You know what playing the game feels like. But what does the face-scanning process feel like?

[natmi2523_XBL]

Hey, guys. SDS went to spring training sites this year to scan players' faces for the game, some for the first time and some getting rescanned to look better.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Ben Hochman has a column out today detailing his process getting scanned for the game, which developers were kind enough to let him go through just for the fun of the experience (and this column).

"48 cameras were set up. Photographed players included those who hadn’t been under the lenses in a few years as well as prospects getting snapped for the first time. And any player could get a re-scan — that’s what Walker did, to make sure his face, like his game, looks even better in 2024 than in 2023.

Asked about the face-scanning process, budding star Jordan Walker said: 'It was unbelievable, man — I've been playing this game ever since I was little. I think the first time I played it was MLB The Show 15. It's unreal. And then getting the card last year was super-sick. I'm excited to see what it looks like this year.'"

"To prepare me for my face scan, the fellows put a smock on me and had me apply a matte gel on my face, described by Parsons as “basically jellied alcohol that kind of just quickly dries up and absorbs the oil, so we don't get the shine."

"Inside the white-walled studio, the cameras were intimidating. Forty-eight of them! They were on surrounding poles at different heights, in order to capture every angle of the same face. There were spotlights, too.

I held up a color palette to best match my skin. And then, it was like a paparazzi moment with all the camera snaps. From there, Parsons showed me the 48 angles of my head on a screen."

(He's not in the game, and didn't get a copy of the image, unfortunately.)

Obligatory paywall warning, but the column, including some photos of the setup and the experience, are available here.

I've played the game heavily since probably 2013 and really ramped up my interest in 2018, so it was really cool for me to get to work with Ben on setting this up and pushing it out to those of you who, like me, might be interested in the behind-the-scenes look at how the players actually get into the game.