{"id":94424,"date":"2025-06-10T22:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T22:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/94424\/"},"modified":"2025-06-10T22:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T22:55:10","slug":"mason-rudolph-on-steelers-signing-aaron-rodgers-throwing-out-first-pitch-at-pirates-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/94424\/","title":{"rendered":"Mason Rudolph on Steelers Signing Aaron Rodgers, Throwing Out First Pitch at Pirates Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH \u2014 Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph was at PNC Park on Saturday to throw out a ceremonial first pitch ahead of the Pirates game against the Phillies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rudolph, and tight end Connor Heyward, were getting lose on the warning track in front of the Pirates\u2019 dugout in the hours leading up to the start of the game.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old had to quickly get used to throwing a baseball instead of a football \u2014 at least for one day. This first pitch won\u2019t be Rudolph\u2019s first rodeo, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did one in college at Oklahoma State. It was fun,\u201d he said. \u201cMuch different than a football, as you guys know. It\u2019s lighter and you gotta get a couple warmups in to kind of get a feel for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rudolph and Heyward talked briefly with Pirates relievers David Bednar and Chase Shugart. Though their conversation revolved more around restaurants and the city of Pittsburgh than advice on the first pitch, the Steelers quarterback has some playing experience to rely on.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiddle school and my freshman year of high school, and then after that I was basketball and football only,\u201d Rudolph said on his baseball career. \u201cI did a Cooperstown (tournament) and a lot of travel baseball in South Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rudolph\u2019s scheduled appearance at PNC Park comes on the same day the Steelers made their one-year deal with four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers official.<\/p>\n

The Steelers signed Rodgers to a one-year, $13.65 million contract that includes $10 million guaranteed and has a maximum value of $19.5 million. The deal includes $5.85 million worth of playing time and team performance incentives.<\/p>\n

Last year with the Jets \u2014 his 20th NFL season and second in New York \u2014 Rodgers totaled 3,897 yards, 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.<\/p>\n

Though a future Hall of Famer is joining the Steelers\u2019 quarterback room, Rudolph\u2019s mindset remains the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a feeling they were gonna bring somebody in. Obviously Aaron is at the forefront of the conversation for a long time,\u201d said Rudolph. \u201cI won\u2019t change my approach. We got one more week of practice coming up at mandatory minicamp. It will be nice to get everybody in the building and keep doing what I\u2019ve done my whole career. I\u2019ve had plenty of adversity and found a way to battle through it. Stay ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Steelers had been linked to Rodgers throughout the NFL offseason before a deal was finally agreed to on Thursday<\/a> ahead of mandatory minicamp.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh re-signed Rudolph to a two-year contract in March after he spent last season with the Tennessee Titans. They later selected Will Howard out of Ohio State in the sixth round of the 2025 draft, giving them three new quarterbacks on the roster for the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n

There had long been speculation that Rodgers would eventually land with the Steelers prior to the deal finally being completed.<\/p>\n

\u201cGlad there\u2019s some clarity,\u201d Rudolph said on the team\u2019s quarterback situation. \u201cI can say I\u2019m excited to see a lot of the faces that are coming back and obviously Aaron. Keep doing my job, that\u2019s all I can do and try to help our team win games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Rudolph and Rodgers have yet to share the same locker room, or build a substantial relationship for that matter, the two have crossed paths in their career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve met him a few times through the years after games,\u201d said Rudolph \u201cHe\u2019s always been first-class.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two will both don the black and gold together when mandatory minicamp starts on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph was at PNC Park on Saturday to throw out a ceremonial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2402],"tags":[13973,5,44,13962,4,10,776,64,13961,4297],"class_list":{"0":"post-94424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-pirates","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-featured","11":"tag-mason-rudolph","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-pirates","14":"tag-pittsburgh","15":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","16":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","17":"tag-pittsburghpirates"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114661538158723314","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}