In 2018, I was finally able to reach a level where I’m dominating at the plate.  I got my batting average up to .300 but then I was hit with an injury which landed me on the 60 day disabled list.  I think I hurt myself legging out a single or I may have fielded a ground ball the wrong way.

Update on hitting tips

1.  Never swing at first pitch – In the first at bat of a game, it seems like I’m always able to get to a 3-2 count.  Be very patient in your first at bat at the beginning of the game.  In the following at bats, I never swing at the first pitch unless I’m in a hot streak or if I’m facing a tired pitcher.

2. Guess the sides with two strikes in the count – I always guess fastball with two strikes in the count.  As a right handed-batter, I’ll guess for a fastball outside if I’m facing a right-handed pitcher- especially if he has a slider in his arsenal.  If the pitcher doesn’t throw very hard breaking balls I’m more comfortable guessing from the inside of the plate, however.  The idea is not to let the pitcher make you chase balls outside of the zone.

Against a left handed pitcher, I tend to always guess inside even through I’m more comfortable guessing outside pitches.  The CPU would tend to take advantage because I kept getting tied up on pitches inside.  To avoid this, I will guess inside pitches.

Selecting a position – In MLB 08 playing 3B was a good choice if you preferred batting more than fielding because you would have less fielding opportunities than you would if you played outfield. MLB 09 allows you to limit the amount of fielding so choose a position you prefer to play. For your secondary position, it’s recommended that you choose either IF or OF. This can help increase your chances of getting into a game.

Base Running and Fielding – MLB 09 The Show offers options to turn off the RTTS baserunning and fielding. This will allow your games to play out more quickly which will also allow you to play more games in less time. From my experience, limiting the amount of base running and fielding opportunities is highly recommended. Let’s calculate how many games one would need to play per day in order to have a 20 season career: Let’s say you play 10 games a day. There are 162 games in a season. Divide 162 by 10 and you get 16.2. It takes 16.2 days to finish a season if you average 10 games a day. Divide 365 by 16.2 and you get 22 seasons. So, you may need to average 10 games a day in order to reach a 20 season career. In MLB 08 this did not seem to be attainable unless a you simulated a portion of your games. With the new base running and fielding options in MLB 09 having a 20 season career seems to be a bit more attainable.

Training points - Since there aren’t any deadlines during spring training don’t spend any training points during this period. When the season starts be sure to use your training points on attributes that have not been updated within three weeks. When an attribute is not updated after four weeks it begins to decline. Try to have batting attribute points between left and right balanced.  Right attributes should be a priority, though, because you will likely face more right-handed pitchers than left-handed pitchers during the course of a season. All batting (contact and power) and durability points should take priority over base running and fielding points. Maintaining your bunting attributes should be a low priority but you should still try to update your bunting attributes before the four week deadline. It might be a good idea to let ‘Drag Bunting’ attributes take precedence over ‘Bunting Drills’ because the ‘Drag Bunting’ attribute also has speed as a secondary attribute. Give ‘Base Running Drills’ priority over ‘Sprints’ because ‘Base Running Drills’ include speed and base running attritues which are also the same attributes for ‘Sprints’. So, you’ll be able to update ‘sprints’ at the same time you update ‘Base Running Drills’.

“If the new team does not want to keep the player on its 25-man roster for the season, he must be offered back to the team of which he was a member when chosen in the draft.”

I probably would have preferred to stay in the minor leagues (with the Giants) but I seem to be performing better at the MLB level than I did in AA. In my opinion, AA even seems to be more difficult than AAA. Maybe the reason for this is that I tended to chase too many balls out of the strike zone in AA. Anyways, I already got my first major league hit – a line drive over the second baseman. The ball actually tipped the second baseman’s glove. I was luckily able to stretch a single into a double. Take a look:

Here’s a video of my first major league home run. I hit a ball high off the foul pole at PNC Park:

Update on “10 useful MLB 09 The Show hitting tips”

Playing on Legend mode has been quite a challenge. Earlier last month I posted 10 useful MLB 09 The Show hitting tips. Moving the left stick up in the zone and wiggling the stick hasn’t really helped much. I do need to be more patient at the plate!

Additional MLB 09 The Show hitting tips

1. In the forums, some players have mentioned that they have been turning on the plate coverage indicator (PCI). This indicator (yellow oval) displays a visible area for the batter as a guideline when aiming the left stick. Using the plate coverage indicator seems to help a little bit. I believe I still need to work on my plate disipline in order to take advantage of this option, though.

2. We own a 50″ 1080i Panasonic Plasma television. I originally had my PS3 set for 1080i resolution. But, MLB 09 the show is optimized for 720p video mode according to the message that appears on the game loading screen. I just recently changed to 720p mode on my PS3 and have noticed a small improvement in my hitting. I definitely seem to be making better contact on the ball.

I learned that not only can you take pictures of your favorite plays in MLB 09 but you can also use this feature to take pictures of any of the menus, statistics, or box scores in MLB 09 The Show.

In MLB 07 and MLB 08, I manually copied my RTTS stats by hand and then entered them into HTML format.  There may have been a less tedious way to do this but I was not aware of it.

With MLB 09′s new features, I may have found a better way to compile and display stats online by using an Optical Character Recognition service:

1. To take a picture in MLB 09, just hit the PS button and then go over to the picture sub-menu. There will be an option to capture the screen. Choose this and then then, hit the “X” button. You have now saved a screen capture.

2. Copy the image to your PC and use Microsoft Paint or any other image editor to invert the colors.  Also, crop the area you want to capture.

Batting .167? Good thing I have a 3 year contract with the Giants.

3. Go to http://www.onlineocr.net, upload the image and then convert it to another format such as HTML or text format.

Now you have data to work with to publish to your team pages:

YEAR G AB AVG h r 2b 3b hr rbi
2010 12 34 .206 7 0 0 0 0 0
2009 115 406 .167 68 26 5 0 0 32

Final Output:

1. Move stick up in the zone - Before the pitch, move the left stick directly up in the zone. If the pitch is up, you only need to make slight modifications. If the pitch is out of your zone, bring the left stick down quickly into the zone.

When the left stick is in the neutral position there’s a tendency to chase pitches. But, when you keep the stick up in the zone (before the pitch) you should be able to adjust to all areas.

Try this in batting practice. Look for pitches up in the zone and move the left stick down when the pitches are below your zone. Keep practicing until you master it!

2. Ahead in the count - When ahead in the count, never swing if you are required to move the left stick. Look for middle-in pitches when you are ahead in the count. If you don’t get your pitch, don’t swing.

3. Scheduled starting pitchers – Look at the scheduled starting pitchers that you will be facing in the next game and take some batting practice against that pitcher. This may help you get a better read on the starting pitcher before heading into the real game. In batting practice mode, MLB 09 allows you to face pitchers from all levels including AAA and AA .

4. Have a plan at the plate - Focus in on one part of the zone and recognize the pitch. Learning which pitches NOT to swing at is just as important.

If the pitch is low and away, don’t swing at it. Wait for a better pitch. Read and react to pitches.

5. Don’t be predictable – The CPU seems to learn your tendencies. If you guess low all of the time, you’ll likely end up seeing more stuff high in the zone. The pitcher may start aiming at the sides of the strike zone. If you see a pattern with this, start guessing the sides as well.

6. Wiggle the stick - One suggestion is wiggling the left stick around before the pitch. Move the stick in a clockwise motion or just randomly move the cursor around the screen. This can act as sort of a trigger to help with timing and location.

Most players may agree that it’s difficult to use the left stick if you just leave it in the neutral position and then try to yank it, at the last moment, in the right zone.

7. Be patient – Remember, the pitcher needs three strikes to get you out. Don’t panic when there’s two strikes in the count. In legend mode, you need to be discipline, otherwise the CPU will take advantage of you.

8. Strike to pitch ratio – Take a look at the pitcher’s strike to pitch ratio. If you find that you are facing a pitcher that hardly gives up walks, be a little more aggressive and look for strikes.

9. Know your hot zone - Take note of your hot zones and the pitchers best pitches. Look for pitches in your cold zone and avoid chasing pitches near your hot zone because the pitcher might be nibbling hoping that you chase out of the strike zone. Make the pitcher throw strikes to you.

10. Read strategy guide – Be sure to read the in-game strategy guide. This guide states that the CPU will usually throws a mistake pitch at least once every at bat. There are about 3 to 4 pitches during an average at bat so you might get lucky if you are looking in the right place looking for the right pitch.

Step 1: Using Riva FLV Encoder

Replays from MLB 09 The Show are stored in MP4 format. Riva FLV Encoder can be used to convert from MP4 to FLV.

I used GSpot to determine the recommended display size: 640 x 368. In Riva FLV Encoder change the Movie Size to 640 x 368 and the Frame rate to 29.97. Uncheck the “Enable Audio” check box. Click Encode.

Step 2: Moyea FLV Editor Lite Beta

Use Moyea FLV Editor Lite Beta to edit, combine, and add music to your FLV files. The Moyea FLV Editor is very straight forward. You just import your FLV files, add them to the time line, trim the video length, and add an MP3 file. That’s it. Your FLV file is ready!