2019 Player Review Thread

[papadell]

Quote: Originally Posted by truth72

Yeah, baseball knowledge will certainly help you. A lot of players have patterns they aren't even aware of. I played a guy last night who was literally throwing breaking ball, breaking ball, high fastball, everytime. I picked up on it in the second or third and was all over him. Sometimes there's no rhyme or reason to anything. I throw high breaking balls every once in awhile, because its sets up a high out of the zone fastball later (they seem to think the fastball is going to drop into the zone). But that something you would never do in real baseball. Online is a mixed bag, the biggest piece of advice I can give you is don't be afraid to walk someone. I'm going to say 75% of the people who play this game are trying to hit, which means they're swinging at borderline pitches all the time. I'll attempt to aim a little off the black, if it leaks back then it's not leaking back over the middle, if that makes sense. And most of the time I'll get them to swing. Mistakes REALLY get punished in this game, because a number of people play with directional hitting, so they're squaring up anything in the middle.

I've definitely learned to feel comfortable walking. Part of the fear was teams stacking guys like Henderson at the top and just running wild but then I learned about the snap move to first. Picked off a Henderson today and caught him on a pitchout then he quit after I doubled in a run the next inning.

But I love pitching. When I'm really in a groove and hitting my spots and executing my gameplan it's so rewarding. That's why the lag and framerate stuff is so disappointing when it happens. Just doing stuff like dancing cutters off the plate to try and induce weak contact and watch them take it. Then come right back with a fastball on the black to freeze them. That's what I live for haha

[ph33]

Quote: Originally Posted by DanH35

I started slow with Frank, but I’ve been crushing the ball with him lately. I learned for some reason, he doesn’t hit high pitches all that well, so I try to lay off those pitches as much as I can. I hold the stick slightly down and wait for the pitch low-middle in the zone. As long as I don’t get fooled on the speed of the pitch, it’s usually a solid hit. I’ve raised his average almost 70 points since I began this approach.

You were indeed correct. Frank been finally beasting for me

[ph33]

Anyone have a good grip on how AS Kemp is? I haven't faced him much


My outfield is Ichiro, lofton, trout. Trout stays for sure. Not sure who, or if I should even replace either Ichiro/Lofton with kemp. Lofton hits a little better for me and is slightly faster than ichiro, but he has a noodle arm. Ichiro is a great defender and gets on base a good amount for me too but Lofton has a better obp for me.

Kemp will have better power than both but worse speed and D, but he's still decent there. Pretty tough to figure who to take out when it seems like Ichiro and/or Lofton are always getting on base and playing good D. But if i can turn some of their singles and stuff into doubles/homers, then maybe it's worth it

Might also just take kiner to be an elite bench bat

[truth72]

I've got Kemp leading off for me and so far I like him there. I've played against Lofton and Ichiro a million times and I never really worry about either of them getting me for more than a single, or a walk. Kemp makes good contact. I've only played about 3 games with him, but he's hit for extra bases in each game (no homers yet all doubles). His defense is solid, good arm. It's really a wash he's going to have more power and less speed than both. Worse D then Ichiro. I think it comes down to if you want the right handed power bat, or the left handed speed?

[Mercury112491]

How’s that Mad Bum card? Haven’t faced him at all? Thinking I’ll just sell this season’s boss to go towards getting Pudge unless he’s as good as that Kershaw card


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[truth72]

Kemp continues to play quite well for me, I'm actually happy with the choice right now. I don't think I've ever seen Ichiro hit anything more than a single and Kemp seems to offer significantly more pop. Hit my first dinger with him yesterday. I'm going to take Gwynn with my Signature card, so I felt like Ichiro was the poor mans Gwynn.

Everyone has Kershaw or Ichiro and I find that the more times I see Kershaw, the less of an issue I'm having against him. I played against him 3x yesterday, got schooled in game 1, game 2 was close and I won by a blow out in game 3. In a few weeks, his repertoire is going to be easy to spot just given how often we'll have all faced him.

[papadell]

That's part of the reason I considered taking Ryan. But I was stubborn and took Kershaw for the control and figured I just need to pitch well and not be predictable.

Ichiro took me deep the first time I faced him

[ph33]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mercury112491

How’s that Mad Bum card? Haven’t faced him at all? Thinking I’ll just sell this season’s boss to go towards getting Pudge unless he’s as good as that Kershaw card Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

Eh, I never feel "**** I gotta deal with this guy" when I see MadBum. I'd go after Pudge.

I've been trash with Nolan lately, but he's still someone I hate facing...although playing him late in the night when you're tired probably doesn't help. I couldn't catch up to his fastballs but my opponent has no problem smashing mine when they're in the zone. If you play someone with really good plate discipline, Nolan becomes a lot tougher to use, he's just really hard to hit edges with (They tend to veer out while Kershaw's will stay in the zone)