Come late summer, Russell Wilson isn’t trading his helmet for a pair of batting gloves. But a baseball player at heart, Wilson took a few cuts of batting practice at PNC Park Friday before throwing out the first pitch at tonight’s game between the Pirates and Boston Red Sox.
93.7 The Fan’s Dan Zangrilli tweeted a short clip of Wilson taking BP with the team.
And on the other side of things, Wilson played catch with the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen, as shared by the PPG’s Jason Mackey.
Including a deep pass to Cutch. Mix in some play-action and I think Wilson will be ready for the season to start.
Wilson himself sent a message to the city, encouraging them to come out to today’s game. He also seems to be enjoying the view.
Wilson was a multi-sport star growing up, playing baseball and football at NC State. The Colorado Rockies selected him in the fourth round of the 2010 MLB Draft, and he spent two years in their minor leagues, hitting .229 and five home runs across nearly 400 plate appearances.
With his football career thriving and getting drafted by the Seattle Seahawks, he put his baseball hopes behind him. Still, he was traded twice, first from the Rockies to Texas Rangers and again from the Rangers to the New York Yankees. Wilson made a spring training appearance for the Yankees in 2018, getting one at-bat and fouling off a pitch before striking out against pitcher Max Fried.
Now, Russell Wilson is back on the diamond, at least for one night. He’ll throw out tonight’s first pitch as the Pirates welcome the Red Sox for the weekend. Pittsburgh’s off to a solid start of the season, above .500 and narrowly out of first place in the NL Central.
