Gabriel Moya was 17 when he signed a minor league deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2012.

By 2017, Moya had developed into a promising prospect with real hopes of making it in the big leagues. That year, the young pitcher struck out 87 batters in 57.1 innings of relief, posting 24 saves, an ERA of 0.77 and a 0.771 average of walks and hits per inning pitched while playing with the Diamondbacks AA club in Jackson, Tennessee, and the Minnesota Twins AA franchise in Chattanooga, Tennessee.[1]

While this sounds like the beginning of a baseball fairy tale, people familiar with the grind of minor league baseball know that Moya's road ahead was far from certain. It is estimated that only 10% of all minor league players will play even one game in the majors.[2]

If Moya was going to hit pay dirt in the major leagues, he would need to stay hot and have things break just right.

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