MLB The Show 21 Hitting and Pitching Extended Q&A - Fielding Feature Premiere Tomorrow

The gameplay development team for MLB The Show 21 answered some community questions regarding hitting and pitching. Some of the questions were gathered by Victor himself, from our Forums.

If you missed the Feature Premiere, you can watch it here. Also, make sure to read our thoughts on it. Also, this is just a reminder. The Fielding Feature Premiere begins at 6:00 PM ET, tomorrow.

Below are some of the questions and answers. Make sure to visit the official site for more.

HOW DO THE CONTROL AND BB/9 ATTRIBUTES AFFECT THE PAR AND HOW EASY/DIFFICULT PERFECT INPUT IS TO ACHIEVE?

The two most important attributes that influence pitch accuracy and thus PAR are BB/9 and the individual pitch accuracy for the selected pitch. The most accurate pitchers will have a high BB/9 and high control for that selected pitch. It’s good to note that generally the average fastballs are more accurate than other pitch types.

WHAT AFFECTS THE TIMING WINDOWS AND WHAT CAUSES THEM TO CHANGE SO FREQUENTLY FROM PITCH TO PITCH?

First and foremost, timing windows vary depending on the location of the pitch and pitch type. You won’t want to swing at the same time on an inside fastball as you would on one away. Players in real life and in our game have hit tendencies that can be viewed on each player card; some are great at pulling the ball, some use the entire field well, and other are good and going to the other way.  For example, a pull hitter in MLB The Show would have a slightly increased timing window on early swings and a slightly decreased timing window for late swings which can help when trying to turn on a 100mph inside fastball.

WHY DOES METER HAVE A SMALLER PAR CIRCLE THAN ANALOG? ANALOG IS ARGUABLY HARDER.

Meter has a smaller PAR than Analog due to the huge asymmetry between underthrows and overthrows in timing (you are trying to hit perfect accuracy without waiting so long you throw into the dirt). With Analog, there is also a timing element that controls the over/under throws, but it is not as extreme like the meter (inherently because of the interface).

AT THE END OF THE STREAM, BASERUNNING WAS MENTIONED AS BEING IMPROVED BUT NOT EXPANDED UPON. CAN YOU ELABORATE AS TO WHAT WAS CHANGED/IMPROVED IN TERMS OF BASERUNNING? DID THE TEAM ADDRESS COMMUNITY ISSUES WITH AUTO BASERUNNING?

We’ve made improvements specifically when users had multiple runners on base and would attempt to advance all runners rather than targeting, as well as improvements to the way the CPU handles baserunning duties. For example, a runner was coming home to score from second on a base hit to the outfield where the ball is cutoff by the relay-man. You already sent your batter on his way to second thinking the throw was going home and now recognize that you need to send him back to first or he’ll be out. Previously, if you hit R1 to send the runner between first and second back to first, the runner heading home would also retreat back to third taking an easy run away from you, that will no longer be the case.