Brandon Crawford feels vindicated after his scoreless inning in pitching debut: "I always give pitchers a hard time about it not being that hard"

It took about 13 years, but San Francisco Giants veteran Brandon Crawford has finally made his MLB pitching debut. The long-time shortstop got put in to close out the team's blowout win over the Chicago Cubs. When he finally took the mound, he found that the job was as easy as he always thought it would be. He allowed only one hit, and gave up zero earned runs.

Crawford has done just about all there is to do in baseball, so getting the chance to take the mound was a treat for fans and the players as well. He is a proven leader of the team and a two-time World Series champion. Now, he can add the role of closer to his already impressive resume.

After getting some first-hand experience pitching, Crawford revealed it went just how he thought it would. The MLB's official Twitter account shared his iconic quote.

"I always give pitchers a hard time about it not being that hard. I think I proved today that it's not" - Brandon Crawford

Pitching has never been more important in MLB than it is right now, but maybe Crawford is on to something. We hear about all the hard work it takes to be a major league pitcher, but what if it's all for show? Justin Verlander and Shohei Ohtani and all the rest might just be rolling up and throwing a ball hard. Probably not, but it's a fun line of thinking for a lifetime position player.

Talkin' Baseball on Twitter shared a video of every pitch Crawford made in the game against the Cubs on Twitter.

"Here is every Brandon Crawford pitch in his first pitching appearance" - Talkin' Baseball

The San Francisco Giants got out to a big enough lead that Crawford was able to do something new in baseball for the first time in a long time.

Brandon Crawford is a leader for the San Francisco Giants in the clubhouse but has struggled on the field

San Francisco Giants v Colorado Rockies

Crawford is an extraordinarily respected baseball veteran, but he has not been the kind of player he once was this season. His batting average of .192 is barely good enough to keep him on the major league roster. Especially considering the Giants are in a race for a playoff spot that few expected them to be able to catch.

While Brandon Crawford brings value with his leadership and experience, his offensive woes might be costing the team too much.