As a non-roster invitee to spring training, Tyler Heineman is hoping to catch on with the Arizona Diamondbacks. But even if he does not make the final cut, the 27-year-old has had a magical spring.
Heineman stunned his teammates with a magic card show that left them shaking their heads, KNXV reported.
Heineman, a catcher who was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 2012 amateur draft, learned how to do card tricks as a kid. While playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic, he showed a few tricks to some teammates and "they freaked out," MLB.com reported.
“I was like, ‘Man, I really like the reaction,’” Heineman told the website.
Sunday, the Diamondbacks posted a video of Heineman performing a card trick in front of some nervous, but enthralled teammates, KNXV reported.
He asked Robbie Ray to pick a card from a standard 52-card deck, sign it and put it back in the deck.
What happened next was magical. Here is what happened:
"I just got my mind blown for 30 minutes," right-hander Joey Krehbiel told MLB.com. "This is going to be an everyday thing, so I hope he's got a bunch of tricks, because I've got the days."
Manager Torey Luvullo agreed.
"It's off the charts," Lovullo told MLB.com. "I try and drag him into the coach's room as often as possible to do his thing. It's probably hard, because he's on display for all the players and then he's got to be on display for all the coaches. But we certainly enjoy it. It brings a certain degree of laughter to the room, which I love, but the card tricks are really good. Like, he's got a future in it."
Heineman is enjoying himself, but he’d also like to make a major-league roster aftger competing in the minors for the Astros and the Milwaukee Brewers. He’s enjoying his notoriety for now.
"It's fun for me," Heineman told MLB.com. "Everyone likes magic. Everyone likes trying to figure out things that seem impossible if they're staring right at you. It's kind of just a fun thing that people enjoy seeing. And then when one person enjoys it, they bring more people and they try to figure out how to do it."
