Ernie Clement's record-breaking bat also broke the MLB The Show graphics department

Making a video game can't be easy. Especially when you're under pressure like San Diego Studio's (SDS) is to put out a new baseball game every single year. There's bound to be some stuff that gets rehashed or missed in each iteration of the game.

However, after the trailer for this year's version of the game, MLB The Show 26, dropped earlier this week, Toronto Blue Jays fans were left a little bit confused as to who was the imposter playing second base in a Toronto City Connect jersey at the virtual Rogers Centre.

Ernie Clement's record-breaking bat also broke the MLB The Show graphics department

Toronto Sun reporter Rob Wong was one of just many eagled eyed Blue Jays observers on X (formerly twitter) who voiced some concern over the player models in the trailer including this scene, in which a player who looks more like Whit Merrifield than Ernie Clement, makes a play at second base.

It's a scene that maybe last one full second, but as the player makes a stab at the ball his back is turned to the camera and you can make out the number 22 jersey worn by Clement. So now that the mystery is solved and we know who that is supposed to be, fans are asking, why doesn't he look like him at all?

Going back to the earlier point about how hard it is to make video games, it would be almost impossible for the animation team to scan the face of every single player and prospect from MLB and MiLB. They certainly have to make some tough choices and pick and choose which players will look like their real life counterparts and which won't. But you would think that the guy who just set the all-time record for hits in a single-postseason would be a guy whose face you'd want to get right.

Clement teed off in the Blue Jays' 2025 postseason run to the World Series. in 18 games he had 30 hits, more than any other player in a single-postseason. He had six doubles, a triple, and a home run within those 30 base-knocks and he compiled a .411/.416/.562 slash line with a .977 OPS and 13 runs scored. He made himself more well known with that performance than he had been going into the season, so well known in fact that of all the members of the Toronto Blue Jays, he was the guy they featured.

Not former cover athlete Vladimir Guerrero Jr., not former World Series champion and ALCS hero George Springer, not one of the highest paid pitchers in the game Dylan Cease - they chose to put a non-rendered version of Clement in their trailer.

While having the World Baseball Classic as a feature in the game is a nice touch and having an induction ceremony in Cooperstown for your "Road To The Show" character is a neat objective to aim for, the game overall doesn't seem to be appeasing fans to a large degree based on this first trailer.

That's especially true of Blue Jays fans who will can spot a fake Ernie Clement from a mile away.