Franmil Reyes is the homer-mashing, 'I Will Always Love You' - singing baseball hero we need

There's something happening in San Diego. Led by a stable crop of young sluggers and phenom pitchers like Chris Paddack and his filthy repertoire of pitches, the club is off to a solid start in the NL West.

But the Padres sport a two-way star who is deserving of your attention. Not a two-way star in the vein of the Angels' Shohei Ohtani, who does his thing a few miles up I-5, but a two-way star dabbling in two entirely different entertainment media.

I'm talking about Franmil Reyes, who is mashing homers and delighting his dugout with his rendition of "I Will Always Love You," the song originally penned by Dolly Parton and made legendary by the late Whitney Houston in the 1990s.

It's becoming a bit of a thing for the 6-foot-5, 275-lb slugger, his calling card, so to speak. And in the Padres' 5-2 win over the Marlins on Friday night, his dual talents were put on display once again. First, the dinger:

Then, after the game, Reyes was asked about his singing by FOX Sports San Diego's Annie Heilbrun, and he brought the house down with a stadium-rattling refrain of the iconic song:

We will continue posting this (so, always) until it no longer warms or fills our heart (so, never)@La_Mole_13 • #FriarFaithful pic.twitter.com/gJAH5WCymF

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 1, 2019

That takes guts. I can't even sing in front of my friends, so belting out a chorus as challenging as "I Will Always Love You" in front of thousands of strangers? That's a gear I don't have.

Look. Bat-flipping is awesome. It's a fantastic way to show your emotion after crushing a prodigious blast to the bleachers. But Franmil has his own thing happening and it's precisely what the game of baseball needs. Smiling, singing, slugging superstars is the way to my heart, and Reyes is well on his way to taking up residency there.

Not to mention, he already has 16 homers this season, spending half of his time at the cavernous, "pitcher-friendly" confines of Petco Park. He's a double threat of raw talent, really, and it's a ton of fun to watch.