Top SF Giants pitching prospect used MLB the Show to help develop new pitch

SF Giants top prospect Kyle Harrison was impressive in his debut last season. He comes back in 2024 looking to improve upon that and then some. He also had a new pitch which he added with the help of MLB the Show.

Top SF Giants pitching prospect used MLB the Show to help develop new pitch

In a recent article from Eno Sarris of The Athletic (subscription required), he highlighted several MLB players who talked about how they play MLB the Show. These players do not just play the game for fun, some of them use it as a scouting tool or as a way to try to improve.

One such player is Harrison. Harrison had this to say on how he uses MLB the Show, "The cutter, the gyro slider thing, I'm still trying to work on it...I added the cutter and tried it out online against some dudes."

Harrison's newest pitch is a cutter which he has been working on throughout Spring Training. The southpaw pitcher has added the pitch to his repertoire in the game (something I need to do as well) so perhaps he can get a little bit of a better feel for how it looks from the batter's perspective or better ways to use and locate it.

Of course, a video game is much different than real life. However, MLB The Show is a fairly realistic game so it is not too ridiculous to imagine a pitcher, especially a younger one like Harrison, using it to his advantage as he tries to develop and work on this new pitch.

The 22-year-old said it is a bit risky to pitch as yourself, though: "It's embarrassing if you get hit around because everyone knows who it is. But I play with teammates mostly, Diamond Dynasty (one of the game modes), and we all have our 99 cards."

It remains to be seen how well Harrison's cutter will fare in 2024. If it becomes a dominant new pitch for him, perhaps he will have the popular video game series to thank. We will see Harrison start his season this Friday in San Diego against the Padres.