3D Play Pitch to Contact & Around

[Larryk007]

I have been playing a bunch of games lately in 3D, and the use of the Pitch to Contact and Around has changed the way I play now. I used to just Pitch, but now I look at each batter and determine their weakness and pitch accordingly. And, best of all it has worked! I think I am controlling the game out come better.

Anybody else spent much time seeing this benefit in your results?

[Sweed]

I use it in certain situations and for certain batters. As an "all of the time" strategy I think over the long haul it would be a negative. One could go deep down a well guessing/hypothesizing what the affects of "to contact" and "around" might be under the hood. Add in that's something I don't want to know, unless it was in a very general way.

My guess is using either with a P that has bad control could be detrimental. IE "hey Joe nibble and don't give The Babe anything to hit.", when Joe has bad control could lead to a meatball that goes 450 feet. What about using " to contact" with a P with good control but bad stuff? You're asking a guy that throws a hittable ball to place it over the plate when his strength is hitting the edges. Even to a sub standard contact guy that could be trouble. This line of thinking could be extrapolated into a book or a series of books so I'll stop here.

As to what I do..
I use the 2/8 scale and with that in mind...

A 7 contact batter with a 3 eye has a good chance of being pitched around. Ie he's going to make contact with that 7, let's try to get him to hit a "bad ball". Is the guy already 3 for 3 today? What if his avoid K is below average too? It's situational. If the AI fields a player with 3 contact? Might be a guy to pitch to contact. But is this 3 guy on a hot streak? It's situational. There are lot's more ways of doing this but I'll stop here. I'm guessing this is the type of thing you are doing?

I do this type of thing but not all of the time. It is situational. "Around" can lead to too many walks that eventually score. "Contact" to too many hits, some of those home runs by non home run hitters. And they both rely on the P being able to execute the strategy, ie a good control P will be more successful than a bad control P. At least from my experience.

[Brad K]

If game controls like this have a large effect then it would not be possible to maintain the statistical accuracy valued by so many players of OOTP. There's quite a conflict on this issue where people want different inputs but the same overall output.

[Larryk007]

IMO the 3D play allows our ability to make game play decisions, and I have to assume that the game AI does the same. Will it change the statistics? I guess if I play every game then maybe yes it could change, but again the game AI probably has the same ability. Of course, I would have to be pretty good to make the right decisions!

[Brad K]

I'm not criticizing the way you're playing. I've played that way. I've also gone to the other extreme. Most of the Pirates Play Moneyball save was all simmed games a week at a time. I didn't even manage the pennant series and world series games.

Presently I'm "managing" every game but not really. I handle only starting lineups and substitutions.

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by Larryk007

IMO the 3D play allows our ability to make game play decisions, and I have to assume that the game AI does the same. Will it change the statistics? I guess if I play every game then maybe yes it could change, but again the game AI probably has the same ability. Of course, I would have to be pretty good to make the right decisions!

The strategies of computer managers are clustered around the center point. Nothing extreme. And I bet if they were all averaged they'd come out to the center point. It looks like computer managers are set to encourage performance to league averages.

[andjbock]

Literally every time my opponent has a runner on 2nd with less than 2 outs and 1B open, I pitch around.