Want a shot at the majors? Then you probably shouldn't ignore those speed pitch challenges for fans at ballparks.

Two weeks ago, Nathan Patterson threw a 96 mph pitch at a Rockies game. On Thursday, he signed a contract with the Oakland Athletics.

Unreal: The Oakland A’s have signed Nathan Patterson to a contract. A couple weeks ago, Patterson hit 96 on the gun at a fan contest at the Rockies game. He got on the A’s radar last year when he did the same thing at their AAA affiliate in Nashville pic.twitter.com/ijo4GsyXiB — Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 2, 2019

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From MLB.com:

"His journey began last August at a Nashville Sounds game (they were the A's Triple-A affiliate at the time). He hit 96 on the radar gun at a speed pitch, which surprised him because he hadn't thrown 'for a few years before that.' Inspired by that outing, he began training a couple of months later, but was then hit by a car and had surgery on his non-throwing wrist in December (hence the cast mentioned above). He began talking with the A's in February 2019, kept training, throwing and joined a men's league to stay fresh. Then that trip to the Rockies game came about and, "a few days later the A's gave me a call."

Amazingly, Patterson told MLB.com that he played competitive baseball until his senior year of high school, but said he "didn't really have a good arm then."

Never give up on your dreams.