Saint Louis and Hawaii-Hilo alum Dylan Spain turned heads when he was selected in the 10th round of the 2021 MLB Draft by the Atlanta Braves.

Mostly because he wasn’t on the radar of most pro teams leading up to the draft. Spain opted out of the 2021 college baseball season in order to fully invest his time towards bettering his craft as a pitcher.

The results were astounding. Spain pitched a total of 17.2 innings and didn’t give up a single run, allowing just eight hits while striking out 21 batters and only walking two, good for a WHIP of 0.57. Spain ended the season in High-A.

“It’s been a crazy journey for sure,” Spain told KHON2. “I mean, it’s still going and hopefully I’m preparing for a long career. Going into this offseason, I’m focused on health. The success was there and I showed everyone what I could do in the minor leagues and hopefully I can just go back and continue that. Just go back to where I left off.”

Spain signed with the Braves for a signing bonus of $10,000, which was far below the suggested slot value of $143,200. He was noticed by Dan Cox, who left the Braves to join the University of Hawaii as an assistant coach last summer.

“I think being noticed as much as I did, not playing for two years it makes a lot of these guys realize that anything is possible as long as you work hard,” Spain says.

As of Monday afternoon, the MLB is still in a lockout as negotiations between the league’s owners and the Major League Baseball Players Association intensify. However, the minor leagues are proceeding as usual, with MiLB players such as Spain reporting to spring training earlier in February. Heading into Year 2 of his pro career, Spain hopes to prove that his 2021 season wasn’t a fluke.

“I’m very excited. I didn’t get to pitch much. Just 17 innings. That’s a small workload for me, so I’m very excited to get back and compete. I think it’s going to be very important that I do what I did last year and not just show them that it was a one-time thing,” Spain said. “Being consistent is the main part of baseball. If you can go out there and be consistent and successful every time you go out there, you’re going to win a job.”