Blue Jays: Sanchez picked for video game cover, Osuna honoured in Mexico
A pair of Blue Jays pitchers had their profiles grow this week, with one of them landing on the cover of a video game.
Right-handed starter Aaron Sanchez, an American League all-star last season, will be on the cover of PlayStation’s MLB The Show 17, Sony announced Wednesday.
Sanchez went 15-2 with an ALleading 3.00 ERA in 2016, while helping the Jays to a second straight AL Championship Series. He finished seventh in AL Cy Young voting.
Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. was announced as the game’s main cover athlete in October. It will be Griffey’s first appearance in a video game in two decades. Miami Marlins starter Wei-Yin Chen will grace the Taiwan cover. He was also on the cover in that region in 2013.
The video game will be released in late March.
Sanchez is the fifth Toronto player to appear on the Canadian cover since PlayStation began releasing them in 2012.
Jose Bautista made back-to-back cover appearances in 2012 and 2013, followed by former Jay Brett Lawrie in 2014 and Russell Martin in 2015. Josh Donaldson appeared on both the American and Canadian versions of the 2016 game after his MVP season.
Jays closer Roberto Osuna, meanwhile, was recognized in Mexico as one of the country’s sportspeople of the year.
“Congratulations to Roberto Osuna on winning Athlete of the Year in Mexico! ¡Felicitaciones, @RobertoOsuna1!,” the Blue Jays tweeted.
The 21-year-old Osuna had 36 saves and posted a 2.68 ERA with Toronto last season. He was one of a dozen athletes recognized at a Mexico City ceremony Tuesday.
Osuna, after accepting the award, said he was proud to represent Mexico. “The greatest satisfaction for us is that they recognize us in our country and I take it as motivation to continue to work well,” he told the media outlet La Aficion.
He is looking forward to representing his country at this spring’s World Baseball Classic in March. Mexico will face Italy, Venezuela and Puerto Rico in the round-robin portion of the tournament.