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It’s been commonplace for Seattle Seahawks players to receive the honor of tossing the ceremonial first pitch at Seattle Mariners home games, and the latest one to do so is rookie DE L.J. Collier.
The 2019 first-round draft pick attended Sunday’s matchup against the Minnesota Twins, ready to show off his arm and, to quote his interview with Root Sports’ Jen Mueller, “Don’t pull a 50 Cent.”
Collier revealed that he was a pitcher growing up, although he also admitted that he’s not thrown a baseball in a years. When it was go time, he was pretty much on the money when pitching from the front of the mound to relief pitcher Parker Markel. He then asked for Markel to autograph his ball, which Parker duly obliged.
Watch the video below:
Maybe he’s a good luck charm, as the Mariners took a break from getting blown out to actually beat the Twins by a score of 7-4. After a stunning 13-2 start to the 2019 season, they are in the more familiar role of being sub-.500 and presumably headed for yet another season without playoff baseball.
As for Collier, hopefully he makes an immediate impact as a pass-rusher on Seattle’s defensive line. He’s very much someone worth rooting for, and I highly recommend reading Brady Henderson’s feature story on him.