MLB The Show 23 Cheats and Tips
MLB The Show 23: How to Hit the Ball Better and More Frequently
On this page, we’re going to explain how to hit the ball better and more frequently in MLB The Show 23. But before we continue, we want to reiterate that the best batting average in MLB history belongs to Ty Cobb, who achieved a career record of 0.366. This means that across a 24 year professional stint, he managed to get his bat on the ball a little over once in every three at bats. In other words, you shouldn’t expect to successfully hit the ball all the time because it’s supposed to be hard. Nevertheless, if you’re having trouble with your hitting, these strategies can help you out.
Use the Best Hitting Interface
There are three hitting interfaces for you to select in MLB The Show 23 which will influence what you need to do during each at bat. We’ll summarise them below, but you can find more information in our guide on Best Hitting Interface to Use and Why:
- Zone: Zone hitting uses a combination of timing-based hitting and positioning. You’ll need to move the Plate Coverage Indicator (PCI) prior to the ball reaching the plate and then time your swing to make a connection with the ball. The outcome will be determined by your player’s statistics, the type of swing you take, your timing, and also the pitcher’s statistics and pitch type.
- Directional: Directional hitting is a primarily timing-based hitting solution where you can influence the trajectory of the ball by pushing a direction with the left analogue stick. Influencing up will favour flyballs, while influencing down will favour ground balls. Similarly, pushing left or right will influence which side of the field you hit to. It’s important to note that, while the direction you push will influence your swing, other factors such as the pitcher, pitch type, your timing, and player statistics will also have an impact on the direction of your hit.
- Timing: Timing allows you to focus purely on the timing of your swing, but it comes at the expense of leaving the PCI to chance. While this is comfortably the easiest option to use in terms of controls, it’s not going to make you the best possible hitter you can be..
The best hitting interface in MLB The Show 23 is Zone, because it gives you the greatest amount of control over which part of the plate you’re aiming at, whereas Directional and Timing leaves that to the CPU, resulting in more popups, foul balls, and random outcomes.
Use the Correct Swing Type for the Situation
Whichever hitting interface you utilise, you’ll also want to ensure you’re making the correct type of shots when you’re at the plate. There are three primary types of shot you can take in MLB The Show 23, regardless of which hitting interface you use:
- Normal Swing: X Button
This is the most common type of swing, and is the one you should concentrate on most of the time. With a Normal Swing you’ll get decent contact and power, depending on your player’s statistics. You’ll also get good plate coverage, meaning if your PCI is in the right area, you should be able to make quality contact with the ball. - Power Swing: Square Button
Don’t use Power Swing unless you’re ahead in the count. This is because the Power Swing is hard to time and reduces your plate coverage, making it challenging to get good contact with the ball. It can be devastating when leveraged correctly, but the risks are high so try not to it unless you’re 3-0 or 2-0 against the pitcher and have outs remaining in the inning. - Contact Swing: Circle Button
Contact Swing is effectively the opposite of the Power Swing: you’ll want to use it when you’re down in the count, like 0-2. This increases plate coverage at the expense of power. It can be useful when your team has runners on bases but has no further strikes in the inning, allowing you to effectively get the ball into play so you can advance your teammates.
The three different swing types each have unique timing and plate coverage attributes. These can also be affected by the statistics of your batter; better Plate Vision and Contact statistics all contribute to the PCI, for example.
Choose the Best Hitting View
If you’re having difficulty being able to read pitches, then changing the hitting view can be a solution. Strike Zone or Strike Zone 2 is the most popular camera angle for competitive players. While this does sacrifice an enormous amount of the presentation, it gives you a much better view of the pitcher so you can more accurately time your swings. If you’re worried about sacrificing too much of the presentation, then we recommend Strike Zone 3, which still gives you a good overall view of the pitcher while still retaining a nice presentational perspective.
In order to change your camera angle, from the main menu select Settings > Settings > Gameplay > Gameplay and toggle the Hitting View option to your preferred style. If you do this in Custom Practice or during gameplay then you’ll get a preview of how the camera is going to look in real-time.
