Okay, so I’ve been messing around with MLB The Show 24, trying to get my RTTS player to throw like a legit sidearm slinger. It’s been a journey, let me tell you.
First things first, I created my player. I went with a pitcher, naturally, and focused on his velocity and break. Seemed like the obvious choice for a nasty sidearm delivery, right? I wasn’t too worried about control at first, figured I could dial that in later. Famous last words, lol.
Then came the tricky part: adjusting the pitching motion. This is where I spent HOURS. I went into the player editor, found the pitching motion section, and started experimenting. The default motions are pretty vanilla, so I had to dig deep. I was looking for something that already had a bit of a lower arm slot, to begin with. I tried a bunch of different ones, tweaking the release point and arm angle. It was a lot of trial and error. Some looked okay in the editor, but were awful in the game, the ball flying all over the place.
I spent a lot of time messing with the “release point” slider. This is key for getting that true sidearm feel. You want it way down low, almost clipping through the batter’s box in the preview. The arm angle is also crucial; play around with it until it feels natural and looks like you’re coming from that funky angle. I ended up using a base that was a 3/4 delivery and then tweaked the arm angle down and the release point way out to the side. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the closest I could get.
Once I was happy (or at least, happy-ish) with the motion, I jumped into a game. That’s when I realized how hard this was actually going to be. The control was TERRIBLE. I was throwing wild pitches left and right. I even hit a batter, which I almost never do. The CPU hitters were just sitting on my pitches, too. They probably hadn’t seen anything like this before. I think they were just as confused as I was!
Back to the drawing board. I went back into RTTS and started focusing on training control. I did all the drills I could find that improved accuracy. It helped a little, but I still had to be super careful with my pitch selection. I started relying more on my slider and changeup, which had a bit more natural movement from the sidearm angle. My fastball became more of a “show me” pitch, used to keep hitters honest. Basically, I learned to pitch smarter, not harder.
Over time, my control improved. Not dramatically, but enough to be competitive. I even started getting some strikeouts. The key was learning to embrace the wildness. Sidearm pitching is all about deception, and a little bit of unpredictability can be a good thing. Plus, seeing the CPU batters flailing at pitches way outside the strike zone was pretty funny.
So, after a whole lot of messing around, I’ve finally got a somewhat viable sidearm pitcher in MLB The Show 24. It’s not perfect, and it takes a lot of practice to master, but it’s definitely a fun and unique way to play the game.
- Create a pitcher with high velocity and break. Control can be improved later.
- Experiment with different pitching motions in the player editor. Look for something with a lower arm slot as a base.
- Adjust the release point and arm angle to create a sidearm delivery. The release point should be low and out to the side.
- Focus on training control in RTTS. Accuracy is key to being competitive.
- Embrace the wildness and use it to your advantage. Sidearm pitching is all about deception.
Give it a try! It’s a challenge, but it’s worth it. And if you have any tips or tricks of your own, let me know in the comments! I’m always looking for ways to improve my funky delivery.
