MLB The Show 25 Top Beginner Tips You NEED TO KNOW!

I’m going to be going over with you some things you need to know immediately to get off on the right foot gameplay wise in MLB The Show 25.

AMBUSH HITTING

New to MLB The Show 25, is a mechanic called ambush hitting which expands or decreases your Plate Coverage Indicator depending on if you guess right or wrong on where the pitch is going. Which gives you a bigger or smaller window to hit that pitch in the location you guessed and you simply do it by moving the left stick to the left to cover the left side and left middle or to the right to cover the right and right middle part of the plate and if you changed your mind clicking in the right stick lets you remove your selection.

HOW TO FIELD

When fielding, there are a few things you are going to want to know how to do and when to do them. First off, is diving for the ball. In the infield, its kind of a last minute thing once you realize you aren’t going to be able to simply sprint to it and it also depends on how fast the ball is hit how fast you should dive. Line drives , your probably going to need to take 1 or 2 steps then go for the dive, while slower ground balls you will be able to run it down a bit before you need to decide if you need to dive. And to dive you want to hit R2 or RT on your controller to go for the ball. Again, you want to decide to dive as a last resort so your not doing it too early when you could have run a few more steps before going all out. To help yourself judge it, invision a straight line across your player while you go for the ball, this can help you make a better judgement on if you need to dive or not. In the outfield you can even dive to prevent an extra base hit as well with the same method.

MOVING METER

Another thing to be prepared for when fielding is the throwing meter. Land in the green its an accurate throw, land in the yellow its 50/50, hit a red and it’s time to pray it doesn’t land in the stands. Now the green meter when your feet are still will stay in the middle of your throwing meter, but as you begin to throw on the run the meter will move away from the middle as you begin your throw so prepare for that possibility happening.

BASE PATHS

If you have somebody on the base paths and they need to advance a base, you can either hold L1 or LB on your controller to tell them to advance to their next base and as soon as they reach that base as long as your still holding L1 or LB they will go to their next base. The same applies if you have 2 guys on base, they both will advance to their next base. Now if you need to tell one base runner to go and the other to stay your going to have to do it manually. the default system to do this is  by highlighting where they are on the base paths with the left stick and you will see their icon light up and then hit the button of the bag you want them to go to that corresponds with the button on your controller. This will help you when you have multiple guys on base and you only want one of them to go to the next base.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Starting out, to help improve your hitting, start by cutting the strike zone in half and focus on specific areas to look for pitches that come in that area. Whether its up and in, down and away, down and in. This helps you to focus on one thing instead of many.

WHAT IS HIS FIRST PITCH

One way to help yourself get better pitches to hit and start recognizing patterns is to see how they open each at bat to you, to lefties and righties. You may catch your opponent giving you an easy pitch to predict and lay off or smack into the stands. Lefty on lefty maybe they always open with a slider down and away. Now if you peep this and don’t swing, you took that out of their arsenal and maybe they start leaving something in the strike zone because they know you wont swing.

PITCHING TYPES

There are 4 different ways to deliver pitches to the plate in MLB The Show 25, By default it will be pinpoint pitching which causes you to aim with the left stick, and with the right stick simulate a pitch with the different motions each pitch possess to throw it successfully, Pulse which has you aim the left stick and hitting X or A on XBOX to determine the effectiveness of the pitch, Pure Analog, has you pull the right stick down and back up to determine effectiveness and accuracy, and Classic which takes you back to the simple days of  aiming the pitch and hitting X or A to throw the ball and meter which has you hit X or A to stop within the meter to determine the effectiveness of the pitch.

PAINT THE CORNERS

When you begin a pitch, you will notice the ball will be shaded with a grey shadow around it, this is where the pitch could land if you nail your pitching motion. More accurate pitchers shaded area will be a lot smaller than inaccurate pitchers for obvious reasons. So if you’re wondering why you’re constantly throwing balls, your probably beginning your pitch with 70% of the shaded area already out of  the strike zone. For example, on a slider away, if you’ve nailed the pitch motion, you want to make sure it has almost no shot of landing in the strike zone so they can’t hit it. So, make sure the ball outline doesn’t have a shot at landing in the strike zone.

PCI ANCHOR SYSTEM

If you struggle with pitches in certain areas, it may be time to get use to the PCI Anchor System. The purpose of this is it helps those who opt for zone hitting, to have their PCI start in different areas, could be a spot you’re struggling in perhaps. So, by moving your left stick around the strike zone and then clicking in your left stick, you can start your PCI in different areas, so you don’t have to worry about moving your left stick or moving it as much to reach that high and inside fastball. You can even set it in your settings to start in different spots depending on the batter and pitcher’s handedness.

SLIDING

When your running to a base and it might be a bang bang play at 2^nd or 3^rd, your going to want to slide to increase your chances of being safe and slide away from where the ball is coming from. If the ball is coming from right field, slide to the left, if the ball is coming from the left slide to the right. if you’re stealing second base, you should slide to the back of the base to avoid the tag and increase your chances of being safe so slide to the right.

HELP YOURSELF

When you’re batting against a pitcher that throws from the same side that your batting, the glaring weakness most hitters have is struggling to hit inside pitches because you need to swing quicker. So, knowing that make sure your lineup isn’t loaded with guys who all bat lefty or righty to protect against the pitcher throwing from that same side and switch hitters of course are gold to make sure you always have a better chance in general of hitting the pitcher.

FORCING DOUBLE PLAYS

When your opponent has a runner on first, help yourself out and try to force a double play by pitching low in the zone with sinkers or any kind of breaking ball. This increases the chance of your opponent hitting over the top and straight into the ground.

CAMERA VIEWS

In MLB The Show 25, your camera view is the key to everything, and there are a select few that will give you a fighters chance playing online specifically which are any of the strike zone cameras, whose main pro are they all help you pick up the ball a lot better opposed to the further back views that lets you see your whole batter and the stadium

DEFENSE POSITIONING

While pitching, pressing down on the D-pad allows you to adjust your infield and outfield positioning. There are five preset options for each, but the great part is that you can manually reposition individual players by pressing Triangle or Y on your controller. These settings can be applied to a specific batter or the entire lineup.

AUTOMATIC DEFENSIVE SHIFT

If you go into your settings in the main menu, you’re going to want to disable the automatic shift, which often allows more unearned hits because guys are over shifted than it helps you get outs. Turning this off ensures players will play straight-up defense unless you change it manually.

PITCHING HISTORY

Pressing L2 or LT on your controller lets you review the pitches thrown to you in your last at-bat, as well as those in your current at-bat after the first pitch. This can help you remember what got you out last time, what pitch you hit well, and even give you insight into the pitcher’s tendencies.

INTENTIONAL WALK

If you want to intentionally walk a player who has been dominating you, hit L1 or LB and then press Circle or B.

SWING TYPES

At the plate, there are 3 types of swings you can attempt to hit the pitch with, if you hit circle or b on Xbox you will attempt a contact swing which lets you cover more of the plate when you swing increasing foul balls and also increases your window to hit the ball, but the cons are you will not hit the ball as far as you can. Hitting X or A on Xbox gives you a normal swing, which is the middle type, you wont get penalized as much but your not going to be swinging for the fences every swing. And lastly hitting square or x on Xbox gives you a power swing, Which shrinks your PCI giving you a smaller window to make contact so your more likely to miss, but with the pro of being able to hit the ball the hardest and furthest of the 3 swings.

HITTING INTERFACE

In MLB The Show 25, your given 3 different interfaces to hit the ball. By default it will be on Zone, which gives you the most control, but the biggest learning curve, making you aim the left stick where the ball is going while also having to time it with the button. Timing which focuses solely on timing your swing where the ball is hit to decide the success of your swing and Directional which adds the ability for you to influence the direction of your swing.

PITCHER HITTER/BULLPEN

While at the plate, to pinch hit for your current batter hit left on the d pad, select who you want to take out and then put them in  and for your bullpen, you hit right on the d pad, to do the same thing for your pitchers. Just make sure your not putting in a lefty vs an all right handed next 3 batters, because you cant take him out until he’s faced all 3.

PITCHING ANALYSIS

Hitting up on the d-pad at the plate, lets you also see some quick stats like every pitch thrown from that pitcher to that individual hitter, and their tendencies against different handedness as well throughout the game. And hitting L1 or R1 lets you dig into specific situations and what pitches were thrown.

 

 

Alright, sports gamers, I hope we were able to help you out. If you like our content, make sure to subscribe to Sports Gamers Online for more MLB The Show content. And once you’re with us, hit that bell icon so you don’t miss anything we put out.