Pitch/Around/to Contact strategy in One-Pitch Mode

[daveryan]

Over many years of playing OOTP, I've never actually seen a detailed explanation of what the pitch / pitch around (and now pitch to contact as well) options actually do in the context of the game simulation. I know well what the terms mean; it's how the selection actually impacts the game engine's calculations that I'm curious about. Without that, it's hard to formulate any sort of strategy beyond "pound 1 and hit 2 or 3 every now and then for giggles".

I mean, I know that there are fairly broad general guidelines that I think probably apply -- a pitcher with poor control will give up more walks if they pitch around a batter; a pitcher with high movement and/or better stuff will have greater success at generating bad swings by pitching to contact, and things like that. But I've never seen all of that laid out in some sort of strategy guide or the like. (If there is one out there, please point me to it!)

Some of the questions I have...

-- Does pitching to contact significantly reduce pitch count in all cases? Or is it dependent on control as well?

-- Does pitching around attempt to get swings and misses, or does it just keep balls out of high contact zones?

-- Do other pitching factors besides control come into play with respect to how effective pitching around or to contact is for a given pitcher?

-- Same for batters -- are there factors other than contact that are incorporated into the success/failure of PA/PTC?

-- Does it even matter?

To put things a little more concretely: Say I'm managing Greg Maddux in a game. IRL, Maddux started placing his pitches on the corners, then worked outwards until he found where the umpire's strike zone ended, then worked at those margins the rest of the game. Do I (a) just use "pitch" all the time because his mix of skills means the sim is treating him as doing that all the time, (b) use "pitch around", because that's really what he was doing all the time -- pitching around the strike zones of the particular batters up to the edge of the umpire's willingness to call strikes, or (c) tailor it to specific batters based on their particular mix of skills?

In my mind, hitting "pitch" all the time makes it seem like I'm telling the pitcher to just throw his stuff down the middle of the plate all the time, instead of actually working the batter, "pitch to contact" means "just throw the ball down the middle of the plate", and "pitch around" means "I don't care if you walk him". I want to mix it up -- but preferably not to the point of having to make the time commitment needed for a pitch by pitch game. Any thoughts on the subject are greatly appreciated....

[swoboda]

D, really glad you brought this topic up. I play one-pitch mode with very very limited exceptions and this is what I have found in my games.

If you have a pitcher with a below average control rating, "pitch around" will definitely lead to more walks perhaps depending on the hitters "eye" rating. Pitch to contact against a good hitter seems to generate more hits especially for a pitcher whose ratings are not high.

Here's an odd one, for me using "pitch around" with a power pitcher in the first inning if there is a man on or two on, and the HR threat is up, seems to make a HR more likely not less likely. This is all based on observation I have not tracked this in terms of keeping my own data.

Would love to hear others observations on this

[Miamikb2001]

Glad you brought this up.I have yet to find concrete info on this would love for one of the devs to chime in or anyone else who might know.I tend to experiment with diffent stuff.I don't use pitch to contact a lot unless its a guy with really good stuff and terrible control,in which case I will use it a lot often with good success.I'd say overall I go 75% pitch,10% pitch around,and 15% pitch to contact but it can vary greatly depending on pitcher,park,opposition.

[Sweed]

Just my 2 cents but I think you're overthinking the whole thing.

I think the general definition is really all you need, it then comes down to the P and his skills.

Use the P's strengths to take advantage of the batter's weakness. Be willing to have those times where a P leaves a ball out over the plate and it get's hammered or nibbles a bit too much and walks a guy.

P with low stuff, high control vs high contact batter with poor eye? I'm using pitch around and see if he'll chase.

P with great stuff, low control vs batter with low contact but good eye? Pitch to contact. I certainly don't want to walk him. Let him put it in play if he can even make contact. Chances are it is weakly hit and an out anyway.

Etc. etc.



Most matchups do not have drastic differences between batter and pitcher so I mostly use straight pitch.

[pgjocki]

I just hit the space bar...

In actuality I just hit 1 99% of the time as I'm more focused on the big picture abs being the GM. It would take considerable time to test out what would happen if I smashed 2 every batter instead of 1 but if it rains this weekend I might give it a go.

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[Anyone]

I like to use pitch around against batters with high expected SLG and poor eye (depending on the game situation, as in I wouldn't use it leading off an inning, because then I want to limit opponent OBP). I almost always will use it instead of intentional walks in what many would be consider intentional walk situations.

I find as expected I give up more walks but if the batter doesn't walk the chance of getting him out increases-- though I wouldn't use it if the batter's eye is good, outside of spots where many would use an intentional walk instead.

My experience with pitch to contact has been bad. I'd expect lower OBP at the cost of higher AVG/SLG and maybe that's what I get but the SLG seems to go up a lot more than OBP goes down to the point OPS certainly goes up-- so I don't like to use it. I used to use it with the opponent's pitcher up, when he hit like a typical pitcher, but found that even opponents' pitchers seemed to get a fair number of hits against it.

[rjl518]

As a long time player myself, I just press pitch pretty much every time.
When I try pitch to contact, its a base hit.
When I try pitch around, its a walk.
Yes, I would love to have Markus give his info on this because even I really don't know if those two functions really do anything to HELP you instead of HURT you.

[ablobj]

I've always assumed that these options were meant for pitch-by-pitch mode (or whatever it's called) and not for one-pitch mode. If you have a guy down 0-2, pitch around him to try to get him to chase, etc.

In one-pitch mode, isn't the count automatically generated before you choose how to pitch? For example, if you choose "pitch around" you have no way of knowing if you'll be pitching around a guy with an 0-2 count, a 3-0 count, or anything in between.

[redranger]

If it does even matter, the problem with one pitch mode is you have no idea in advance of your selection option what the count is even going to be. Which makes selecting pitch around, only to find out its an 0-2 count more of a kick in the pants


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[Sweed]

It simulates the whole AB starting with an 0-0 count like any other.

[Anyone]

When these are used in one pitch, I'll say with plenty of confidence that it's the pitcher's general attitude toward the at bat. Pitch around means not to worry as much about walking the batter as not giving him anything good to hit.

In pitch by pitch, the trying to get the batter to chase is already factored in on an 0-2 count, etc.. I experimented at one point, and if you did pitch to contact 0-2 it was still usually taken for ball 1, for example. The way you'd use other than "pitch" by count is already taken care of.

And, as others pointed out last season, the pitch by pitch is for show. Once the at bat begins, the computer has determined its result.

Someone wrote about trying to cheat at one point, crashing the game through task manager to repeat an at bat that went "wrong" and the result was the same when redoing the at bat starting with a 0-0 count. He then as a test did that at other times and found the same thing.

It's plenty sophisticated, to get the results it shows with the count affecting the outcome of the at bat, that a player going to make an out will tend to get behind in the count, even if it isn't a strikeout. But it really simulates at bat by at bat, not pitch by pitch. That was tested by someone who crashed the game using task manager and got the same result to an already started at bat over and over, on a number of different at bats (testing it on others once he found it with one). A true pitch by pitch sim, the outcomes of pitches not yet thrown would change the outcome.

So in one pitch, pitching around/to contact is theoretically useful, and I do think pitching around actually can be useful at times, though I've pretty much given up on pitching to contact, just because the AVG/SLG penalty to the pitcher seems too big to make up for the reduction of OBP.

[Tony820]

Originally Posted by swoboda

D, really glad you brought this topic up. I play one-pitch mode with very very limited exceptions and this is what I have found in my games.

If you have a pitcher with a below average control rating, "pitch around" will definitely lead to more walks perhaps depending on the hitters "eye" rating. Pitch to contact against a good hitter seems to generate more hits especially for a pitcher whose ratings are not high.

Here's an odd one, for me using "pitch around" with a power pitcher in the first inning if there is a man on or two on, and the HR threat is up, seems to make a HR more likely not less likely. This is all based on observation I have not tracked this in terms of keeping my own data.

Would love to hear others observations on this

Going slightly off topic, have you noticed a ton of first inning runs when playing on one pitch? I seem to notice that, as well as it seems like the odds rise about 30-40% of the opponent scoring runs right after I’ve put runs on the board in the previous half inning. Feel like I’ve seen it enough to consider it a trend..

[Miamikb2001]

Originally Posted by ablobj

I've always assumed that these options were meant for pitch-by-pitch mode (or whatever it's called) and not for one-pitch mode. If you have a guy down 0-2, pitch around him to try to get him to chase, etc.

In one-pitch mode, isn't the count automatically generated before you choose how to pitch? For example, if you choose "pitch around" you have no way of knowing if you'll be pitching around a guy with an 0-2 count, a 3-0 count, or anything in between.

I rarely play pitch-by-pitch but in my testing the different options are much more effective in that style although I do use them in one pitch its just a lot riskier as you mentioned.

[t-bone shuffle]

I use pitch to contact only when I have a big lead and I'm trying to keep the number of pitches down. Particularly if it's a starter or long relief guy.