Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. announced as 'MLB The Show 21' cover athlete

At 22-years-old, Tatis is the youngest player to be chosen for a cover of "MLB The Show" since the game debuted in 2006. He is also the first Padres player chosen for the cover. 

Tatis is coming off a tremendous 2020 season. He slashed .277/.366/.571 with 17 home runs and 45 RBI during the pandemic-shortened campaign to capture his first Silver Slugger award. He finished fourth in National League MVP voting and earned All-MLB First Team honors. 

The Dominican native played a key role in helping the Padres reach the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. The Friars won the wild-card series against the St. Louis Cardinals but fell to the Dodgers in the divisional series. 

Here is a list of the past cover athletes and the teams they were on at the time of selection:

• 2006: David Ortiz (Boston Red Sox)
• 2007: David Wright (New York Mets)
• 2008: Ryan Howard (Philadelphia Phillies)
• 2009: Dustin Pedroia (Boston Red Sox)
• 2010 and 2011: Joe Mauer (Minnesota Twins)
• 2012: Adrian Gonzalez (Boston Red Sox)
• 2013: Andrew McCutchen (Pittsburgh Pirates)
• 2014: Miguel Cabrera (Detroit Tigers)
• 2015: Yasiel Puig (Los Angeles Dodgers)
• 2016: Josh Donaldson (Toronto Blue Jays)
• 2017: Ken Griffey Jr. (Seattle Mariners)
• 2018: Aaron Judge (New York Yankees)
• 2019: Bryce Harper (Philadelphia Phillies)
• 2020: Javier Baez (Chicago Cubs)

"MLB The Show 21" will be available on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 and for the first time in the game's history on Xbox One and Xbox Series X. It launches April 20.