Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is the cover athlete of MLB The Show 24

Dominican Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has been the home run leader for a season, Home Run Derby champion and now the new face of MLB The Show.

Vlad Jr. was announced as the cover athlete of MLB The Show 24 on Tuesday. The Blue Jays’ star hitter joins the long list of superstars who have been featured on the cover of MLB’s flagship video game.

Players such as Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, and Bryce Harper have appeared on the cover of MLB The Show in recent years. On deck last year was the Marlins’ Jazz Chisholm Jr.

MLB The Show 24 featuring Vlad Jr. will be available for PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.

Guerrero is only 24 years old, but he has already become one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball. He has been selected to the All-Star Game for three consecutive seasons, was home run co-champion in 2021 and won the Home Run Derby in 2023.

MLB The Show 24 introduced a unique feature for Vlad Jr.’s cover reveal. MLB The Show traveled to Guerrero’s hometown in the Dominican Republic in December to film a special documentary in his honor for being named on the 2024 cover.

Ramon Russell, product development, communications and brand strategist for Sony’s MLB The Show, said, “Casting Vlad Jr. was really easy.” “But we really wanted to go further. And that’s why we filmed the documentary for our cover ad.”

“I’m pretty sure we were the first sports video game development studio to do this. We said, ‘Hey Vlad, instead of you coming to San Diego (where the game is produced), how about we go to your hometown and show us some places that are really important to your life and how you grew up. ?’ “So our fans can connect the dots and see that line of everything that happened to make him a great athlete and now being on the cover of the game.”

The latest MLB The Show covers
2024: Vlad Guerrero Jr. (24)
2023: Jazz Chisholm Jr. (24)
2022: Shohei Ohtani (26)
2021: Fernando Tatis Jr. (21)
2020: Javier Báez (26)
2019: Bryce Harper (25)
2018: Aaron Judge (25)

Part of that story is Wlad Jr. following in the footsteps of his father, Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero. And Vlad Jr.’s appearance on the cover of MLB The Show 24 is another link between the two.

Vlad Sr. was on the cover of MLB 2006, the predecessor to MLB The Show, which was the last edition of the video game before becoming “The Show”.

“It’s amazing to see that kind of full circle,” Russell said. “At the same time, it’s Vladi Jr.’s story. It’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s story. His dad is a big part of it, but we wanted to make sure we focused on Vlad Jr.”

This is another family honor shared by Vlad Jr. and Vlad Sr. Last year, they became the first father-son duo to win the Home Run Festival. This year, they are the first father-son duo to become cover athletes for MLB’s major game.

Vlad Sr. was coming off his MVP season for the Angels in 2004 when he was featured on the cover of MLB 2006, released before the 2005 campaign. The following year, the game was renamed “MLB 06: The Show”. With fellow Dominican David Ortiz as the first image.

Vladimir Sr. and Ortiz both became Hall of Famers after being the cover athletes of an MLB video game. (Fun fact: The same thing happened to Cooperstown’s newest pick, Joe Mauer. Mauer was on the cover of MLB The Show in 2010 and 2011.)

Big Papi was also a big part of Vlad Jr.’s cover reveal on Tuesday. Ortiz, a good friend of the Guerrero family, is the host of the MLB The Show 24 cover announcement stream, called “Ride to Reveal”. He was also part of the documentary because of his connections with Vlad Jr., Vladimir Sr. and the entire baseball world in the Dominican Republic.

“Vlad Jr. talked about being on the baseball field, where he not only played and honed his skills, but where his father and David Ortiz also played on the same baseball field,” Russell said. “We were really happy, humbled and very excited to be able to go deeper. Instead of just saying, ‘Here’s the cover athlete, here’s a good cover.’ “We wanted to explore deeper and tell a more human story.”