MLB 2K13 My Player Guide – Tips and Strategy

2K has released its simulation of baseball, MLB 2K13 on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Like any 2K sports simulation game, MLB 2K13 also has a fun and addictive ‘My Player’ career mode.

In this game mode, players are charged with the responsibility of guiding their created players from the substitute benches into the Hall of Fame. It is safe to say that this is a daunting task indeed. However, with the aid of this guide, we aim to help you during this journey.

MLB 2K13 My Player

The best thing about My Player mode is its replay-ability value. Each position on the diamond requires a player with a unique play style and attitude towards the game. Of course, your own choices in this regard matter too. In other words, My Player mode is thoroughly addictive, and once you are hooked on it; you will never be able to get enough.

Creating Your Player

First of all, you will be given a choice between being a pitcher or a fielder. Both options are then further divided into nine categories. Each of these nine categories has their own positives and negatives.

Keep in mind that this choice will highly affect the degree of difficulty through the rest of the My Player Career mode.

Furthermore, if you decide to make your player a fielder; he will have the distinct advantage of having a ‘secondary position.’ This means your player can easily play at two spots on the diamond. For example, your player can be a catcher and have a secondary position of first base.

Overview of the Classes

Fielder
Think of these roles as nine different classes you can choose for the fielder. Each one of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. You will have to pick very carefully from these nine choices if you want to create a player that reflects what you want him to be on the field.

The choices and their perks are listed below:

All Around: This is the best choice by far. It offers up good all-around ability for your player.
Contact: You can expect to get more than a few hits out of him but he has little less to offer besides that.
Lead Off: This class has tremendous acceleration which means it has excellent base stealing potential. However, it falls flat on all other counts.
Speedster: This class offers up the speed. Sadly, it is the only thing it offers.
Slugger: Similar to the ‘Contact’ class but it offers more power. Expect to hit homeruns or nothing at all. This is the ‘go big or go home’ type of class.
Utility: Don’t know why they even bothered to make this class. It is utterly useless.
Gold Glover: Nothing falls through his hands. Unfortunately, that is all there is to this class.
Clutch: Extremely good clutch rating but his other ratings are not as stellar.
Team Leader: Literally a copy of ‘All Around’ class.

The clear out of this lot is the ‘All Around’ class. However, if you still want to change some things up a bit, then go for the ‘Slugger’ or ‘Contact’ class. If you pick something else you are in for a bad time.

Pitcher
Like the fielders, pitchers also have nine classes to choose from. You will be glad to know that unlike the fielder classes, most of the pitcher classes have far more functionality and practicality on the field.

Keep in mind that the class you choose will also affect the type of individual pitches you will have at your disposal in the game.

All Around: This class is for the jack of all trades. This isn’t really good at something nor is it really bad at something.
Strike Out: It is really has to hit this guy for a hit as he has good velocity and movement. Since he also has low stamina, it is best to choose this class if you are going to make a change in the middle of the innings.
Ground Ball: This guy won’t get hit for homeruns ever but they will score ground hits off of him.
Fly Ball: Has decent pick-off, but fairly below average in other attributes. Average pitch statistics.
Work Horse: As the name suggests this class has high stamina and also fair stats to go along with it. This class is best suited for starting pitchers.
Finisher: Excellent to play at the last few innings of the match. This class has very good velocity and movement but extremely low stamina too.
Clutch: Has a good clutch rating, but offers little else. Average pitches.
Control: Quite like the ‘All Around’ class. However it offers more control over your pitches then speed or movement.
Team Leader: Like in the case of fielder this class is indistinguishable from the ‘All Around’ class.

After all this, you will get the chance of picking your three pitches to start your career. Remember, that it is obligatory to pick a fast ball of some sort to for your first choice. For some reasons, slider pitch can only be selected in the second slot. Furthermore, your speed, control, and movement are all based off of your player role thus they won’t get affected by the type of pitches you choose.

Additionally, there is thing called ‘Tendency’ too which you can tweak after you pick your three pitches. However, its effect on the game is non-existent.

Selecting Your Team To Play Major League Baseball

Now that you have player created, it is time to pick your team. You can pick the team of your choice; there is no draft or anything. Once in, you will be sent to the AA affiliate of that team in the minor leagues where you are placed in the starting line-up immediately.

Remember, once in a team you are there for life unless the free agency begins or you hand in a trade request. The most important of My Player menus is My Career menu.

Here you can communicate with your manager, see your goals and career outline, do some skill point adjustment and player editing. Furthermore, you can influence the teams’ decision of which free agents to sign.

Now there are two ways by which you can earn skill points; performing in games or completing training challenges. By your schedule, you can tell when your next training session is planned. You will be obligated to take part in at least one training session in a month. However, you can choose what type of training session you want to have.

Keep in mind that training sessions vary for pitchers and fielders. There are five types of training sessions available to the fielders and six types of the training session available to the pitchers.

Now for fielders it is advised that they take the two hitting training sessions. Leave the base running and fielding training sessions alone, you can earn skill pints for them through playing the actual matches.

For pitchers, it is mandatory that they only take the two exclusive pitching sessions. Even when they reach the big leagues, the pitching training sessions should take priority over any other type.

Here is a list of all available training sessions in the mode:

Contact and Power [both]: Increases the placement and power of your hits.
Plate Battle [both] : Learn to judge pitches in this session.
Lead Off and Jump [both]: Teaches how to steal a base but really is a useless exercise.
Advancing and Sliding [both]: If you are a speedster do this exercise, otherwise don’t bother won’t happen.
Infield/Outfield [fielder]: Teaches how to field from in and outfield, not much useful.
Control and Velocity [pitcher]: Teaches how to pitch where your catcher calls for it.
Composure and Stamina [pitcher]: Learn how to pitch in real-like game experiences.

Remember the better you do in the training session the more reward you earn!

Match Day Games – Simulating or Playing Matches

On match day, games will be simulated until it is directly you who is involved in the game directly.

Every time you step up to bat, you will be given a goal. These goals can be as simple as ‘get a base hit.’ Completing the goal will earn you 20 skill points. If you didn’t complete the goal, you still gain experience.

Remember there are no negative penalties for failing to meet a goal. Your punishment would be no skill points to spend on your attributes. There is no instant punishment right after you fail to meet a goal. However, if you keep displaying poor form your attributes will begin to decline, but this takes a while. So, be sure to change your game before that happens.

Playing as a fielder, there will be no goals set for you. However, throwing out runners and catching them out will earn you extra skill points.

Pitchers are also given one goal per at-bat. You want be graded pitch by pitch. Instead, all factors will be taken in consideration. This is unfair because errors of others on your team may cause you to lose out on valuable skill points. For example, you are given a goal of ‘get a ground ball out.’

You manage to induce a ground hit from the hitter, but a fielder’s error causes to lead towards no out. This way, you can lose out on skill points without having any say in the matter.

To accommodate for this, there are extra skill points a pitcher has an opportunity to earn. For example, if you don’t get hit in an innings, you get some bonus skill points.
Remember the skill points you earn are awarded in specific categories. This will prevent you from wasting your skill points on useless attributes. For fielders, these categories are into Batting, Fielding, and Baserunning Pitchers have the same three and also a ‘Pitching’ category.

For the first couple of years when you are trying to break into the MLB team, only spend your skill points on the relevant attributes. These are those attributes the MLB team has set as a goal for you. Do not waste your skill points on anything else.

For example, if you are a slugger, don’t waste your skill points on base running instead opt for an attribute that will help you clear the park.