Padres' Franmil Reyes Serenades Home Crowd With Rendition Of "I Will Always Love You"

Padres outfielder Franmil Reyes was able to put on a show for the Friar faithful in San Diego on Friday. Not only did the 5-2 victory over the Marlins include a solo shot in the bottom of the first—giving him a team-leading 16th home run for the season—but he also capped off the win with a solid rendition of the karaoke hit “I Will Always Love You.”

Though maybe not entirely pleasant on the ears, this moment was a massive improvement over the last time a Padres player made a huge emotional gesture towards the crowd, which resulted in Ian Kinsler having to explain that he was not, in fact, telling San Diego fans “ fuck you, fuck all you.”

But beyond his singing talents, those remaining in the park were probably cheering for Reyes because he’s been quite a powerhouse in the batter’s box this season. As MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell points out, only four batters have hit 40 or more dingers in a single season in the franchise’s history. Both Reyes and his fellow corner outfielder Hunter Renfroe—who also hit a solo shot on Friday—are on pace for that number. Making franchise history is impressive in its own right, but doing so in the batting purgatory that is Petco Park would make the accomplishment that much more incredible.

The only potential drawback for Reyes is that he might have gone too hard too early with his vocal skills. Singing to the home crowd might be fun the first time around, but it’ll probably start to get old for him when he’s asked to break out the Whitney Houston impression for like the 30th time in the postgame interview—a likely scenario given the season he’s been having. Hopefully he at least has some other songs in his repertoire to spice things up (fingers crossed for “Dancing Queen”).