Kenny Pickett isn’t just starring on the football field. He’s doing it on the baseball diamond, too. For the second-straight season, Pickett is taking home the trophy as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ training camp home run trophy. An annual event towards the end of camp, Pickett was named the winner Tuesday night.
The Steelers’ team account tweeted out a photo of Pickett accepting the trophy, a baseball bat, alongside Mike Tomlin.
The team also tweeted a couple of snapshots of players taking swings.
Pickett was on the diamond recently, playing in Cam Heyward’s charity event. There, he showed his power, hitting at least two home runs in a Team Burgh win over Team World.
Pickett has proven himself to be a tremendous athlete, perhaps not to the extent Ben Roethlisberger was in his early days but cut from a similar cloth. Pickett’s athleticism has been underrated since coming out of college, impressing with a 9.52 RAS in the 2022 draft.
It’s not clear exactly how much baseball Pickett played in high school at Ocean Township in New Jersey. But this site shows that in just ten at bats, Pickett hit .600 with three doubles and a pair of RBIs.
For the Steelers, this home run derby is one of countless team bonding exercises held at Saint Vincent College. It’s one reason why the team goes away to camp each year. This stuff doesn’t happen if everyone goes home at the end of each day if you’re a team who only practices as their team facility.
Going on the 15th day of camp, these events provide some levity to a tough summer. It’s been hot, it’s been humid, it’s poured on the players. But the Steelers have impressed overall with Pickett having a good second camp, one that got off to perhaps a bit of a slow start but picked up since the team’s Friday Night Lights practice.
Pickett and the Steelers have two Latrobe practices left before packing up and heading back to the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex in Pittsburgh, where they’ll finish out the preseason before gearing up for September 10, their opener against the San Francisco 49ers.
