Hayden Shenefield Threw Three Scoreless Innings in His Pro Debut After Shooting His Shot With a Scout on Reddit

This is in the running for baseball story of the year so far.

After posting a 1.71 ERA with the independent New Jersey Jackals in 2020 — so yes, this guy was a teammate of Marty Mush as recently as last year — Hayden Shenefield is now in the Cincinnati Reds organization. But his journey to get there was different than probably everyone else in Minor League Baseball, because he landed a spot from commenting on a scout's Q&A on Reddit.

And not only did that Reddit post lead to him landing a spot in affiliated baseball, Shenefield went out in his professional debut and threw 3.1 scoreless innings with four strikeouts for the Low-A Daytona Tortugas.

In 2019, Shenefield had a 6.84 ERA between two different independent teams before bouncing back with New Jersey in 2020 and even having those numbers to put in that Reddit post in the first place. Obviously this guy has a long way to go from Low-A to the big leagues, but I'd say it's about as likely as landing a spot in a Major League organization from Reddit.

Minor League Baseball is one of the biggest grinds in sports and obviously there are just as many busts and flame-outs as there are miraculous comeback stories, but it's the only place you see things like this. Always keep going after what you want, because you never know when or where the right opportunity will come up.