Eagles Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown Impress Phillies Manager Rob Thomson
The thing about playing a professional sport in Philadelphia is the support athletes give to one another regardless of the sport.
Throughout the winter, you see Philadelphia Eagles turning up at other sporting events.
Jason Kelce rang the bell for the Sixers prior to one game then beat the drum for a Union soccer game another night.
DeVonta Smith and Jalen Hurts each had a turn ringing the bell before a Sixers game.
Head coach Nick Sirianni threw out the first pitch for the Phillies' home opener.
Then came Tuesday night with the Detroit Tigers in town to play the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Hurts and receiver A.J. Brown took batting practice with the team prior to the game, which the Phillies won 1-0.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson was impressed with Hurts’ and Brown’s demeanor and the way they hit.
“You can see how much they respected other people around them,” said Thomson on Wednesday morning during an appearance on ‘Audacy’s SportsRadio 94 WIP.’
“Very professional, coming in and getting to know everybody. And boy I'll tell you, some kind of athletes.”
Hurts needed to adjust to going from throwing a football to a baseball, Thomson said.
“Jalen, just starting to play catch with him, he was struggling because throwing a baseball is a little bit different than throwing a football, but because of the athleticism, he adjusted so quickly,” the Phils’ manager said.
“And by the time we were done playing catch, he was hitting me in the chest with every throw.”
As for the bats of each player, Thomson had this to say:
About Brown: “A.J., I think was drafted out of high school for baseball, and boy, could he really swing the bat. He hit four or five balls into the seats.”
About Hurts: “Jalen is more of a contact, line drive, ground ball guy.”
Then Thomson paid the ultimate compliment to both, saying where he would them in his lineup.
“He (Hurts) would be kind of my lead-off guy and A.J. would be more in the three-four slot because he's got that power and he hits the ball all over the place,” he said. “A lot of our guys came out and watched them and we had a lot of fun."
Thomson was right about Brown.
He was a 19th-round pick of the San Diego Padres in the 2016 MLB Draft.
So, if this football thing doesn’t work out for both players, maybe baseball awaits?
Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.
Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.
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