Russell Wilson taking BP. After rough first go-round, here three of the balls leave the yard pic.twitter.com/iwZMrRV5LF
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) February 26, 2018
Not only can NFL superstar and Super Bowl Champion Russell Wilson dominate on the gridiron, but the dude can also get it done with the bat as well.
You know something special is afoot when major leaguers are getting excited about a Monday during Spring Training. With Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson set to join the New York Yankees in Tampa Monday morning, guys like infielder Brandon Drury, who grew up a Seahawks fan, couldn’t wait to get to the ballpark to see his favorite signal-caller in the locker room at George M. Steinbrenner Field today.
The NC State infielder turned NFL superstar Wilson wasted little time reminding us all why he was once a highly-touted prospect in the Colorado Rockies organization.
QB2B; as I like to call him, said at his press gathering this morning that he grew up a Yankee fan and always told his late father that he would one day put on the Yankee pinstripes.
Well, today Wilson got that chance and definitely did his father proud as he was inserted into a pretty prestigious batting practice squad that included the meat of the Yankees order: Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Greg Bird and Gary Sanchez.
If you thought that the star football player couldn’t hang with the big boys of Major League Baseball and not be able to produce similar results, think again.
Wilson started out his session with some understandable struggles, probably stemming from not having picked up a bat and taken live batting practice at a major league facility since last March when he was a part of the Texas Rangers organization. But then something seemed to click for No. 73 as he started to rake with some serious authority.
By the time it was over, Wilson had smacked six home runs, including one off of the batter’s eye in center field on his final swing.
“That was fun,” Wilson told Mike Mazzeo of the New York Daily News afterward. Judge, meanwhile, jokingly remarked that he thought Wilson pulled a fast one on the group.
“I think he was lying to me about not taking BP before this,” said Judge.
Aside from trying to show up his batting practice teammates, Wilson took some reps at second base and addressed the team.
Wilson literally went from being a football player who looked completely out of place and turned himself into a guy who looked like he had his sights set on the vacancy at second base in the Bronx.
Speaking of football, Judge said he and Wilson might be tossing the pigskin around before week’s end.
“I asked him, I was like, ‘Hey man, did you bring a football?’” Judge told Mazzeo. “And he said he’ll have one by the end of the week, so you might catch us on a backfield running a couple routes.”
Maybe Cashman can work some real magic and convince Wilson to tell Seattle to take a hike… Then again, maybe not.
