my power, i focused on contact and the others, and started staring at the box and ignoring the pitcher's body. I was fooled much less often and now after 8 years in the league, my dude is a MONSTER. gradually his batting average has gone to the mid 400's each year, and he's doing 60 hrs and 160 rbis annually as well. this season im stil in may and have smacked out 27, so im going for the record :) so yeah, the hr derby, all star game, the awards, this has been fun as hell so far. I wanted to share what i did in case anyone is losing hope. yeah its a damn hard game, but at least rookie mode is beatable!

Anonymous said...

ok i finished the season i referenced above. final stats were disgusting, 457 avg, 77 hrs,196 rbis. 263 hits, on 575 at bats. i dont do the guess the pitch crap btw. final note, my dude is in year 2 of his 6 year-$137 million contract so there is hope if the game seems too hard. but like i said. im on rookie mode.

KansasCityNews said...

Hello good readers, the reason that we haven't posted anything about MLB The Show 2011 is because we are still playing MLB the Show 2010 and have not yet purchased 2011. Once we get our Road to The Show player in the Hall of Fame, we will post some tips on pitching and batting in MLB The Show 11

Thanks!

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