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Sometimes, dreams do come true… if you’ve got a rocket for an arm, that is.
For you see, 23-year-old Nathan Patterson hadn’t played much baseball since his senior year in high school, but in the very near future he will be pitching for the Oakland A’s organization after he hit 96 mph on the radar gun at the fan booth in the stadium at a Rockies game two weeks ago.
Patterson’s brother, Christian, shot video of his brother lighting up the gun on the Coors Field concourse, bringing some viral juice to Nathan’s ability to throw a baseball very, very fast.
https://twitter.com/cpatterson_7/status/1150829879476260864
A few months back, Nathan started to get the attention of some baseball people when he posted a video showing him throwing 94 mph… with his left arm in a cast.
2019 Draft Eligable
-Fastball 92-95
-Changeup 81-84
-Slider 79-82Cast comes off in 2 weeks and will start getting the upper body back in shape. You can count on upper 90’s very soon. Any feedback is appreciated!@FlatgroundApp pic.twitter.com/FWxq2rQuE7
— Nathan Patterson (@npatterson_12) January 20, 2019
if you can focus on using your changeup straight down (2nd changeup thrown) top of home plate, you will get more chases than if you see it hugely tail off arm side. throwing this hard will see lots of guys speeding themselves up and your tunnels will be harder to separate
— C.J. Wilson (@str8edgeracer) January 20, 2019
keep your SL on the glove side of the strike zone and you will get guys taking panic swings against arm side FB’s...and can eventually learn to work the comebacker type FB on gloveside. really hard to square up for righties not named trout
— C.J. Wilson (@str8edgeracer) January 20, 2019
He also received comments from NUMEROUS college coaches salivating at the prospect of him coming to throw for them.
On Thursday, he signed a contract with the A’s.
And 2 weeks later…he’s now a professional athlete. @Athletics @MLB pic.twitter.com/zLnwQKMcRH
— Christian Patterson (@cpatterson_7) August 2, 2019
Patterson wrote about the experience on Instagram, “Words cannot describe this feeling and I cannot thank everyone enough who has been part of this journey so far!
“My family has given me nothing but constant love and support throughout the last 9 months as I pursue a dream of mine that I’ve had since I was a little kid. It’s been a roller coaster to get here with many challenges and overcoming adversity. I’m grateful for all the trainers, coaches, friends, @rsrbaseball and everyone else who has supported me thus far! And for those who tell you that you can’t achieve your dreams, use that as fuel to work even harder. Because those people are the ones that settle. I’m grateful for the @athletics organization for giving me this opportunity!
“This story is not over. It is not the beginning. I am writing the next chapters and excited for this journey! Time to focus even more, work even harder, and it all starts with your mindset. Go after your dreams and make them a reality!”
If someone doesn’t make this story into a movie then we’ve just failed as a society.