Greg Maddux goes undercover for prank on Kris Bryant
By mdelaney
Hall of Fame pitcher Greg “Mad Dog” Maddux dons a disguise to give Chicago Cubs’ Kris Bryant a run for his money while filming a Red Bull promo.
With Spring Training around the corner, MLB players are tying a bow on an offseason of endorsements set to air once the seasons begins. Kris Bryant was sauntering his way through a shooting for a Red Bull promo when an “unscheduled” pitching change threw the Cubs’ third baseman off his game. A portly sound guy stepped in and began zipping the ball past Bryant much to his surprise. Little did Bryant know the staffer was HOF pitcher Greg Maddux in disguise.
Prior to taking the mound Maddux hammed it up. He criticized a co-worker for disrupting the audio by dragging his feet and even lamented that he wanted to wrap up the shoot because he was hungry. Though once Maddux took over pitching duties for Bryant’s BP, he didn’t do much to reinforce his character’s clownish nature.
Bryant went from saying “just don’t hit me,” after one practice pitch to remarking the sound guy’s form “was actually pretty good,” after the second. Maddux peppered Bryant with an assortment of pitches, and occasionally blurted out “Strike!” when Bryant let a pitch go in the zone. Bryant was mystified by Maddux’s precision and turned to a staffer behind the backstop to say “Sound guy’s gotta pretty good curve ball,” and “He’s actually might be better than the other guy.”
The third baseman eventually conceded and openly stated to Maddux “I seriously doubted you,” and told himself that it was time to get serious. Maddux got so comfortable he began calling his shots for him, which shocked Bryant even more when his hits followed Maddux’s flight path.
After an extended outro where Bryant kept prodding Maddux for more pitches, Bryant agreed to give the sound guy a signed bat. The scraggly-looking staffer requested it be made out to “Greg Maddux'” prompting Bryant to flip the bat in disbelief.
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The two shared a moment where Bryant acknowledged the karma of getting duped. Bryant showed up to a Mesa Community College practice as a “transfer student” last year and blew everyone away. When it was all over Bryant asked Maddux if he still wanted the signed bat, to which Mad Dog coolly replied, “Nah.”