It was a rough Friday for first pitches.
To be fair, the pressure of going to the mound in front of thousands of fans and delivering the ceremonial pitch is stressful. But Friday delivered a pair of stinkers that could be all-timers.
Josh Jackson, who was just drafted by the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the NBA draft, got to throw the first pitch for the Diamondbacks. The pitch was off. Way off.
An #AllAZ, all-1st round ceremonial first pitch from @AZCardinals' @Haason7Reddick and @Suns' @j_josh11. pic.twitter.com/WTbnzEgb0K
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) June 24, 2017
To be fair, Jackson was also throwing the first pitch with fellow draftee Hasson Reddick. With another person cramping his space and what’s essentially two catchers, you can’t blame him for messing up the way he did.
At least Jackson was able to laugh about it on Twitter when he got called out by Kings rookie De’Aaron Fox:
my pitching dreams are dead and gone
— Josh Jackson (@j_josh11) June 24, 2017
Something tells us Jackson will be fine even though his dreams of pitching are over. He plays basketball, not baseball.
2,472 hits. ✅
— Cut4 (@Cut4) June 23, 2017
541 homers. ✅
Not scared of going inside on a lefty. ✅ pic.twitter.com/y8FrMvdWlV
But someone who did play baseball was David Ortiz. He had his number retired by the Red Sox and threw a first pitch as well. And his pitch wasn’t all that great either, even though he played the sport. But Ortiz was a DH, so we’ll let it slide.
What do you think? Who had a worse time on the mound?