Arizona Diamondbacks: One long shot with a dream that never died

A fantastic collegiate career

Following a career at the University of Cincinnati, and by-passed by all 30 clubs, Atkinson went to work in the medical field dealing with patient services. While the prospect of playing baseball again danced in his head, Atkinson told Call to the Pen that his co-workers at University Medical Center in Cincinnati encouraged him not to let the dream evaporate.

"“I did that job for over six months,” he said the other day in the Diamondbacks’ Salt River clubhouse. “The people with whom I worked kept telling me, ‘don’t give it up.’ Keep moving forward because not everyone gets this chance. So, I kept that in mind over time. After about six months, I was getting tired of this and started looking for a new job.”"

That’s when Atkinson e-mailed the independent Frontier League and asked if there were any tryouts. The following day, Atkinson received an email, asked that he showed up for a tryout and indicated several teams from the league would be present.

That was on a Wednesday and tryout was the following Monday, Atkinson recalled. That give him five days to prepare and the first time he picked up a ball since his last college game in May 2015. Fast forward to June 2016, and Atkinson began to practice what he hoped was a rendezvous with destiny.

"“So, I went to the tryout and did really well,” he told Call to the Pen. “Faced four batters and struck out all four. Then, all the scouts and coaches there asked me to step aside.”"

At that point, Max Peterson of the Evansville Otters said the club wanted to sign Atkinson, but had to check with club officials. While Peterson made his contract, the Diamondbacks jumped forward. After the tryout, Arizona scout Chris Carminucci pulled Peterson aside and said, “let me know when he’s ready.”

"“I overheard that,” Atkinson told Call to the Pen. “So, I thought, ‘wow,’ he must really like me. I walked away excited. Drove four hours to get there and four hours back that day. Just excited as I could be for another chance at baseball.”"

When Atkinson arrived back in Cincinnati, Peterson called and said Evansville would like to offer a contract. Meeting the Otters in Illinois five days later, Atkinson spent a week with the team and managed to get into two games out of the bullpen. At that point, the Diamondbacks called, bought his contract, and he signed with Arizona.