Arizona Coyotes: Chychrun, Keller Throw Out First Pitch

Arizona Coyotes first round draft picks Clayton Keller and Jakob Chychrun threw out the first pitch last night at Chase Field as the Diamondbacks faced the Padres.

It’s not often a team gets two relatively high first round draft picks, but the Arizona Coyotes were in that position in June.

They selected forward Clayton Keller with the 7th overall pick, and added defenseman Jakob Chychrun with the 16th overall pick.

By day, the two youngsters have been skating at Gila River Arena at the team’s development camp.

On Tuesday night they donned some different jerseys and threw out the first pitch for the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

The boys hit their marks and no particularly embarrassing hi-jinks occurred.

“That was very fun,” Chychrun said. “Every step we took walking out on the field made me a little more nervous, but I enjoyed it a lot. I’ve never been to Arizona so it’s great to get out and see the city and come to a game like this. I love baseball.”

Keller and Chychrun even got the ear of Arizona Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale for a few minutes.

They also took a moment to sign some autographs for fans behind the home dugout.

It’s good to see the Arizona Coyotes out and about at Chase Field.

The surest way to grow a fan base is to be present in the community that your franchise is housed in, and the Yotes are starting Clayton Keller and Jakob Chychrun off on that path early.

The Diamondbacks beat the Padres 7-5 behind a three-run homer from Rickie Weeks, Jr., a spirited effort from Jean Segura, and two RBI’s from Paul Goldschmidt.

Unfortunately for Chychrun and Keller, the game had the lowest attendance (14,110) in the history of Chase Field.

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That didn’t take away from awesomeness of the event, however.

“That’s something that I’ve always wanted to do, so it’s pretty cool to be able to go out on the field and do that, and it’s just a huge honor,” Keller said.