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MLB The Show 16's Hardest Pitches to Hit

Perhaps the best element of MLB: The Show is its ability to get into the head of its player. The CPU A.I. is designed to toy with the player just as a pitcher would on the mound. A fastball here, a curveball there, and before you know it, you're watching your player walk back to the dugout empty handed.

Not all pitches were created equal, however. Kershaw's curve is unfair, Harvey's fastball is practically invisible and Sale's slider is just downright scary. With that in mind, what are the toughest pitches to hit in MLB: The Show 16?

1. The Changeup: If you're set up with a mid-90s fastball, the changeup can be almost impossible to hit. Anything down in the zone is hard to recognize and often unhittable even if you get a decent read on it. You will usually see more of this off-speed pitch late in games, as pitchers do their best to differentiate after the first time through the lineup.

The "Nastiest" Changeups: Cole Hamels, Dallas Keuchel, Jose Fernandez

2. The 12-6 Curvball: If a pitcher is spotting the curveball, you may as well throw in the towel. Similar to the changeup, anything down and out of the zone is going to be tough to hit unless you like rolling the ball back to the pitcher. The 12-6 is particularly difficult, given that there's no sweeping action to help pick it up. Often times, the pitch looks like a fastball because of the fast spin out of the pitcher's hand. Foul it off and move on, if at all possible.

The "Nastiest" Curveballs: Clayton Kershaw, Jake Arrieta

3. The Slider: Let's be honest, if you don't often strike out to the slider tailing down and out of the zone, you're probably a baseball god. There is no pitch in baseball that will leave a batter hanging quite like the slider. It can come in many different forms (the backdoor, down and in, down, etc), all of which are perfect for the pitcher to ring up another strikeout.

The "Nastiest" Sliders: Chris Sale, Max Scherzer, Huston Street, Ken Giles

4. The Knuckleball: The knuckleball is the single-most confusing thing in all of sports. It starts out moving one direction, then moves another, then a few more twists and turns after that. Luckily, it has only been mastered by a rare few, and even then hardly for more than a season or two. A good knuckleball is the unicorn of baseball pitches: It seems neat when you first get a glance at it, but you'll probably want to run away when it starts getting closer. The knuckleball is easier to hit in this year's version of The Show, but it's still a dangerous pitch.

The "Nastiest" Knuckleballs: R.A. Dickey


Member Comments
# 1 JayD @ 04/14/16 04:39 PM
the dang low changeup..............
 
# 2 Cito2009 @ 04/14/16 04:44 PM
Most things slow and low are emeffers.... Equal to a kick in the jimmy.
 
# 3 orion523 @ 04/14/16 04:47 PM
I play using Fish Eye exclusively at the plate, and for me, that dang 12-6 Curve gives me fits. Especially when it's paired with a hard heavy fastball. I the change of speed doesn't get you, the action does. The toughest thing though, is not allowing it to get to you. Do that, and it's curtains.
 
# 4 mkilcNYR @ 04/14/16 04:48 PM
Only pitch I have ever had trouble with has been the 12-6 curve and the sweeping curve if I am using a left handed batter
 
# 5 Sheamazin @ 04/14/16 04:50 PM
As the Beastie Boys said....

Slow and low
 
# 6 Syce @ 04/14/16 04:51 PM
ya i agree with the hardest to hit pitches. anything below the strike zone usually fools me. anything that looks like its coming into the zone then just drops messes me up badly.
 
# 7 Ghost Of The Year @ 04/14/16 05:15 PM
Definitely low pitches, I've been known to swing at pitches in the dirt.
At least I don't try to swing at pitches that wind up hitting me anymore.
The 12-6 is the bane of my existance, & the splitter/forkball are a close second.
 
# 8 duckman76 @ 04/14/16 05:46 PM
A slider from a RHP that sweeps across the zone. Looks like a fastball at first until it goes out of the strike zone and you end up whiffing.
 
# 9 bighurt27 @ 04/14/16 05:47 PM
Sliders get me all the time. Glad Sale is on my team.
 
# 10 NYJin2011tm @ 04/14/16 05:47 PM
Is it true pitches are even slower in 16 than 15? I just started playing 15 from 14 and it's like the pitches are floating in slo-mo to the plate. No matter how long I wait I'm early on everything. On 14 pitch speed seemed perfect to me.
 
# 11 bighurt27 @ 04/14/16 05:50 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by NYJin2011tm
Is it true pitches are even slower in 16 than 15? I just started playing 15 from 14 and it's like the pitches are floating in slo-mo to the plate. No matter how long I wait I'm early on everything. On 14 pitch speed seemed perfect to me.
Yes I had to train myself to stay back on everything.
 
# 12 wanzalla13 @ 04/14/16 06:12 PM
change ups and 12-6 curves that start at the middle of the plate and break towards the bottom of the zone
 
# 13 mike24forever @ 04/14/16 06:15 PM
Low change up and slider running away.
 
# 14 CBISCUIT34 @ 04/14/16 06:22 PM
Count me in on the change down low and slider away. I have to sit on them and adjust to fastballs.
 
# 15 rkocjay @ 04/14/16 06:49 PM
Knucklball and that freaking 12-6 curve hunts my dreams
 
# 16 jada855 @ 04/14/16 07:12 PM
Fast Ball on HOF!
 
# 17 WhiteBunny @ 04/14/16 07:58 PM
Changeups and the infamous 12-6 curveball.
 
# 18 Biizz713 @ 04/14/16 08:06 PM
Offline? I can pretty much hit any pitch. just won 2 games on HoF against the Red Sox, scored about 4 runs (should have been more I made 2 or 3 baserunning mistakes) on David Price and 6 runs (16 hits!) against Joe Kelly. I never really have any trouble with anyone because of how smooth the game runs offline.

Online? might as well just start taking every pitch and hope I get walked home because I can't hit anything. the laggy pitches just kill me.
 
# 19 xBravesx @ 04/14/16 10:39 PM
Changeups low in the zone or the ones that start out in the strike zone and end up just below the zone...I relentlessly swing and miss.
 
# 20 jawgee @ 04/15/16 10:43 AM
The shape of the pitcher's hand upon release is really starting to bug me. Is this going to be fixed in 2016?

The Vulcan Change makes a fool of me along with forkballs and splitters (although splitters are usually faster, so not as deadly for me).

A pitcher's arm angle can also mess with me as well. Having a submarine pitcher throw a fastball up in the zone gets me.

I hit from the "behind the catcher" view. I do reminisce about using the TV camera (behind the pitcher) view from the days of Hardball!, but when I started playing The Show years ago, it was just too difficult to hit using that view. Anyone have success using the "behind the pitcher" view?
 

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