MLB The Show 20 Defensive Fundamentals & Practice Makes "Perfect-Perfect" Livestreams Coming February 6

Very much looking forward to both of these. :)

While the possibility of real franchise improvements are what I'm most excited for, I could see myself willing to pre-order after these streams. The subtle starts in the outfield is a little thing that is actually a huge deal for me. I've been harping on the fact that there isn't enough difference between full range and effective range for fielders for years. 19 was a big step forward, but I'm really happy to see them double down.
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So that's what Perfect-Perfect means. Interesting.
Wonder if it's a new tier of contact results above "Squared Up", or if it's just replacing that tier? I feel like it's probably the former since they're touting it as a new feature.
And if it is a contact tier that provides even higher levels of quality hits, I feel like we might be getting into "Barrels" territory here. Squared Up hits didn't have the success rate to really be considered a barrel as they're defined by Statcast - they could just as easily be hit right at an outfielder for outs way too frequently.
The defensive stuff is interesting too, although we know a little more about that now from the other trailer and the rewind. The first step animations shown in those videos could really help the game aesthetically (more variety in the animations than that same first step the fielders always took) and functionally (because if I had to guess, the reaction rating is going to play a role in what kind of starting animation a player gets).
:popcorn:

Yeah I wondered what the Perfect - Perfect alluded to and based on the brief snippet with Bellinger at the plate, it seems the success rate of perfectly timed and squared up pitches is going to be higher in '20 than previous years, which is a good thing.
Also, I'm very intrigued by the new defensive fundamentals and really looking forward to seeing what new rob homerun animations they have added to the game. Also hoping they've continued to improve the fielder versus wall animations so they look cleaner, smoother, and more dynamic.
Looking forward to Thursday. :popcorn:

I'm a bit worried about it to be honest, I liked the fact that there were never any guaranteed results. Attributes got the ball off the bat, but once it left it was all physics. I feel like subtle starts and more fielder differentiation in the outfield will help a lot more with those line drives near an outfielder.
I hope this more applies to zone hitting and doesn't really impact directional.
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Agreed sounds too arcadey to me.

Now if they can get the 'Perfect' sound effect from Street Fighter I'd be elated 😂

with a mega splash lightning effect and a super hero bat flip who will make The Bigs (Wii) era kinda boring !!
Seriously my guess is the Perfect-Perfect will be optional and more oriented on an E-Sports game mode where user input is much more important than any player attributes.
It`s ok for me as long as it`s an option or at least really toned down for franchise players. I don't want a Perfect-Perfect result on every 3 AB.

I don't believe it would be arcadey. Like was said, attributes affect things BEFORE the ball is put into play. After that, physics of the spin of the ball off the bat take effect.
However, the subtle start and poor jumps that bad fielders should take, will allow more balls to drop. So this may resolve the huge stink about squared up hits being caught (even though you cannot control it if you hit a screaming liner directly at a fielder, tough luck, it's baseball).
As was also stated, the perfect-perfect tier results in PEAK PERFORMANCE. It still does not, and SHOULD not, guarantee a hit every time. Again, people, this is baseball, and extremely well hit, barreled up balls can and will still be outs from time to time.
I am stoked for these Twitch streams.

Definitely agree with what's been said so far with the concerns about the frequency of Perfect-Perfect results - it's bad from a sim standpoint if there end up being too many. We might have our hands full with the gameplay settings in the beginning trying to make sure they only occur a few times in a 9 inning game at most, but if we can find a sweet spot then those few times it happens would feel extremely rewarding. Ideally it would be balanced like that out of the box, but we'll see. I do feel like it'd be hard to grant the wishes of both sim and competitive players with a system like this.
I was looking at that clip a little closer btw, and I'm not sure it would be what StatCast considers a "Barrel". That's because it's probably on the extreme low end of the required launch angle for a 108 MPH hit (no specific launch angle numbers shown in the game of course, I'm just eyeballing it). So maybe I'm off base a little with that thinking, although it could still be modeled off the Barrel idea. If it's not a Barrel, it's really close to one.
Hope they explain the model for the Perfect-Perfect system clearly on stream (i.e. what you have to do with your swing to get one, how it relates to what was previously "squared up" as the best quality contact, and what kind of contact/results are expected from one).

This perfect - perfect tier feels like a response to the large group that felt matching up the pci perfectly along with timing should result in a hit. We have to see what the success rate will be but it definitely looks like it is leaning more towards skill over attributes.

If someone perfectly squared up a ball with perfect timing, should it not be peak performance? I don’t see it meaning an automatic hit as that’s not how baseball works.
Let’s hope that’s the case anyways lol.

Not sure how I feel about the extreme catch indicator. Looks more like an aid to help a poor diving mechanic in the game. Diving in the outfield and jumping in the infield need a total redo. SMB has a very simple and effective way of doing this that allows the user some success.

We would have to see the different hit types produced to see if they are modeling it after the barrel concept. If we start seeing launch angles outside the barrel zone or ground balls with perfect perfect, then it will just be a skill reward.

"Perfect-Perfect" should represent that the batter has covered the most surface area of the ball possible at the absolute right time relative to the pitch/pitch speed.
It should NEVER result in a hit all the time because that is not how baseball is. The hit should be based on the player's (on screen) attributes (Vis, contact vs L or R, Power).

Well then based on that, the only thing left is power. You've already covered Vis, and contact by being perfect-perfect.

yeah, I think perfect-perfect could go along way to get Padgoi excited about the Show again. on the other hand it could make things less interesting for those truly blessed with stick-skills. I mean, does anyone really want a team full of .400 hitters? careful what you ask for, you just may very well get it. Sony gonna have to walk a fine line with perfect-perfect.

I wouldn't say I'm not excited, I always get a little excited in anticipation of the new game coming out. With that said, someone said it best before, this perfect-perfect function shouldn't just be a boost or an increase in hit success, more so, it should simply affect the velocity at which the ball is hit. There are many subtleties involved in perfect contact, such as launch angle. If you're a touch under it (good for launch angle), is it still considered perfect-perfect? How about a little above it - will it still result in a hard hit grounder? They can't sacrifice ball physics for a fabricated boost in hit success.
I do however think that the success of getting perfect-perfect will rely on pitch speed. If you see yourself getting too much perfect contact, I'd imagine an uptick in the pitch speed slider could go a long way with alleviating that.
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That is just it, the competitive crowd wants to hit .400 and really are only focused on the success side of baseball. They are not interested in the ebb and flow of the sport where failure should be a component of the game.
Hopefully the stream sheds enough light on the subject and it is something that adds quality to the game and not just enabling a crowd with a loud voice.

Based on what I'm seeing, this perfect-perfect function seems to result in a hit like... 100% of the time. As you said, all this does is appease the arcade crowd who wants to hit .400. I've been saying for years, I just want realistic ball physics and to be honest, I've yet to see that in any iteration of this game.
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I'm under the impression that Perfect-Perfect will not result in a hit 100% of the time based of Sony's own wording for Thursday's stream:
Perfect Timing & Perfect PCI Placement Guarantees Peak Player Performance
It's been drilled into everyone's heads over the past several years, that this is a baseball sim, and that in no way will anyone ever be guaranteed a hit. Remember.... round ball, round bat....