How do you make the best pitcher in MLB The Show 21 Road to the Show?

Road to the Show is MLB The Show 21’s career mode. You’ll create your own ballplayer from scratch and lead them through the minor league on their way to the majors. This year, you can play as a two-way player for the first time ever, meaning you can pitch and play in the field within the same career.

With two positions to juggle, it can sometimes be a lot to manage. On top of that, certain mechanics are hidden behind agent interactions and training programs. So, if you need a nudge in the right direction check out our guide and tips below.

Tap or click the links below to jump to a particular section.

• What Are Loadouts
• How to Equip Perks and Equipment
• Hitting Tips
• Pitching Tips
• Best Pitches in Road to the Show
• How to Change Your Pitches
• How to Add a Fourth Pitch
• How to Get Traded

What Are Loadouts

For the most part, you can make whatever choices you want in player creation and be fine. However, one thing that is very important is to get the right loadout on your player. These are changeable selections of stat boosts that you can switch between before every game. Flipping between them based on which position you’re playing is an important part of the game.

To change your loadout, go to the main menu and press up to select My Profile. From here, you’ll select My Loadout and be in the correct menu. Then, it’s just a matter of selecting your archetype, perks, and equipment.

Which Archetype to Choose and How to Upgrade It

Each archetype has a position that it best fits. This lets you tailor your loadout around the position you want to fill. The table below should help give you a better idea of which starting archetype to pick once you decide which position you’d like to play.

Now that you’ve selected an archetype, it’s time to start leveling it up. From the archetype page, you can press the Square button (X on Xbox) to bring up a track that shows your progression to the next rank of your archetype. To move up on this track, all you need to do is complete the missions listed below it. These can be done in both Road to the Show and Diamond Dynasty, so you’ll be able to improve wherever you want to play.

How to Equip Perks and Equipment

Now that you have your loadout ready to go, it’s time to fill your loadout with perks and equipment to make you a stronger player. Acquiring new equipment and perks is as simple as playing the game. As you move through your archetype progression track, you’ll slowly unlock new items. On top of that, you can earn them via packs in Diamond Dynasty. So, if you’re playing that mode, you’ll accumulate gear for your RTTS career at the same time.

To equip your new gear all you need to do is go to the loadout screen. For perks, you need to select the smaller badge icons under your archetype. For equipment, you’ll need to move to the dots surrounding your player. Clicking on these will show you which items you have available in each slot.

You can also change the look of your equipment on the field by going into your player creation menu. To get here go to your profile and select appearance. Here, you can customize your player’s on-field gear to your heart’s content.

Hitting Tips

Because you’re building your ballplayer from scratch, there are a few things to keep in mind when creating them. For batting, the most important thing is finetuning your batting stance. To change your batting stance, go into your profile, select appearance, and then select motions and sounds. While you can absolutely use just about any stance you want, we’ll include some of our favorites below.

• Power Hitter: If we’re building a player we want to go yard with, our favorite stance is someone like Anthony Rendon. Ideally, you’re looking for a player with a smooth swing and a one-handing follow-through. This lets you get under the ball and put it out of the park a bit easier.

• All-around Hitter: Our go-to for an all-around hitter, and the stance we’d most often recommend, is Chipper Jones (2008). The stance is a fan favorite for a good reason, providing everything you’re looking for in a hitter. We’ve also heard good things about Jim Thome’s stance if you want to try out something else.

• Contact Hitter: Honestly, we don’t think there’s much of a reason to switch off of Chipper’s stance unless you’re looking for power. That said, many players loved Ichiro’s swing in past titles for this spot. If you’re looking for his swing now that he’s out of the game, it looks like Legend Stance #31 is the place to be.

Once you’ve settled on a stance, we suggest getting into games and trying it out. You can do a few things to finetune your stance; however, it’s better to see what you’re working with first. If you stumble upon a problem, here are a few ways to fix things.

• Front Foot: If you find yourself hitting a lot of foul balls even with good timing, you can alter your front foot to help out. This will impact where you hit balls, so it can fix some problems. Essentially, if you’re pulling balls foul, move the front foot toward the plate. If you’re pushing them to the opposite field, move the front foot away from the plate.

• Stance Height: If you find yourself missing balls high or low, you might need to change your stance height. As you’d expect, taller stances hit high pitches, while squatted stances hit low balls. We’d call this one your last resort, but it could help you out if you’re having trouble.

Pitching Tips

If you decide to take your ballplayer onto the mound, there are a few things to keep in mind. The most important is that you need to make your pitches work with each other. There isn’t really a “best pitch”. Instead, think of it more like a math equation. You need to have pitches that work with each other to get the batter out.

Best Pitches in Road to the Show

Again, there’s no magic bullet here. You want pitches that combo well with each other. For example, if you’re building a fire-throwing fastball pitcher, you need a breaking ball to go with it. In that case, take something like a changeup or curveball that you can place with accuracy and movement. Then, work your pitches around each other to set the batter up for strikeouts.

Our favorite combination so far is to pair a sinker with a nasty changeup. This sets up a lot of groundball scenarios and is something players like Felix Hernandez have used to great effect in real life. You can then add either a 4-seam fastball for some extra heat or a slider for even more filth with your breaking balls.

How to Change Your Pitches

When you start Road to the Show, your pitcher comes with three standard pitches. Thankfully, it’s not too tough to change things up if you’re looking to throw something else. All you need to do is wait for a training session to come up between games and go into the bullpen. Here, you’ll see options to switch pitches around. Everything isn’t available all at once, so it might take a few training sessions before you find exactly what you want.

How to Add a Fourth Pitch

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like there’s any way to add a fourth pitch to your repertoire. Players have spent several seasons improving their ballplayer and no one has found a way to add a fourth pitch yet.

While we don’t know for sure, this could be because you can now use your player in Diamond Dynasty and San Diego is afraid of the possibilities. That said, the developers could move to change this with a future update.

How to Get Traded

If you find yourself stuck behind an MLB superstar and are looking for more playing time, you might consider seeking a trade. Fortunately, you do have a bit of agency in your career. From time to time your agent will ring you up to ask how things are going. If you respond that things “could be better” or that you "never saw" yourself with your current team you can trigger a potential trade.

Of course, we have to note that, early in your career, you don’t have too much say in whether you get traded or not. That said, making your intentions clear with your agent is your best option. It might not work immediately, but if you keep pressing your agent, you should be on a new team soon.

How do you make a good pitcher in MLB The Show 21?