CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — One Moody grad is at the Triple-A level, playing for the El Paso Chihuahuas, and after making an appearance at Big League Spring Training an unexpected video game dream came true.
At a young age, San Diego Padres Triple-A catcher Michael Cantu and his brother Marcus dreamed of playing professional baseball, so much that they created custom characters for their video game. Now the dream is a reality for the Moody grad.
"He (Marcus) was the one who found it. He was like hey did you know that this is you right here, and he's like dude yeah this is your card," Cantu said. "Every time you play they know it's you because nobody has this card but you."
After five seasons in Minor League Baseball and a trip to Big League Spring Training, Michael received his MLB The Show 23 Real 99 player card. That means anytime a gamer sees his card in the opponent's lineup, they know they're playing the real Michael Cantu, a 99 overall rated player.
"Every single baseball player out there that plays The Show they have their Real 99 card," Cantu said. "It's like you're playing with a created player, and it's like it's so fun. It really is a cheat code."
Now kids from South Texas can play against a local legend, and see that it's possible to make it to The Show.
"You see guys like Jose Trevino(St. John Paul II), Anthony Banda (Sinton) and Rob Z. (Zastryzny, Calallen). Those guys are all on The Show and they're all from Corpus as well," Cantu said. "I think it's just super cool to be in a game that I played growing up."
Michael has more time for gaming during the offseason, so if you'd like to possibly play him the gamer tag is Can2swag.
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