Creating a ballplayer in MLB The Show 21 is nothing new for the series. Making your player tailored to how you want them to play and then sending them on Road to the Show has been a staple in the long-running baseball series. This year, however, there are some brand new features to go alongside your created player that can change up how they perform on a game-to-game basis. Here is how to use Loadouts in MLB The Show 21.
Loadouts can be accessed and adjusted by clicking your profile icon in the top left of the main menu of MLB The Show 21. At this spot, you can change various aspects of your player, like their appearance, but clicking on Loadout brings up a new perk-like system.
On the left side of the screen, you will notice a spot where you can pick three different aspects for your player. The largest icon will be the biggest difference-maker in your player’s attributes. Whatever you choose to go here can increase their skills by about 20 points in the associated categories. For us, we went with Sparkplug for the increase in contact rate, but other choices can affect your pitching, baserunning, fielding, and hitting power.
The smaller icons underneath work in the same way, although they affect attributes on a much smaller scale. Choices in these areas tend to influence each stat by between four and seven points, at least in the early sections of your ballplayer’s career. You receive more of these perks either in the marketplace or through opening card packs.
Additionally, you can equip any equipment you have unlocked during your time in The Show. As you open packs, you will earn these randomly and can buy them in the marketplace. They will give various boosts to your created ballplayer.
If there are too many good choices for you, you can create additional loadouts by pressing the right bumper (R1 on PlayStation, RB on Xbox) on the main loadout page. This makes it so whenever you go into a game with your created player, you will choose which loadout you want to use for that game. Using this, you can make sure your player has boosted contact rate in one game and then go with a pitching-oriented loadout for another if you are on the mound. Mix and matching loadouts will significantly impact how well you perform in certain areas of a game and can dictate how well your player progresses in Road to the Show.
