Pat Connaughton was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 2014 and is under the MLB team's control through 2020, but if his first pitch ahead of Wednesday night's Milwaukee Brewers game is any indication, he's got a lot of work to do if he wants to continue his baseball career.
Now a reserve with the Milwaukee Bucks, Connaughton was invited to Miller Park to throw out the first pitch ahead of the Brewers' game against the Colorado Rockies. He sailed the ceremonial throw way over the plate, delivering a high-and-wide pitch that nearly struck a bystander who was recording the moment on her phone.
Maybe five years away from professional baseball really does take a toll on your accuracy.
"It was just a little excitement," Connaughton explained afterwards. "It was maybe not the proper warm-up, maybe not the proper adjustment throwing off a mound. It's been a little while."
Connaughton played both baseball and basketball at Notre Dame before the Orioles selected him in the fourth round of the 2014 MLB Draft. After one season in Baltimore's minor-league system, he turned back to the hardwood as a 2015 draft pick of the Portland Trailblazers. Since then, he's carved out a career as a rotational piece and is currently in the middle of the Bucks' playoff series against the Boston Celtics.
