It's baseball season once again, which means it is time to hit dingers all summer with our MLB The Show 23 hitting guide! In this article, you will learn plenty of tricks to help you at the plate.
Hitting is always a favourite role in baseball games, but it's also a tough skill to hone. Pitchers are throwing 100+ mph or nasty breaking stuff. So what can you do to help your odds and grow those stat lines? Well, let's explore some options in our MLB The Show 23 hitting guide.
MLB The Show 23 hitting controls
Getting comfortable with the MLB The Show 23 controls is the first step to becoming better at hitting. There are several options when it comes to hitting controls in MLB The Show 23. They split into three choices for swing input (Buttons, Analog Flick, and Analog Stride) and three choices for hitting interface (Zone, Directional, and Timing).
Picking a setup that suits you is crucial. Buttons and Timing is the simplest option, but that will limit your growth. If you are keen to improve your control then going into Analog Stride and Zone is the one you need to use, but we find a good middle ground with Buttons and Zone.
With any control setup you choose, practice and patience is the key. Hitting involves a lot of timing, pitch recognition, and a bit of luck. Remember that even the best hitters in real life struggle to hit more than .300, so if you aren't getting a hit every time that's ok!
Eagle eyes
Once you have your controls sorted, it's time to get your other settings right. I know, it sounds like a lot of prep work but these are all things that will help you hit more in MLB The Show 23.
While the default camera angle and settings are fine, customising your hitting/PCI view is perhaps the best way to improve your hitting right away.
You can find the hitting view options by going to Settings -> Gameplay and then scrolling to the Camera section. Our recommended setting is Strike Zone 2. This will zoom you in from the default view and give you a look like this.
It's a great view of the strike zone and gives you a very clear look at the pitcher so you can track the ball into the zone.
When it comes to the Plate Coverage Indicator, you will see a lot of different options. The default one is pretty noisy and adds a lot of extras to your screen without much use for it. There are many options for the PCI, but we are big fans of these settings:
- PCI Center - Bat
- PCI Inner - None
- PCI Outer - None
- PCI Color - Orange
- PCI Transparency - 70%
- PCI Fadeout - None
This leaves you with a screen like the one below.
The combination of all this will give you a much better time at the plate and see your hitting greatly improve.
Hitting more homers
If you are eyeing up the record books you need to be making strong contact with pitches. This starts with being selective. It's very tempting to take a swing at every pitch, especially if you are a new player, but that is just a path to striking out!
Instead, you want to try and focus on pitches that are down the middle of the plate. Ones far to the outside or inside are likely to result in soft contact or worse still easy pop flys. Instead, try to keep yourself to disciplined and hit those pitches over the middle.
You'll also be tempted to go with a power swing every time, but you can hit plenty of homers off normal swings too and will make fewer outs. Still, if you get a juicy pitch over the middle then go for it!
Good players
Your skill with the controller will only go so far. If you want to rack up runs you need players with good attributes. Contact and power are crucial stats for players to produce at the plate if you are controlling them.
Having some of the best hitters in MLB The Show 23 will help you score runs and pick up wins in whatever mode you are playing.