This is even better than going to a fantasy baseball camp.

Nathan Patterson was at a Colorado Rockies game a couple of weeks ago when he and his brother ducked away from the game to visit the speed pitch challenge booth at Coors Field -- one of those games where guys who think they throw hard try to impress their friends, and end up hitting about 60 miles per hour on the radar gun.

Patterson hit 90 ... then 94 ... then 96, and became something of a social media sensation.

On Thursday, it happened. Oakland signed the 23-year-old Patterson to a contract.

Actually, what happened last month was a repeat performance. According to mlb.com, Patterson did the same thing on a speed-pitch game in Nashville, which is where the A's Class AAA minor-league team is located. Patterson talked to the A's during the off-season and he joined a men's league in Tennessee to sharpen his skills.

The repeat performance convinced the A's to take a chance.

Patterson wrote on Instagram: "Words cannot describe this feeling and I cannot thank everyone enough who has been part of this journey so far, My family has given me nothing but constant love and support throughout the last 9 months as I pursue a dream of mine that I've had since I was a little kid. It's been a roller coaster to get here with many challenges and overcoming adversity. For those who tell you that you can't achieve your dreams, use that as fuel to work even harder. Because those people are the ones that settle."

Patterson told mlb.com that he played high school baseball but didn't really have a good arm as a teenager.

Whether this ends up like The Rookie, the early 2000s movie starring Dennis Quaid as Jim Morris, the Florida high school baseball coach who had a brief career with the Tampa Bay Rays after attending an open tryout in his mid-30s, remains to be seen.

Don't bet on it, but don't bet against it.