Southern Districts baseballer Nick Hutchings set to join Pittsburgh Pirates in March

IT HAPPENED 14 months ago but Nick Hutchings can remember the day his Major League Baseball dream came true like it was ­yesterday.

Hutchings set for Major League

IT HAPPENED 14 months ago but Nick Hutchings can remember it like it was ­yesterday.

"I'd pitched a few innings for the Adelaide Bite and Tony Harris, who was the coach at the time, offered me a contract,'' Hutchings recalls.

But Harris was not offering Hutchings a contract for the Bite.

The highly regarded coach doubled as a recruiting scout for the US Major League club Pittsburgh, and the contract he put in front of Hutchings was a seven-year deal with the Pirates.

"It was pretty crazy,'' says Woodcroft resident Hutchings, who was in Year 11 at Woodcroft College at the time.

"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity."

Since signing in November 2012, Hutchings has visited Pittsburgh but his contract will not begin until this March, just after his 18th birthday.

The Southern Districts Baseball Club pitcher impressed Harris with the power of his fastball.

The teenager has been clocked at a scorching 145km/h despite not being fully matured physically.

Hutchings has spent the past year working to a gym program designed by ­Pittsburgh.

"It's been pretty full on,'' says Hutchings, who finished Year 12 at Woodcroft this year.

"Obviously it's important that I go over there in good shape, so I've been working hard."

Hutchings will start his US career with the Gold Coast League Pirates this March and will aim to slowly work his way up through the minor leagues.

"It's about trying to progress and chip away,'' he says.

"Having seven years gives me good security, so I will work hard and hopefully progress."

In the meantime, Hutchings will play out the Australian Baseball League season with the Bite, where he has pitched one inning this ­season.