MLB The Show 26 Hitting Guide: Tips to Improve At the Plate

For those who’ve just purchased MLB The Show 26, or those who are having problems at the plate, we can help. Here’s our comprehensive guide to hitting in The Show 26, including guidance on controls, settings, plus some tips to rip it up at the dish.

Controls

Let’s take a look at basic controls:

Left Analog Stick: Controls the PCI
LS/L3: Control PCI Anchor
A/X (Xbox/PlayStation): Normal Swing
B/Circle: Contact Swing
X/Square: Power Swing

As you might expect, we recommend using Zone hitting. We’ll get to why later on but keep in mind that these are the only controls that one really needs to know.

The other component is bunting. Press Y/Triangle to lay down a bunt, and use the left stick to bunt in a specific direction. You can set in position before or after a pitcher begins his delivery.

How to approach things at the plate

Before anything else, let’s take a look at the different types of pitches in MLB The Show 26:

Four-Seam Fastball: Four-seam fastballs generally run straight. Fastballs are mainly used up in the zone but can also be thrown away and low on some occasions to tunnel secondary offerings.
Sinker/Two-Seamer: While sinkers and two-seamers are nearly identical — and are characterized as such by Statcast — both of these pitches carry differences in MLB The Show 26. Two-seamers run arm-side, while a sinker does that and breaks down.
Cutter: Cut fastballs are slightly slower than four-seam fastballs. But a different movement profile. A cutter moves glove-side and doesn’t have much depth. Cutters are mainly used to jam opposite-sided hitters in on the hands.
Changeup/Splitter: These are categorized as offspeed pitches. Both differ in velocity with sinkers and four-seamers, as changeups and splitters have lower pitch speeds. Changeups move to the arm side and down. Splitters break straight down. Expect to see changeups and splitters down, which are heavily used in opposite-sided (i.e., RHP vs. LHH) battles. However, some could use those pitches to surprise.
Curveball/Sweeping Curve/Knuckle Curve: A curveball is a breaking ball with depth and breaks down much more. Don’t expect to see this much, though, as curveballs are much easier to pick up. Why? Slower and more predictable movement.
Slider/Sweeper: The bread-and-butter of any pitch arsenal. Sliders break to the arm side, are several MPH slower than a fastball, and are the toughest pitch to hit in same-sided matchups (ex., RHH vs. RHP). Sweepers are slightly slower and have more depth in The Show. The sweeper is much more valuable in opposite-sided matchups compared to sliders.
Knuckleball: In real life, a knuckleball is a pitch with little spin and moves very erratically, almost like it’s dancing. Knuckleballs are very difficult to pick up and predict. Virtually no pitcher in the game, aside from Matt Waldron and Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, has it.
Screwball: Screwballs break clockwise, unlike curveballs and sliders. Very few pitchers have a screwball. Devin Williams & John Franco are among the few who have one in MLB The Show 26.

Now that we have that out of the way, here are some things to keep an eye out for:

Shrinkage has been the bane of many hitters’ existence in MLB The Show for years. It acts as a mechanic designed to mimic swing-and-miss by shrinking the PCI more on sliders and sweepers in same-sided matchups. Your best bet is to lay off on these pitches as much as possible — unless it breaks straight over the plate.
You must look at the release point of a pitcher’s release. Some pitchers are easier to pick up than others. But overall, if you don’t do this, it’ll be almost impossible to pick up whatever is thrown.
Don’t move the PCI too much. This can be tempting, especially when trying to get the muscle memory going pre-pitch. But my advice is this: just before the pitcher starts his delivery, keep it still in one place. Watch the release point, and then react.

Getting back to shrinkage for a second, it’s been a pain to deal. Especially when taking into account that it doesn’t necessarily stop at just breaking balls away. It was tuned in mid-July.

Best settings

We’ll start with the Camera. I recommend Strike Zone, as this is the standard for most top-tier players. It’s the one that’s closest to the pitcher’s release point, which is where one should be looking at the plate.

Next is the Interface. Zone hitting takes more of a learning curve but is much better than Directional. Yes, Directional is easier. But unless the ball is grooved over the middle of the plate, don’t expect a lot of hard-hit content. Those who’re new to The Show have an advantage: working off a clean slate.

The PCI can also be modified. One can also change the logo of the PCI, plus the shape & style.

Reverb is the most-used one, as it takes up minimal space on the screen. However, I personally use the Bat, just for the simple fact that at greater difficulties, the extremely small PCI can be daunting. I live with the Bat on Hall of Fame & Legend, even though it takes up more space. Pick whatever works for you.

As far as PCI color is concerned, go with something that won’t blend in the background. White or light blue works.

PCI Sensitivity can be left at the default. If you don’t like the speed at which it moves, this can always be tuned down.

Lastly, I like the PCI Anchor. I have it set to middle-middle on opposite-sided matchups (i.e., RHH vs, LHP, etc.), and middle-in on same-sided matchups. This is, more or less, where I look at the onset before adjusting mid-pitch.

Do you need stick grips?

No. But having them helps.

Personally, I don’t use KontrolFreeks. Instead, I use INSIGNIA-branded stick grips (the shortest ones), ones that can easily be purchased at Best Buy or Amazon. Realistically, as someone who’s played a variety of sports games throughout my life, MLB The Show is the only game where grips can give somewhat of an advantage.

So, I wouldn’t invest much money in them.

If anything, a better investment would be either in A) a PowerA Controller (which I use) or something equivalent, and B) a dedicated gaming monitor with high refresh (<1 ms) rates.

The reason why is that wired controllers are significantly better to use on Xbox consoles, as the Xbox Series X|S standard controller is not properly configured for The Show, and hasn’t been since the series moved to that console in 2021. Second, a high-refresh monitor can make it much easier to pick up the movement of a baseball and do so much faster.

Those, however, are simply accessories that are not mandatory whatsoever.

Why listen?

That’s why.

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