Sony SD usually gives pitchers on average 4-5 extra MPH and if you max the bar you can abuse it but you lose stamina faster + less control.
As for pitches, they go by scouting reports, and some are bad. Regarding pitches usually if you post on their thread about a pitcher missing a pitch in ShowNation.com they'll look to add in it a future patch/game.
How do you guys feel about hitting? I see a lot a zone hitters online and it drives me nuts, but then I see alot of rookies who really don't know how to hit. With that said, I'm not a good hitter (.210 playing at mostly HoF level). But I feel I put myself in a position to succeed most games.
My Keys To Hitting:
a) You will never get better w/o Practice: Whether it's RTTS or Practice Mode, use it. I've played since MLB 07 (MLB 09 was my first purchase) and what I used to do was take 200 swings a week (20 a hitter/10 hitters) with my smallest PCI batters via a pitcher with a good arsenal (AJ Burnett or Joba Chamberlain I liked to face). Why? If I made good contact with their small PCI's that same contact would be better with your better hitters' bigger PCI's.
Da_Czar's vid made for a perfect reference, and this year Practice Mode is even more specialized to help you. Ironically, I don't use Practice mode anymore because of the next point.
b) Make a RTTS Hitter: Considering you start off in AA with dirt crap stats, if you're able to progress and level up your guy via hitting you must be doing a good job. Personally I feel the Default settings turn the pitchers into strikethrowing machines, so I use the tweaked Operation Sports sliders for my RTTS guy. There pitchers will actually try and throw bad pitches to hitters, and it forced me to learn the strike zone and stay patient.
c) Learn your opponent: Playing Online alot you'll run into alot of players who use less than reputable tactics... the Quickstealer, the Junkballer, and worst of all the Intentional Zone Sitter. A good way to hit is find out what the tactics of the opposing player are, and make him adjust. Guy spamming curves in the dirt? Make him elevate it by taking it. When you've got a few walks you force the pitcher to stay in the zone.
d) Make a gameplan: I'm patient to a fault and prefer to drive up pitch counts online and have pitchers tired by the 5th/6th inning because I trust my batting eye even behind in the count. However, I also know that pitchers adjust to that and the minute I get a 1st pitch fastball down the middle after taking it to 2-3 straight guys I'm crushing it. My feeling is this: You're going to strike out a ton in this game due to crappy camera angle anyway, if I can get 2 good swings an AB I'm happy. It's best to develop some kind of hitting philosophy based on the sum of your experiences.
Biggest point?
LEARN THE STRIKEZONE AND MOVE YOUR PCI. Every player has their own personal zone. A simple press of L3 shows that and even on All-Star very few players have a PCI that covers the whole zone. Whether it's unintentional ("Lazy L-stick Thumb/Quick Button Thumb") or not, alot of times players never move their PCIs even on Power swings. So what most pitchers will do is work on/just off the corners, and you never really square up the ball unless it's a mistake pitch or Superb Timing. The difference between a liner in the gap and a hard chopper to the 2nd baseman can be moving your PCI a bit down on a sinker low.