When prepping for a start, Aaron Sanchez will review tape of the lineup he’s about to face, talk it over with teammates and the coaching staff, and fire up the ol’ Playstation.

The Toronto Blue Jays right-hander isn’t only on the cover of Sony’s MLB The Show 17, he’s also a big fan of the series and uses it from time to time to give him an edge in real-life baseball.

“It’s actually kind of funny. There’s hot zones, there’s cold zones. They do a really good job of showing what types of players are,” Sanchez said earlier this week. “So during the year if you’re hooked up to internet at your place it gives you a lineup of who’s playing that night, who’s pitching against who. If guys have made it to the big leagues and there’s new people up there with the updates it gives you the lineup that they think is gonna be out there that night and when they do that there’s times when I wake up in the morning and play two or three innings where I go through the lineup once to just kind of see what works here and try to use that to my advantage if I think of something that night during the real game.

“I wouldn’t say it’s something that I rely on, but it’s definitely something of a, I guess you could say, a cheat sheet.”

Released on March 28, MLB The Show 17 is the latest in Sony’s annual baseball simulation video game series. Sanchez was selected as the cover athlete for the Canadian version of the game this year, while Ken Griffey Jr. graces the cover in the United States.

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Sanchez says he’s been playing this game series for a long time and calls being named the cover athlete “a dream come true.”

“[Sony] asked me a question and asked me if I liked to play video games and I told them my Playstation does not miss a trip with me and when they found that out they asked if I’d like to be on the cover,” he said. “So I think it was kind of a no-brainer after that. It’s every kid’s dream to be on the cover of a baseball game and just to be on that is humbling.”

In addition to sometimes using it as a pseudo-scouting report, Sanchez has used it as a little bit of an extra motivator.

“I had no input or say on what they did in terms of my attributes. When I did find out what I was and where I lacked I did let them know in a joking way that we need to clean that up. But it honestly actually gave me some goals to reach this year for me in terms of real life baseball so next year when it comes out we can get a higher rating.”

You can listen to the full interview with Aaron Sanchez on the Got Game Podcast:

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Sanchez takes to the hill Friday against Wade Miley and the Baltimore Orioles. He started his season with a sparkling seven-inning performance that saw him give up just one run with six strikeouts in a game Toronto ended up losing.

The Blue Jays have had a rough start to the 2017 season, starting the year with a dismal 1-8 record.