MLB The Show 25: Elly De La Cruz, Gunnar Henderson, Paul Skenes Are Cover Athletes

January 27, 2025 by Cory Wayne Dell

In a spontaneous announcement today, Cincinnati Reds’ sensation Elly De La Cruz revealed via his Instagram account that he will be the cover athlete for MLB The Show 25. Elly made the announcement with this post, “I made the cover of @mlbtheshow @reds @mlb @mlbpa.”

This milestone caps an extraordinary year for De La Cruz, who became only the fifth player in MLB history to join the 20/60 club, achieving at least 20 home runs and 60 stolen bases in a single season.

With new logos and emails blasting out discussing MLB The Show 25, this surprise social media drop should really get the ball rolling on information.

De La Cruz’s time as the cover athlete coincides with his budding ascension into superstardom, and I think I speak for everyone when I say I’ll happily take a fun Elly card out of the gate when The Show launches.

Stay tuned. Whether this was a planned reveal, or a mistimed announcement, SDS should be dropping an official release date very soon – if not later today.

EDIT: Well, well, well.

Not long after social media picked up Elly’s post about being the cover athlete, the Baltimore Orioles’ own budding superstar, Gunnar Henderson, made a similar post declaring that he is the cover athlete.

A battle for cover athlete prestige? In this economy!?

Strap in, folks. It looks like SDS is changing up their typical pre-release strategy.

We’ll keep you updated as more information comes out.

EDIT EDIT: Paul Skenes has entered the chat.

Three young superstars have self-announced themselves as cover athletes for MLB The Show 25. This is a marked shift from previous covers, and it sparks even more intrigue at what SDS is cooking up.

Will each MLB team have a cover athlete representing them? It would be an interesting wrinkle, though the logistics of a physical release with so many covers seems implausible.

Are they simply sharing the cover as a trio, the faces of the next generation of baseball superstars? It would be a very thematic way for SDS to move into the current generation of consoles, which the community has been hoping would mark a dynamic evolution of the game.

Still nothing official from SDS yet. At this rate, we all might find ourselves on the cover.

Stay tuned!

About the Guest Author

Cory Wayne Dell

Cory has been writing about all things baseball and gaming since 2022 and has been featured at Operation Sports as well as cited by Forbes. Cory is also a multi-instrumentalist and founder of the band Cargocastle. Cargocastle's latest single, "Truth and Reconciliation," is available on Spotify and all major streaming platforms. Cory is also the author of Shadow of a Monster, a personal memoir currently seeking publication.

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