Justin Verlander Video: Watch Tigers Ace Geek out in MLB 2K12 Ad

We know Justin Verlander can pitch. The Detroit Tigers ace is coming off a season in which he won 24 games and posted a 2.40 ERA, winning both the American League Cy Young and MVP award.

Ah yes, but how is he as a pitchman?

[I'll pause to make sure you see what I did there.]

Quite good, actually. Verlander is going to be on the cover of MLB 2K12, and his first commercial for the upcoming video game was uploaded to YouTube on Monday.

Be warned. In it, we get to see Verlander in a bit of a different light than we're used to. He gets a little crazy.

In a nutshell, the ad consists of Verlander talking to himself inside his head and fantasizing about conversations he might have about his awesomeness. There are also sword-slashing and tiger-roaring sound effects involved.

All the while, Verlander is making goofy faces.

I have to admit, Verlander's acting chops are pretty impressive in this ad. It's basically all expression acting, and he nails it. When he finally does get to speak, he nails the line, "Yeah, I'm awesome."

Oh, C.J. Wilson shows up too. Because, you know, it's not fair to have a righty without having a lefty. Or something like that.

Because somebody else is bound to notice, this ad does indeed seem to be more than a little Brian Wilson-influenced. The ninja and cheetah references give it away.

For the record, Wilson starred in the ads for MLB 2K11, which were pretty great. It therefore makes sense that 2K Sports would go back to the well.

But swapping Wilson for Verlander? That there's a step up.