Former New York Jets second-round quarterback Christian Hackenberg is ready to give professional baseball a legit shot.
There was so much hope on the night of Friday, April 29, 2016. It was Day 2 of the 2016 NFL draft and Mike Maccagnan just took a shot, his shot.
The New York Jets officially selected Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg in the second round. Suddenly, despite the usually overlooked idea that second-rounders are tricky (see Browning Nagle), the franchise had its future on the roster.
It didn’t exactly work out, and now, the Lehighton, PA product is aiming for a career in professional baseball.
In a recent interview with John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia, the 25-year-old revealed his thoughts about a potential baseball career. He believes he still has a lot left in the tank.
“As simple as I can put it, I just want to compete, man,” Hackenberg said. “I kind of have had my trials and tribulations with the NFL and had success and had that roller coaster ride. At the end of the day, I’m sitting here, I’m 25, and … I feel like I’ve got a lot left in the tank.”
A recently-surfaced video on Twitter shows Hackenberg throwing over 90 mph.
Look at Christian Hackenberg throwing over 90 mph. #Jets pic.twitter.com/354FaBJa3x
— Robby Sabo (@RobbySabo) June 13, 2020
“I just want to compete, man,” Hackenberg said.
Christian Hackenberg talks about his baseball pursuit. #Jets pic.twitter.com/JUGGYEiBuU
— Robby Sabo (@RobbySabo) June 13, 2020
The Hackenberg story is a well-known one. Despite his second-round status, he never took one official snap for the Jets. The jokes flew and the bust tag-line wasn’t even enough to describe his time in New York.
Not even a quick stint in the Alliance of American Football in the Spring of 2019 couldn’t save his football career. He, of course, played baseball in high school.
Tim Tebow, now Hackenberg—it always seems former Jets quarterbacks and baseball as a fallback option seems to pop up in our atmosphere. Why baseball is always the second most important of the two sports (see Deion Sanders and how he handled things) is a major question baseball fans have never been able to answer. Here we go again.
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