MLB Player Uses Game Hacks In Real Life Baseball

Baseball always makes for some exciting highlights — after all, it is the nation's favorite pastime — but the most recent one to make waves on the internet is a case of a player seemingly defying the laws of physics. 

As reported by Kotaku, Fernado Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres shocked onlookers and his fellow players by performing what looks like the real life equivalent of a double jump. In a clip shared by the Padres Twitter account, Tatis Jr., who plays shortstop, can be seen jumping into the air to catch a line drive way above his head. At the very end of his jump, he pumps his legs, which appears to propel him just a bit higher, allowing him to snag the ball.

While the play is absolutely insane on its own, the added factor of the double jump makes it feel like a video game come to life. Tatis Jr. getting an extra bit of height by just pumping his body is exactly the sort of logic that video games use to explain getting a second jump in the middle of the air. The acrobatic horse from "Elden Ring" would be proud.

Of course, the reactions to the highlight clip online have been pretty excited across the board. Even people who don't care about baseball or sports have expressed their surprise and hype over seeing a double jump in the real world.

Shane Miller on Twitter wrote "I f***in hate sports but even I can appreciate that this guy just wahoo'd a real world double jump." Over on Reddit, u/_Caed_ wrote that they had just been complaining about a play Tatis Jr. had made, but then "man just Pokémon evolved to spite me."

The most ironic part about the video game comparisons to Tatis Jr.'s pectacular play, might be the fact that not only is he actually in a video game, he's on the cover. Tatis Jr. is on the cover of MLB The Show 21, the first version of the Sony series to make its way to Xbox consoles.

Tatis Jr.'s snag was just as unbelievable to the world class athletes on the field as it was for everyone else watching at home. With the double jump checked off the list, humans can move on to trying to perform more impossible video game feats. When the new NFL season kicks off in a few months, maybe a wide receiver can perform an air dodge.