Oakland A's Sign Baseball Fan Nathan Patterson After He Throws 96 mph Fastball

08/02/2019 11:31 am EDT

Throughout Billy Beane's career as general manager, the Oakland Athletics proved to be a team that utilized unique strategies for achieving victory. This trend has continued once again now that the A's have awarded a contract to an unlikely figure.

Thursday, the A's signed a 23-year-old pitcher named Nathan Patterson to a contract after he threw a 96 mph fastball at a Colorado Rockies game. A fairly standard transaction overall, but what made this contract unique is that Patterson hasn't played competitive baseball since high school.

Back in mid-July, Patterson stepped into the speed pitch challenge on the Coors Field concourse, an attraction that lets prospective pitchers test their arm talent against radar guns. Patterson started with a 91 mph throw before upping the speed on each toss. He topped out at 96 mph before calling it quits.

Nathan's brother, Christian Patterson, captured the entire sequence of events on camera and posted the video to Twitter. The clip went viral, and Patterson was signing a deal with the A's a mere two weeks later.

However, the young pitcher's journey doesn't boil down to simply showing up and going viral. No, he actually began seriously considering professional baseball last August at a Nashville Sounds game. Patterson threw a 96 mph fastball that day, which he found surprising, according to MLB.com.

Patterson started training and utilizing an app called FlatGround that lets pitchers showcase their talents for scouts. His journey hit a snag when he was hit by a car and needed surgery on his non-throwing wrist, but Patterson never stopped throwing.

Patterson ultimately began talking with the A's in February 2019. He kept training, throwing, and even joined a men's league to stay fresh. Once he proved that he could hit 96 mph on a routine basis, he received a life-changing call from the A's.

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