For amateur baseball players, the dream of getting drafted to a professional team seems nearly impossible. Dillon Tate, a 2012 CHS alumnus, is about to make his dream a reality. According to many Major League Baseball (MLB) draft prospectuses, Tate is projected to be drafted early in the first round on June 8, possibly even the first overall pick. Tate, a hometown hero, is vastly approaching a bright future in the big leagues.

Tate, who attended CHS for all four years, graduated as Claremont’s ace pitcher, meaning he was the best pitcher Claremont had to offer. He graduated at a frame of 6’2”, 175 pounds, ideal for an on-the-rise pitcher. Since graduating, Tate has been attending University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and working hard to become an even better player.

“Dillon was always a hard-working student,” Tate’s former Spanish teacher Ms. Gonzalez said. “He was always studying, always getting his work done, and it showed in baseball as well.”

Tate entered the college baseball season as UCSB’s closing pitcher, his role being to come in and finish games. After one of UCSB’s starting pitchers fell to injury, Tate had to convert into the starting rotation. Since then, the flamethrower has thrown up incredibly strong numbers, having tossed 83 innings with a 1.74 earned run average and 84 strikeouts. Tate, according to UCSB baseball stats, averages a little bit more than one strikeout an inning, a powerful attribute that not many young pitchers have nowadays. In addition to this attribute was another trait that allowed Tate to stand out.

“[Tate] has a ridiculous work ethic. When I played with him my freshman year, I observed how he was a student of his craft,” senior Tyler Witt said. “Most importantly, Dillon never forgot where he came from.”

The young prospect has developed so-called “filthy” pitches since graduating from CHS, such as adding 10 miles-per-hour to his fastball and creating more break to his slider. Tate, who has reached as high as 98 mph on the radar gun, is throwing his hardest near the start of games. Just like most pitchers, his velocity decreases as the game moves into later innings, but his fastball consistently ranges from 91-96 mph. His slider, the perfect pitch to compliment his fastball, has a last-minute break to it, often fooling hitters and striking them out. The slider ranges from 85-87 mph, and he sprinkles in an 83 mph changeup every so often. Tate also has a curveball, but he often relies on his fastball-slider combination to get batters out.

Tate is a hard worker on and off the field. Since high school, he has proven himself to the best of his ability, and it is just beginning to pay off. A professional career is right in front of Tate, and big things are expected from the young pitcher.