Envisioning yourself on the field or at the plate doing the same things professional athletes do is a common side effect of playing sports games. This is whyMLB The Show 23has a top-quality career mode in Road to the Show that takes you on the long journey toward making your mark in the major leagues.
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Whether creating your own player or taking over the reins of a real ballplayer, you’ll navigate through the minor leagues and eventually make your way to the big leagues. In this guide, we’ll examine the best way to build your character to ensure you’re getting the most out of Road to the Show and how to take advantage of the assortment of perks and equipment to achieve success.
Building Your Ballplayer
The first major decision in Road to the Show is building your ballplayer. you may create a custom character or take control of a real player’s career. Even if you aren’t a fan of character appearance customization,playing as a custom character is recommended, and so is usinga generic body typeif you want to skip that part of the process.
Once you’re happy with your player’s appearance, it’s time to assign their position. Creating atwo-way playerwill ensure that you’re getting the most out of MLB The Show 23 because you’ll behitting, fielding, and pitching,but if you aren’t a fan of one of those areas of the game, you can select a specific field position or a pitcher.
If you’re a pitcher, you can choose up tofive different pitches. It’s recommended to equip at least two velocity pitches and two breaking pitches. The fifth pitch can be left to personal preference.
Before you lock in your choice of position, you’ll need tochoose what skills to focus on. These will be areas that your player specializes in and they will tend to develop more in those areas. There arefour skills options for pitchers and three options for positional players.
Pitcher Skills
Velocity
Pitchers that focus on throwing hard fast pitches and blowing hitters away.
Break
Pitchers that focus on fooling hitters with wild movement on pitches.
Control
Pitchers that utilize the entire strike zone and prioritize location and overall command over their pitches.
Knucksie
Pitchers specialize in throwing knuckleballs that have more unpredictable movements and speeds than regular offspeed pitches.
Positional Player Skills
Power
Hitters that focus on swinging for the fences and smashing the ball.
Contact
Hitters are masters at putting the ball in play and utilizing the entire field to find ways on base.
Fielding
Embody the mantra “defense wins championships” and prioritize your glove over your bat.
Skill Sets And Perks
After completing your player’s build, you’ll enter the MLB draft. You’ll answer a handful of questions from a team representative that will shake up the algorithm on where you’re drafted. Once you’re in the locker room, you can view yourSkill Set.
Each player will havea starter Skill Set and will unlock new onesas you progress. The starting Skill Set for power-hitters and hard-throwing pitchers isCheesy Slugger,which boosts those attributes.
Throughout your career, you can track howyou’re performing compared to the rest of the league. The My Ballplayer menu will show three gauges next to your overall rating, which displays how you performin pitching, fielding, and running.
If you choose to be a two-way player, you canadjust how much time you spend as a pitcher or position player.
MLB The Show 23 is flexible and allows you to be afull-time starting pitcher, an occasional spot starter, or a relief pitcherfrom the bullpen and focus on hitting.
Perks are equipped with Skill Sets that provide additional boosts to your attributes. While some Perks offer only increases, some Perks willhave a negative impact. Equipping higher-quality Skill Sets will unlock additional Perk slots for atotal of four slots. Different pieces of equipment like batting gloves and cleats will also impact attributes.
Collect new Perks and pieces of equipment fromcompleting tasks in the Skill Set Program and Dynamic Challenges.
Reaching The Majors
Once everything is finalized with your player, it’s time to play ball. You can play multiple games in a row without having to return to the clubhouse.
On your off days, you canparticipate in drillslike batting practice that aim to increase specific attributes. Your attributes will also naturally increase or decrease based on your performance in the game.
Every so often, you’ll receive Dynamic Challenges whether you’re on the mound or at the plate. These offerquick ways to increase attributesor receive Program Starsfor the Skill Set Program to earn more rewards.
By taking advantage of these challenges to boost your development, it won’t be long before you receive the call to ascend to the major leagues.
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