• Posted December 19th, 2008 at 21:04 EDT by Dave Wales
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ESPN has revealed a ton of new facts from the upcoming edition of MLB 09: The Show. While some of these may sound quite familiar from last year's installment, there are a couple of new ones in the mix as well. Some features that aren't revealed in this fact sheet is the ability to create your own fan chants that will be yelled during play.

We've included the list below and can't wait for more information to turn up in regards to one of Sony's best exclusives.

Progressive Batting Performance -- Reward players for superior performance and penalize them for hitting slumps. Specific to each individual batter, players are rewarded with contact bonuses for each batter that performs beyond his "natural ability" while under user control. Conversely, the user will be punished with slight decreases in contact for each batter that performs below his natural ability.

Post Game/In Game Pitcher and Batter Analysis -- Available both in-game, post-game, and throughout Road to the Show, the Pitch Analysis is a breakdown of all the pitches thrown during the current game being played. Gamers will be able sort by pitcher, LHB or RHB, pitch type and result. This feature is also available for Batters, and the batter analysis allows for a breakdown of how a batter has performed based on LHP or RHP, Pitch Type, and result.

Pitch Grips -- MLB 09 The Show details various pitch grips and arm angles that a pitcher has when throwing each pitch. 17 different pitch types including four fastball variations (four-seam, two-seam, cutter, split), six breaking pitches (10-4 curve, 12-6 curve, slider, sinker, slurve, screwball), four change-ups (straight, circle change, palmball, forkball), and three specialty pitches (knuckle, knuckle-curve, and Gyro).

SCOUT [SportsConnect Online User Tracking] -- SCOUT allows gamers to set their game preferences, stores them on the server, and then allows the system to look for a Quick Match with an opponent that fits their criteria.

In-Game MLB Live Scores -- Gamers will get up-to-date reports on what is going on in the Majors including scores and notable status, such as HRs, complete games, etc.

SportsConnect Headline News -- Stay on top of news around the league and receive all current happenings in sports today. Information is updated a few times each hour with news, trades, and events from 31 different feeds, each containing 25 unique items. Select General MLB headlines for updates from the entire league so news is not missed while online with MLB 09 The Show.

Key modes -- Rivalry, Career, Season, and All-Star game are once again available to provide players a chance to challenge friends or the Artificial Intelligence in a variety of settings.

Multi-Branch Fielding -- Branch Point Technology goes to a new level as gamers you can now take full control of fielders and break out of any animation in the process. Change a fielding decision and branch out of any animation after the first branch point.

Adaptive Pitching Intelligence (API) -- Catchers will call the game based on individual strengths and weaknesses of each pitcher and analyze tendencies of batters. Gamers will have the ability to trust the pitches called by the catcher or shake them off. (The catcher's recommendations are based off of thousands of actual MLB stats.)

Pitch Command System (PCS) -- A pitcher's "pitch comfort" will be predetermined based on a best to worst pitch scenario. The more a player works on a pitch, the better it becomes, and the more a gamer neglects a pitch, the harder it becomes to work the zone.

Release Point Pitching -- Gamers must utilize a timing mechanism to learn and realize each pitchers pace and release point, which varies from pitcher to pitcher.

Pitching Confidence Meter -- The ultimate pitcher/batter interface returns. Additionally, Pitcher Confidence plays a role in a gamer's ability to hit release points in the all-new pitch meter, while frequency of mistakes will impact the confidence level of a gamer's hurler, making it more difficult to paint the corners of the strike zone.

Guess Pitch -- Baseball fans can attempt to master the ability to knock one out or hit the grounder to advance the runner by checking pitch history and correctly guessing which pitch and location that the pitcher will throw next. If a correct pitch is selected, the power attribute is increased to give the batter a higher chance of hitting one out of the park.

PlayMaker Fielding -- Based on fielding attributes, but it's ultimately up to each player to decide how to play to each team's strengths and weaknesses. Excellent fielders will track down the ball for you while sub-par fielders will require some concentration.

My Sliders (Up/Downloadable) -- The My Sliders option gives users the ability to create their perfect game settings offline by adjusting game sliders. Gamers can then save these adjustments to memory and, when online, upload to for other users to try and let the online community be the judge on finding the perfect game.

Unrivaled Player Creator -- An infinite amount of options for creating players including everything right down to your own face with EyeToy (PS2 only). But it doesn't stop there. You can also adjust your personal rituals, swings even emotions as you create Mini-You.

MLB Player Motion Captures -- MLB 09 The Show features authentically captured motions from dozens of professional athletes including David Wright, David Ortiz, Eric Chavez, Roger Clemens, Trevor Hoffman, Tim Hudson, Darryl Hamilton and more.

Revamped Umpire Personalities -- Each umpire will have his own definition of the strike zone, and it's up to the gamer to figure out if the umpire is calling the zone high, low, or giving the corners.

3-Man Booth & Progressive Commentary -- Rex Hudler, Matt Vasgersian, and Dave Campbell return to provide the most comprehensive commentary available. Additionally, the game's Progressive Commentary system changes dialogue by adapting to current actions and situations.