A Surreal Moment for Connaughton

On Thursday afternoon, the Baltimore Orioles signed their top three draft picks: third-rounder Brian Gonzalez, fourth-rounder Pat Connaughton, and fifth-rounder David Hess. It was a pretty surreal moment for Connaughton last night as he attended the Orioles-Red Sox game which was aired on ESPN.

Growing up in the Boston area, Connaughton is all too familiar with the Red Sox and everything that team is about. When he was young, he probably dreamed about putting on a Red Sox uniform and walking out onto the field at Fenway Park.

Although he was not drafted by his childhood team, do not worry Orioles fans. According to Connaughton’s official Twitter account, he is very much excited about the chance to play for Baltimore.

In his first tweet, it is evident that since arriving in Baltimore a couple of days ago, he is already loving his new home. In his second tweet, Connaughton acknowledges the ironic part about attending his first Orioles game since being drafted by the Birds. It is even more ironic that Baltimore destroyed the Sox even though it took longer than expected due to inclement weather.

With the Orioles defeating the Sox last night, it was a type of “passing the torch” for Connaughton and what Major League team he concerns himself with. Last night’s game was the perfect game for him to watch. It captured what Baltimore baseball is all about: high-powered offense and “lights-out” pitching.

Throughout the game, Connaughton probably started to have new dreams about playing for a Major League team and, this time, he was putting on a jersey with the name “Orioles” across the chest.

And instead of preventing batters from hitting homers over the Green Monster, he will now have aspirations of preventing batters from hitting home runs onto Eutaw Street; hearing the famed Baltimore chant echo throughout Camden Yards when he strikes out the last batter of the inning with the game on the line: “O.R.I.O.L.E.S…. ORIOLES.”