RG3 thinks he could throw a baseball 90 mph, but really shouldn't

Because it's the offsesason, plenty of football players are saying and doing rather silly things. This particular story falls on the lighthearted end of the spectrum ... unless talk becomes reality.

Washington QB Robert Griffin III has been doing his part to ingratiate himself with his fanbase, whether it's driving a pace car in a Richmond NASCAR race, hanging with the Wizards' John Wall, or catching a Washington Nationals game this past weekend.

“With Bryce [Harper] and Gio [Gonzalez], and then John Wall, we’ve had a chance to hang out and kind of unite the whole city,” Griffin said in an in-game interview. “That’s our goal.”

He added another tidbit: when asked how fast he could throw a baseball, Griffin replied, “I think with a few weeks of work, in preparation for that, I think I can throw 90."

All right, come on. Granted, neither you nor anyone you know is a professional athlete, but have you ever tried to throw a pitch at one of those carnival booths? The radar gun barely trips 50, and your arm is about ready to fall out of its socket. Could Griffin really throw a baseball 90 mph, or is this yet another case of ego trumping reality?

Jeff Passan, Yahoo Sports baseball writer and author of a forthcoming book on pitching mechanics, said that Griffin very well could throw a ball 90 mph ... but he'd be absolutely insane to try.

"Football and baseball kinematics and kinetics are very different, even though they look the same to the naked eye," Passan said. "While he's probably right, he doesn't need to risk another catastrophic injury on the right side of his body to fulfill what's essentially a bar bet."

So there you have it, Washington sports fans. The idea of adding RG3 to the Nationals' rotation will remain a dream ... unless Daniel Snyder mandates it, of course.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter.

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