'The foundation for my baseball career'

Pat Dean made his Major League Baseball debut this season as a starting pitcher for the Minnesota Twins. The lefthander also remembers another debut he made more than a decade ago when he started playing American Legion Baseball for Post 17 in Naugatuck, Conn.

The help he got that first season still sticks with Dean today.

“I was young when I first started playing,” said Dean, who played four years for Post 17. “Having some of these guys come and take me under their wing and show me how things are supposed to be done, I think it definitely helped me as I progressed through. It definitely got me ready for college. It kind of was like the foundation for my baseball career.”

Dean said Legion Baseball was the best opportunity to hone his skills. “For me it was the most competitive league around,” he said. “As a freshman I got to play with guys coming back (who were) freshmen in college. It was a good experience for me because I got to learn from those guys. It definitely helped me to be able to test my skill level and learn a lot.

“It was a good time to be able to test yourself. For me, it was nice to be able to represent my home town, too.”

Dean is 1-3 with a 5.54 earned-run average in six starts for the Twins. In 39 innings of work, he’s struck out 28 batters and allowed just one walk. And he still remembers the camaraderie that came from playing American Legion Baseball.

“Most of the guys that I played on my high school team with were playing Legion ball,” he said. “It was a good way to build relationships throughout the course of the year, instead of just playing that short high school season. We had great chemistry.”

And those relationships still exist today. Dean said he still talks to some of his former teammates. “And definitely a lot of guys who coached me have had a huge impact on me,” he said. “I definitely wouldn’t be here without all the help I got along the way.”