Submarine pitchers are a rare breed in baseball and MLB The Show 26. They deliver the ball from an extremely low arm slot, almost underhanded. This creates deceptive movement and tough sightlines for hitters. In MLB The Show 26, this pitching style is very difficult to play against for those used to more traditional pitchers.
The game’s physics does a good job of replicating the visual deception and late movement that make real-life submarine pitchers so dangerous. Players even report that facing a good submarine pitcher feels different and more difficult compared to the traditional overhand pitchers. Of course, there are also quite a few trolls using these pitches. No matter what game mode you’re grinding in, learning how to handle submarine pitchers will probably do you some good.
Why Submarine Pitchers Are So Hard To Hit
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There’s no denying that submarine pitchers have always been annoying in MLB The Show, but in The Show 26, they feel almost unplayable. Whether it’s Tyler Rogers, Tim Hill, or a created pitcher with a submarine arm slot, these secret weapons consistently generate weak contact, pop-ups, and ugly swings. If you’ve found yourself constantly late on sinkers or swinging through sliders that look like they’re coming from the ground, you’re not alone.
The major issue most players face is the release point. Submarine pitchers release the ball from a very low angle, sometimes almost underhand. In real baseball, this already creates deception, and The Show 26’s improved pitching visuals and pitch tracking make it even more extreme. The pitches come out of the hand from a completely different visual plane.
This often leads to several problems that a hitter can’t necessarily solve quickly. First of all, your brain has a harder time picking up the ball early out of the hand. This leads to delayed swings and weak contact if you do make contact with the ball. Next up, the pitch trajectory looks like it’s rising or staying flat longer than it actually is, leading to mistimed swings. Late movement becomes much harder to read because the release point throws off your timing window. As if all this wasn’t enough, submarine pitchers in 26 have heavy sinker repertoires, making the pitch look slower than it is, then diving or cutting at the last second.
How To Adjust And Hit Submarine Pitchers Better
We’ve established so far that submarine pitchers are far more different than traditional pitchers, so the key to beating them is to stop treating them like normal pitchers. The first thing to do is to lower your PCI. Submarine pitches tend to drop more than they appear, so aim your PCI slightly lower in the zone than you normally would. The sweet spot looks to be the bottom third of the strike zone.
Another smart move would be to change your camera angle. You could switch to a higher camera setting, for example, Strike Zone 2 or Catcher View, for a few at-bats. This will help because the elevated view makes it easier to track the low release point and see the ball’s true path. An even better way to match up against submarine pitchers is to force yourself to load and start your swing about one frame earlier than you normally would.
Next, you could try to sit on specific pitches. Most submarine pitchers rely heavily on sinkers and changeups. Make the smart decision to sit fastball or changeup and be ready to adjust late. The better method for tackling submarine pitchers would be to spend time practicing in the right environment.
The final thing to implement, and the most obvious one, is to try out everything we’ve laid out in Practice Mode. Try a couple of swings against specific submarine pitchers while focusing on timing and PCI placement rather than trying to hit it out of the park. This should help you get better over time. Another tip is to stick to one specific pitcher and really nail swings against them before you move on to someone else. This will build consistency and improve your overall hitting, and that applies to all pitchers.
Published: Apr 7, 2026 04:30 pm