Vladimir Guerrero Jr. selected as the cover athlete for MLB The Show 24

After months of anticipation, the huge reveal for this year's cover athlete of MLB The Show finally came on Tuesday morning. In a wonderfully done reveal stream by Sony's San Diego Studio, news broke that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be on the cover of MLB The Show 24.

Vladdy, the face of the Toronto Blue Jays and one of the most recognizable Dominican players in the sport, is the second Blue Jay in club history to grace the official cover of the game. Guerrero joins Josh Donaldson as a cover athlete Blue Jay, and he fits the recent trend of cover athletes who represent the fast-paced and emotionally charged game of baseball in the 2020's.

MLB The Show used to release games with covers unique to their country of sale. Canadian covers have featured solely Blue Jays over the years, such as Jose Bautista, Russell Martin, Aaron Sanchez, and Brett Lawrie. This trend ended after featuring Marcus Stroman in 2018, possibly to do with the drop in physical copy sales in favour of digital.

Guerrero also becomes the fourth Dominican born athlete to be featured on the cover, joining his father Vladdy Sr., David Ortiz, and current MLB star Fernando Tatis Jr. Vladimir Guerrero Sr. was on the cover way back in 2005. Ortiz, a close family friend of the Guerreros, graced the cover the following year in 2006.

The reveal took place during a live stream on Twitch and Youtube, and began with MLB The Show's brand ambassador, Ramone Russell, taking a tour of the Domincan Republic alongside the aforementioned Ortiz and musician Eladio Carrion. Vladdy was revealed when they picked him up as part of their tour, after which they explored parts of the Guerrero's baseball complex and other areas of the community.

The inclusion of Vlad on the cover comes as sort of a surprise to both the Blue Jays and MLB The Show community, as the colours used in promotional material for the reveal were red and yellow. This pointed towards the possibility of Ronald Acuna Jr. or Jose Ramirez on the cover, with others in the community guessing Ozzie Albies after seeing one of his bats in a promotional video. Nevertheless, we were pleasantly surprised seeing our Blue Jays star, and got an interesting insight into his relationship with Big Papi and his love for playing MLB The Show.

The game is set to release on March 19th, with possibly a larger amount of Blue Jays fans flocking in to pick up a copy.