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When you create your ballplayer in MLB The Show 21, you’re given the ability to dictate which position they’ll play in the game. You do this by selecting their archetype within their loadout. However, after a few games you might be looking to change things up. Let us walk you through the process of changing your ballplayer’s position.
How to See Your Loadout
The first thing you need to do is go to your loadout. This is the determining factor for where your player lines up whether in the field or on the mound. To get your loadout, head to the main menu and go up to My Profile. Then, select My Loadout from the options presented.
On this page, you’ll see a few badges on the left hand side of the screen. Select the largest of these to go to your archetype page. From here, you’ll see several options for different archetypes that give you different positional options. See the table below for all of the archetypes available at the start of the game.
| Archetype | Primary Position | Preferred Positions | Stats Affected |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slugger | 1B | 1B, C, 3B, LF, RF | Power, Arm, Control |
| Sparkplug | 2B | 2B, C, 1B, SS, LF, CF, RF | Contact, Vision, Power |
| Speedster | CF | CF, 2B, SS, LF, RF | Speed, Steal, Bunt, Contact |
| Slick Fielding | CF | C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF | Fielding, Accuracy, Reactions, Plate Block, Contact |
| Painter | SP | SP | Control, BB/9, HR/9, Velocity, Break |
| Filthy | RP | RP | Break, K/9, Velocity, Control, Stamina |
| Cheese | RP | RP | Velocity, H/9, Break, Control, Stamina |
Once you’ve selected your archetype, your position will automatically update. If you want to change your position for Road to the Show, you’ll need to go start a new save within the mode.
What About the Other Positions?
As you might’ve noticed in the table above, positions like Shortstop are missing from the list. As your player improves, he will gain access to new secondary positions. However, if you want to make them a primary Shortstop, you’ll need to work your way through the archetype progressions.
From the loadout page, hit the Square button (X on Xbox) to bring up the archetype progression track. Here, you can see how close you are to leveling up your archetype and how to do so. Finishing off the track will unlock new archetypes that give you access to the other positions as well as better archetypes for your current position.
How to Upgrade Your Archetype
To get those improved archetypes, all you have to do is play the game in either Diamond Dynasty with your ballplayer or in Road to the Show. You will slowly accumulate experience points for the track by playing games and doing challenges related to your position.
For example, if you’re using the Slugger archetype, you’ll get extra experience for hitting extra-base hits. Make sure to check the missions under your archetype progression to see what you can do to accelerate up the track.
