When you get up to bat in MLB The Show 22, you want to make sure you're ready for anything. When playing on higher difficulties, especially, you can expect that it's not going to be all that easy to hit a small ball coming at you at autobahn speeds. But while nothing but practice is going to perfect your swing, the game does offer you an opportunity to make life just a tiny bit easier with its Guess Pitch feature. In this guide, we'll walk you through how to enable and disable Guess Pitch, as well as how to use its various types.
How to use Guess Pitch
Hold R2 / RT during the wind-up to bring up a list of pitches in the pitcher's repertoire.. You'll see corresponding buttons beside each pitch, and pressing one of those buttons on your controller will select that pitch as your guess.
When trying to guess what pitch is coming your way, consider both the context of the game and the preference of your opponent. This can be tricky when facing other players in PvP, as they're not really bound by any real-world logic. If they want to throw sliders for an entire game, they can, whereas the CPU will more likely use pitches that make sense based on its internal logic.
That means, for example, being down in the count 3-0 should promise a pitcher's next pitch is going to be away from the edges of the batter's box and probably not a breaking ball. Similarly, if you know you're facing an elite pitcher who loves to throw a curve for strike three, you should use that data to at least guess the pitch, if not the location. Use the ample on-screen data after every pitch, and in time you may find patterns that you can exploit.
After taking a guess at what type of pitch is coming your way, your next goal is to guess where the pitcher is going to throw it. Continue to hold R2 / RB and use the Left Stick to select one of the six zones available.
If you've selected the pitch and location correctly, you'll get some feedback in the way of some controller vibration and a red highlight in the zone you picked, giving you a bit more confidence in the swing you're about to take. Simply select that zone when you swing and nail your timing for a contact bonus.
Guess Pitch is an optional feature, akin to calling out the Mike linebacker in Madden. If you know what you're doing, it can make you even better. However, if you don't have a strong knack for the game, don't sweat it. It's just probably in your best interest to avoid guessing the pitch, as guessing incorrectly does come with a penalty to contact and power.
There are four basic Guess Pitch modes, each with their own bonuses and penalties, as well as differing levels of feedback. They are:
Quadrant: Allows you to guess the pitch style and location in a batter's box split into four quadrants; default bonuses and penalties.
No Feedback: Uses Quadrant but offers no visual or haptic feedback; bonuses are higher and penalties are lower.
Classic: Shows the exact location of a pitch if you guess correctly; bonuses and penalties are both much higher than default.
PCI: Allows you to freely move your pitch coverage indicator (pitch-guessing mechanic) even after correctly guessing a pitch.
How to turn Guess Pitch on and off
Whether you're wanting to give Guess Pitch a shot, disable the feature altogether, or try a different version of the feature, those options are only a toggle away.
To turn Guess Pitch on or off simply navigate to Settings, select Batting & Baserunning, then press R2 / RT to switch to Advanced Settings. From here, you can change which version of Guess Pitch you'd like to use, as well as turn the feature off completely.