Big changes to MLB 14 The Show’s ‘Road to the Show’ mode

MLB 14 The Show's Road to the Show, a mode in which you experience the rise to baseball glory, has some big changes in store this year. Over on the PS Blog today, MLB The Show designer Kirby St. John briefly touched upon the key changes made to the popular mode.

[F]or MLB 14, we really wanted to focus on the logic and systems that govern the mode in an effort to allow for more variety and less restrictions," explained St. John. "We also wanted to provide some new experiences never seen before in [Road to the Show]."

To that end, here's the latest dev blog showcasing the evolution of Road to the Show in MLB 14: The Show.

And here are some quick bullet points highlighting some of the key new features talked about in the video:

• When creating your new ballplayer, you will select a home region (West, Central, East, International), which will become your team in the Topps Amateur Showcase.
• The Showcase serves as a place to show off your talents before the first year player draft. It is comprised of three games and your performance will "greatly impact" the beginning of your career as it determines your draft position and your starting potential rating.
• Draft experience includes the ability to hear all of the selections in your round, including your own name.
• If you don't like where you were drafted to, you can re-play the Showcase by "returning to school," but doing so will age your player
• New advancement system mimics how players are evaluated by organizations in real life:
  • Advancement goals have been removed; you are free to train your player however you choose.
  • Promotions and demotions can happen at any point in the season
  • No limit on how where you can move (you can rise from double A straight to the big league)
  • Evaluation is based on player potential, overall, and adjusted overall, all of which are compared to other players in the team's farm system

• Performance evaluator has been extended to baserunning and fielding

Playing RTTS as a catcher:

• Only responsible for calling pitches when runners in scoring position
• Now required to actually catch or block each pitch thrown your way

MLB 14: The Show is due out for PS3 and Vita on April 1. The PS4 version will arrive a month later on May 6.