The Pitcher Problem...

ParkerC17

I've only been playing since it switched to 2018, but I've noticed a few things:
1) 60+ base overall pitchers are a lot harder to obtain than 60+ base overall batters (8 batters compared to 0 pitchers, all coming from 2nd round and first round picks). This may just be odd luck but my offense is vastly superior to my pitching
2) Pitchers are bad. I'd like to say I've already gotten a good grasp for the game mechanics as I'm roughly 90-60 in terms of my total record, yet I often find myself having to score 9 runs or more to beat a team that is inferior to mine.
3) Relievers are REALLY bad. I'll go into the 7th up 8-4, into the 8th up 9-5, and into the 9th up 9-7 only to lose 13-11 in 10 innings. How is this a normal occurrence in the game?
4) Most pitchers can't throw strikes until there's 3 balls in the count, and then become Greg Maddux. I don't swing unless I see 4-seam or change-up until there's 2 strikes. It works well, except when the pitcher has a cutter, in which case I autoplay and hope for run support.

Comment any answers below or other pitching oddities I missed.

sqg491

It is important to level up your pitchers, as well as your pitching "team" upgrades.
Also the best pitchers are determined (mostly) by the "stuff" stat. I have 3 star pitchers that perform better than 4.5 star pitchers because their "stuff" is better
hope this helps

ParkerC17

Can anyone explain why it's way easier to get a hit off a 102 mph fastball than a 91 mph fastball?

sqg491

I'll take a shot at this lol...

The ball comes off the bat quicker so its tougher for defenders to react.... this would be the expected answer...

I think, in reality, there is more forgiveness in the "window" you have to make contact with the ball. So where the ball travels slower there is a greater variance in where the bat contacts the ball during it's travel to the plate, and on the faster pitches it may be that the programming is more forgiving.... not sure if i explained it right, but that's my best guess.

Also possible is that if a slower pitch is in a position to be contacted between 1-1.5 seconds from release (hypothetical times), 1.3 might be the perfect time to get a hit, therefore 20% of the "contact window" would result in a hit. But if a faster pitch gets to that "contact" position from 0.8-1.0, you'd either hit it or you'd miss completely, and even if the perfect spot was 0.9, you could say that your base hits would come in the "contact window" that is 33% of the total possible contact moments/positions. So contact resulting in a base hit would be a higher % for faster pitches.

So it would seem that it's harder to get hits on slower pitches, and in all fairness it may be.

ParkerC17

That sounds like it makes sense but its completely counter intuitive. Why not just make 90 mph fastballs easier to hit that 102 mph fastballs like in actual baseball?

sqg491

same reason its easier to hit a 90MPH fastball with no movement than it is to hit a 60MPH knuckleball.... all about stuff...