Monica Puig Serves Up A Smashing Ceremonial First Pitch

It’s generally lame when non-baseball athletes use non-baseballs to complete ceremonial first pitches. You see this most often with football players, using their vile spheroids to throw first pitches that really have nothing to do with the sport of baseball. If you can’t get a baseball all the way to the catcher, at least have the dignity to go up there and plunk a nearby photographer.

Tennis star Monica Puig had first-pitch duties Thursday night in Cincinnati, where she found an acceptable and extremely impressive compromise. She used a baseball, but she delivered it homeward with a good-looking overhand serve. And when I say delivered it, I mean Trevor Rosenthal eat your heart out:

Let me tell you, the Washington Nationals could do a lot worse for an eighth inning setup reliever. Hell, they have done a lot worse.