Understand the Pitching Count Meta

Pitch selection should change by MLB The Show 25 Stubs  count, not by habit.

Best Pitches by Count

0–0: High fastball, backdoor cutter, sinker running inside
1–1: Sweeping slider, changeup low, knuckle curve
0–2 / 1–2: Waste pitch — slider away, curve in dirt, high fastball out of zone
3–2: Your safest strike pitch (don’t overthink)

Rule of Thumb

Never throw a hittable strike on 0–2.
Never throw a breaking ball over the plate on 3–2 unless your guy has elite control.

Use Outlier Pitchers Correctly (Most Players Don’t)

Outlier is strong, but only if you avoid becoming predictable.

Right Way to Use Outlier

Use it high and above the zone

Pair with low sinkers

Mix in changeups to destabilize timing

Rarely throw center-zone outlier fastballs

Wrong Way (What Losers Do)

Spamming 102 fastballs in the zone

Throwing outlier fastballs on predictable counts

Not mixing eye levels

Even mid-rank players can turn on predictable outlier spam.

5. Prioritize Pitches With Horizontal Break in MLB The Show 25

The meta strongly favors:

Sinker

Cutter

Sweeping Slider

Slurve

Circle Change

Why?

Because they attack side-to-side PCI movement, which is harder for hitters than purely vertical movement.

If your pitcher doesn’t have at cheap MLB Stubs least two horizontal-moving pitches, they’re not meta for Ranked.