Walter Nolen III walked out to the pitcher's mound at Chase Field Friday night to toss the ceremonial first pitch prior to the Diamondbacks hosting the San Diego Padres.
Before the Cardinals' first-round pick threw what ended up as a strike, he heard it from his rookie classmates about not throwing it from the rubber. While the decision to not stand on the mound wasn't his, it's an example of the connection the rookie class has built.
"We're pretty tight," Nolen said. "All we do is go to each other's houses and be in the room watching film. We do everything together."
The game wasn't the rookies' first taste of community immersion. Since they arrived for rookie minicamp on May 8, it's been nonstop, both on and off the field. The rookies wrapped up mandatory minicamp with the veterans on Thursday.
In the community, the rookie class has been all over the Valley. They visited Adams Elementary School to do activities with the third-grade students. Over 100 Special Olympians were invited to the Dignity Health Training Center for an adaptive skills event. The following week, the newest faces held a girls flag football skills and education camp at the bubble.
"I'm meeting a lot of people, and the interactions are good," safety Kitan Crawford said. "It's definitely different coming from Texas and Nevada as well, but I'm enjoying myself for sure."