First pitch fail: Vikings pray J.J. McCarthy can throw footballs better than baseballs

J.J. McCarthy can really throw a baseball. Although it looked from above much better than how Paul Giamatti threw a football in The Holdovers, it was closer to ball four than to strike three as the first pitch before Tuesday night's Minnesota Twins game. Thankfully, McCarthy has shown quite the ability to hand the ball off at Michigan before, so at the least the Minnesota Vikings have that going for them.

Much has been made about the Vikings' decision to go with former first-round bust Sam Darnold as the Week 1 starter over this year's No. 10 overall pick. Although Darnold had a rough go of it initially with New York and Carolina before being repackaged in San Francisco, the Vikings drafted McCarthy to be the long-term answer to letting Kirk Cousins walk in free agency, who was incredibly accurate.

Of the six quarterbacks taken in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, McCarthy and Bo Nix of the Denver Broncos have been the most scrutinized so far. While everyone knows that Michael Penix Jr. will now backup Cousins in Atlanta, you haven't heard or seen anything that will make you doubt what Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye are bringing to the table as the top three.

Here is the latest display of supreme accuracy coming out of McCarthy's right hand in Minneapolis.

Although accuracy can supposedly improve over time, this throw was from only 60 feet out...

J.J. McCarthy struggles to find the plate in his failed first pitch attempt

Let's be real. McCarthy isn't the first pro athlete or celebrity who struggled to find the plate on their first pitch attempt. He won't be the last either. To be fair, this is far better than whatever the hell came out of 50 Cent's hand ahead of a New York Mets game or out of John Wall's hand before a Washington Nationals game. Then again, neither was asked to throw a ball professionally either...

McCarthy may have more zen coursing through his veins than Baylor head coach Dave Aranda. He may be cooler than a cucumber or Red in his satin kimono, listening to Bone Thugs, drinking wine coolers and eating 'sghetti from his bathroom floor. However, football is hard, and it is even harder when you begin to wonder if your starting quarterback is even going to hit the open receiver in stride.

Overall, this is just a pre-ceremonial event at a flipping baseball game. It may be good publicity to have McCarthy throw out the first pitch at a Twins game. Honestly, it really doesn't matter how good of a pitch it was. What does matter is this is the latest instance where a sliver of doubt has creeped into our minds that maybe he is not the guy and is just a guy. Who has it better than us? Nobody!

Fortunately, McCarthy can learn from Darnold and Kevin O'Connell on how to be a tad more accurate.