Jury Duty Almost Ruined Red Sox Player's Spring Training

Boston Red Sox pitcher Josh Winckowski nearly had his baseball dreams ruined in order to do his American civic duty.

The 25-year-old relief pitcher spent this past Tuesday at a Florida courthouse after being selected as part of a jury duty pool. Talk about terrible timing!

Hey, at least he showed up, unlike former NBA player Ray Allen who just ditched out from the court entirely.

WINCKOWSKI ALMOST MISSED HIS SPRING TRAINING START

As Winckowski wasted his Tuesday in a hot courtroom seeing other juror candidates grilled by the lawyers and judge only to be dismissed, he said that he suddenly realized that he was most likely going to have to serve in an upcoming case simply because there weren't enough people remaining.

That is until Winckowski pulled the ol' "I'm a Major League Baseball player" card and threw a change-up into the jury system's plan.

"I have to pitch in Clearwater on Thursday," the Red Sox reliever eventually responded when questioned by the trial case's lawyers about why he wouldn't be available beginning today. He would eventually be cleared and dismissed by the judge from having to partake as a juror. 

Boom, what a power move. 

Josh Winckowski was called for jury duty this past week and almost missed his pitching start.  (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

What I want to know is if they paused the session in order to Google if Winckowski was indeed a ballplayer or did they just trust him? If so, then could any relatively slim, 6'4" person claim the same thing?

Is using the "I have to pitch in spring training" the new "my dog ate my homework?" in order to get out of jury duty?

We'll see how Josh does today on the mound when the Sox take on the Phillies. If he gets lit up, he may wish he was on a jury instead.