Pine Creek grad Hutcheon grinding it out in Gulf Coast League
Before Dane Hutcheon ever dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player, he was just an impressionable bat boy for Bethel College in Mishawaka, Ind.
His father, former Air Force baseball coach Mike Hutcheon, coached the Pilots baseball team at the time, so naturally, Dane followed them everywhere. Any practice he could make, any road trip he could persuade his dad to let him tag along on, he was there. All the kindergartner wanted was baseball, baseball and more baseball.
“All he ever did was play ball,” said his mother, Laura Hutcheon. “He never watched movies, never played with cars, didn’t color. It was playing ball.”
Not much has changed. The 2013 Pine Creek graduate was selected in the 29th round of June’s MLB Draft by the Minnesota Twins and now plays for the Gulf Coast League Twins, a rookie team that plays from June until the beginning of September.
These days, the 21-year-old Pine Creek graduate wakes up at 6:50 a.m., showers, gets dressed, hits the baseball diamond to take ground balls, moves to the classroom for video work, breaks down his swing, gets back out on the field, warms up, plays a game at noon and does it all over again. Every day.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Hutcheon, who recently finished his junior year at the University of Montevallo. “It’s pretty cool. Not many guys get to do what I get to do. To be able to make your life about a game, it’s pretty awesome and something I love.”
His life has always been about the game. His father refused to sign Dane up for T-ball, insisting that his son would get bored. So at 5 years old, he played with kids two years older in coach pitch.
He was barely old enough to talk when he first criticized his mom’s pitching during batting practice.
“He was always like, ‘Please, move on. I need someone who’s going to challenge me,’ ” his mother said. “He was always very intense, and he’s still that way.”
In high school, when Hutcheon took pregame infield practice – with that combination of electric energy and serious demeanor – opposing high school coaches knew they were in trouble.
“They would call him a spark plug,” Pine Creek baseball coach Glenn Millhauser said.
Dane credited his father’s emphasis on patience for his success. Last week, fresh off a hitless game, Hutcheon didn’t seem to dwell on his setback.
Struggles have always been a part of his baseball career. First, he was chubby. “Chunky,” his mom recalls. Then he was too small – a physical disadvantage the 5-foot-9 infielder still hasn’t overcome.
Last summer in the Northwoods League, it was Dane’s swing that frustrated him. So during a short injury, he spent hours in the batting cage watching teammates and analyzing his swing until something clicked. He finished the season with a .286 batting average and 22 RBIs in 54 games.
Patience and consistency are his objectives now. As of Thursday, Hutcheon is hitting .222 in his five games with the GCL Twins.
“Obviously, you want to get up there (to the MLB) as fast as you can,” Hutcheon said. “You need to get to reality, though. I take it day-to-day and control what I can. I try to take advantage of the opportunity that’s given to me.”
04 February 2016: the game between the UAB Blazers and the Florida International Panthers. UAB defeated FIU by the score of 74-69 at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. (Photo by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire)
Pine Creek’s Dane Hutcheon hits during the third inning Thursday, April, 19, 2012, at Liberty High School. Pine Creek won 8-2. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)