Patrick Mahomes’ arm was so strong as a kid he had restriction on throwing to first base

When Patrick Mahomes was growing up, he would accompany his father to Major League Baseball stadiums and mingle with some of the biggest stars in the game.

Mahomes’ father was Pat Mahomes, a relief pitcher who played 11 seasons in the big leagues. Dad would take his young son to work and the future Chiefs quarterback even shagged flies as a kid.

Sure, Mahomes looked out of place in the MLB outfield in that photo from nearly 25 years ago, but he wasn’t your average T-ball player.

In an interview with NBC Sports’ Chris Simms, Mahomes was asked when he knew he had an exceptional arm. Mahomes said it was as a kid when his youth baseball team put a special restriction on him.

“I realized I always had a strong arm because of baseball,” Mahomes said. “I remember when I was young, like playing T-ball, they told me I would have to roll it to first base because I would throw it too hard. So I played up obviously, but still even with the kids up, I was still having to like skip it across the diamond and my dad used to get all mad about it.

“When I got in high school, I think when I realized I was really good at football was that junior year. I kind of was still playing just freelancing, playing it like a baseball player would and I ended up going out and we beat a lot of our rivals and made a little run in the playoffs. I was like, ‘I can do this football thing.’”

There’s no disputing that epiphany now as Mahomes is the best quarterback in the NFL.

Here is the conversation with Simms and it begins with the recollection of Mahomes’ odd restriction on him in T-ball games.