Zach Edey’s wildly off-target first pitch left Cubs mascot stunned

Zach Edey seems to have lost his fastball.

The towering 7-foot-4 Purdue basketball star, who has declared for the 2024 NBA Draft, used to play baseball and was a pitcher as a teenager before focusing on hoops.

The 21-year-old took the mound again Monday night in Chicago to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Cubs-Padres game at Wrigley Field, but he was so off the mark that it left the team’s mascot Clark the Cub in disbelief.

Zach Edey’s first pitch at the Cubs game on Monday was way off target. Marquee Sports Network Zach Edey’s throw left the Cubs mascot stunned. Marquee Sports Network

Edey’s throw sailed right over the left-handed hitters’ batters box, hit the ground and deflected off the advertising board on the backstop.

Clark the Cub, who was serving as Edey’s catcher, turned around to track the ball, and then stared incredulously back at Edey — as incredulous as a mascot with a fixed face can look.

According to Prep Baseball Ontario, Edey, a Toronto native, had a fastball between 74-76 mph in 2017, with a changeup sitting between 68-71 mph.

But the towering Edey committed to Purdue for basketball and became a two-time national player of the year, leading the Boilermakers to this year’s national championship game, where they lost to UConn.

Edey could be a mid-first-round pick in this year’s NBA draft, which takes place June 26 and 27.

While Edey’s errant throw is worthy of earning a spot on the list of worst first pitches ever, there have certainly been worse.

Zach Edey throws out the first pitch at the Cubs game on Monday. AP Zach Edey poses with the Cubs mascot, Clark, on Monday. Getty Images Purdue’s Zach Edey (15) dunks the ball against UConn during the national championship game. Getty Images

Former NIAID director Anthony Fauci’s first pitch before the Nationals-Yankees game in Washington on July 23, 2020 — the opener of the COVID-delayed MLB season — bounced into the infield grass and came nowhere close to home plate.

50 Cent’s infamous first pitch at Citi Field on May 27, 2014 was also much worse, with the lefty’s pitch going miles wide of the left-handed hitters’ batters box.