Best ceremonial first pitch: Isaiah Thomas, Al Horford, or Jae Crowder? (w/ video)

Last night, Jae Crowder threw out an honorary first pitch at the Portland Sea Dogs (Double-A affiliate of the Red Sox) game in Maine:


Scouting Report: Decent heat from the Celtics small forward.  Looked to be a little high, but over the plate.


Back in May, Isaiah Thomas tossed a first pitch for the Seattle Mariners (Thomas is from the state of Washington):


Scouting Report: Not much zip on Isaiah's fastball, but definitely in the vicinity of the strike zone.


Earlier this month, Al Horford was introduced to the city of Boston with a first pitch at Fenway Park:


Scouting Report: Clearly a ball low and away, with poor velocity as well.  However, Horford was also aggressively defended by a small child (his one-year-old son, Ean) and was unable to fully step into the throw.


Conclusion: In a vacuum, Crowder's pitch was clearly the best, but we have to take into account the gravity of the situation--he took the field in Double-A, while Thomas and Horford had to perform in the big leagues.  The added pressure of appearing for the first time in Boston in front of a new fan base as the Celtics' major offseason acquisition gives Horford's effort the greatest degree of difficulty by far.  Considering he was also fouled on the play, the fact that Horford even got the ball to home plate on the fly is quite impressive.

Here's a video recap of Horford's night at Fenway via Celtics.com:




Follow Mark Van Deusen on Twitter @LucidSportsFan


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