OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Nathan Patterson never even made the varsity baseball team as a middle infielder during high school back home in Kansas.
In fact, hed strayed far from the game running his own landscaping business and working various other jobs that included sales and software before baseball came back into his life when he least expected it.
If that was the whole story, Pattersons journey to the Oakland Athletics rookie ball team would have been remarkable, yet the way the pitcher got discovered made it even crazier yet: He became an instant social media sensation.
In Colorado for a family reunion to celebrate his grandmothers 80th birthday last month, Patterson wound up at a Rockies game with time on his hands because of a rain delay. He and his brother tried out the speed-pitch challenge cage at Coors Field just for fun. His brother, Christian, hit 83 mph and the booth operator congratulated him on the top speed of the day.
Then Patterson took his turn, spending about $5 total for all the tosses.
The radar gun read: 90-94-94-96-95-96.
He might have even had a couple of beers in his system.
His brothers video of the throws quickly took off on social media.
Guys, we were just chillin at a @rockies baseball game, and my brother decided to step into a speed pitch challenge…he hit 96 mph ?? @MLB Lets get him signed! Christian posted on Twitter with the video .
Then, Christian sent a social media update that read , And 2 weeks later…hes now a professional athlete featuring photos of Patterson signing his contract in full green and gold As gear.
Its become more and more real now, the 23-year-old Patterson said. Theres kind of a misconception that I threw a ball … almost a month ago and got signed, a misconception that there was no work or sacrifice that went into it when in reality there was a ton of work and a lot of sacrifices over the last year that got me to being where I am today.
An elbow fracture discovered when Patterson was playing on a showcase team the summer before his senior year in high school kept him from playing baseball that final season at Blue Valley High in Overland Park, Kansas. Just 5-foot-8 and 140 pounds when he graduated, Patterson is now 6-1, 185 pounds.
There were also complications that derailed his rehab. He wasnt ever able to really get 100% healthy, so Patterson pushed aside any college baseball hopes and enrolled in community college courses. He lasted only two months before dropping his four classes to run the landscaping business that took off and became so busy that he and a friend needed to hire employees.
When Patterson realized about a year later in June 2015 that sun up to sun down lawn care and landscaping wasnt his life path and he wanted to go experience the world, he used Google to determine where he would go next. Austin, Texas, came up as No. 1 when he searched for coolest places to live when youre young and single, so he told his friends and family thats where he would move.
He met his girlfriend in Austin. Fast forward and she was promoted and they wound up moving to Nashville, where Patterson was able to work remotely for the software company he had joined. Last summer, his family visited and they went to a Nashville Sounds Triple-A game, with the ballpark close to where Patterson lived. Thats when he initially tried out one of those pitch-speed booths, hit 96 mph on his final throw and realized he had quite an arm even with his background being as an infielder.
Blew my own mind, honestly, he said.
A coach saw him and immediately encouraged Patterson to play baseball, if not collegiately then in the pros. So a couple of weeks later Patterson began contemplating the idea of chasing a lost dream once more, as a pitcher.
But last December, Pattersons plan to resume baseball was stalled again when he got hit by a car while riding his electric longboard. He broke the wrist on his left, non-throwing hand and needed surgery.
