Getty Brock Purdy throws the screen on January 1, 2023 in Las Vegas.
Brock Purdy was faced with a tough decision the moment he became an upperclassman at Perry High School in Gilbert, Arizona — a decision that eventually led him the San Francisco 49ers.
Either he’d continue a family legacy of wearing the baseball glove and using his arm on the diamond like his Minor League father, Shawn, or use his arm to lead offenses on the football field. Purdy’s decision?
“I played baseball all the way up until my sophomore year in high school. My junior and senior, I didn’t,” Purdy revealed to the media on Thursday, January 5.
Safe to say, Purdy choosing the gridiron over the diamond before his senior season was more than a gutsy call. That decision would one day lead him to the 49ers.
Brock Purdy’s Baseball Family History
Purdy wasn’t the only member of his family to be affiliated with anything San Francisco related. His dad was first to take in the Bay Area as a right-handed relief pitcher in the minor leagues.
“Yeah, it’s part of his story and where he played, so he knows some of the guys that ended up going to the big leagues for the San Francisco Giants,” Purdy said. “He has some people that he knows and connections, but it’s cool to see that I ended up here in terms of the organization that he played for too in his career, so little things like that I feel like you can appreciate as a family.”
Purdy during his youth put on the glove and baseball cleats. Like his dad, he too was on the mound. But Purdy adds he played a variety of positions on the diamond.
“I played middle infield growing up [Purdy was a second baseman and shortstop] and then towards the end, I played third base and I pitched,” Purdy said.
How Baseball Turned Brock Purdy Into an NFL Quarterback
One thing he noticed from baseball, though, the moment he put on the pads was how much it helped his arm in zeroing in on wide receivers.
“The arm angles, having a base as a thrower, all that kind of stuff, definitely I feel like it helped me to be where I’m at now,” Purdy detailed. “Especially with, like, quick game and throwing around defensive ends, so that’s definitely a credit to baseball.”
Regarding the quick game and its link to baseball as Purdy mentioned, it came in handy on this critical screen pass to Christian McCaffrey against the Las Vegas Raiders:
Perfect screen call from Kyle Shanahan against the Raiders’ 6-man blitz.
Christian McCaffrey also sees the blitz, turns his head early to allow Brock Purdy to get the ball to him before the rush arrives.
S/O Dan Brunskill, who springs this big catch/run with his block.
In baseball, throws are made in less than 1.5 seconds. Purdy needed that amount of time to hit “Run-CMC,” who rumbled his way to the Raiders’ red zone.
But even on this longer strike to Brandon Aiyuk, Purdy delivers the throw in less than three seconds:
This is easily one of 49ers Brock Purdy best throws of the day vs Raiders
Again, Purdy would have never delivered those passes, or get the 49ers to the NFC West title, if it weren’t for leaving a year-round sport in his home state.
“Yeah, I was at a high school where in Arizona, you play baseball year-round,” Purdy shared. “I feel like there’s a lot of guys that were getting really good and I was decent and pretty good, but I feel like football was more of my calling, so my junior and senior year for recruiting in college, I feel like I had sort of had to focus on that.”
And in the end for Purdy: “It worked out.”