745 games. Over 3,000 plate appearances. Eight years grinding through Minor League ballparks most fans have never heard of. And on Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field, Justin Dean finally got the moment he’d been chasing his entire adult life.
A three run triple. A lost helmet rounding second. A standing ovation from a crowd that had no idea what they were witnessing until the videoboard told them. This is the kind of story baseball exists for.
The Moment Itself
In the seventh inning of the Cubs’ 16-2 demolition of the Blue Jays, Dean stepped up with the bases loaded and slashed a 1-2 sinker from submariner Tyler Rogers deep into right field, beyond the reach of Jesus Sanchez. He raced around first, lost his helmet rounding second, and slid into third standing up with his first ever Major League hit.
“Once I saw it land I’m like, oh, there it is. That’s the first hit,” Dean said. “And then I just focused on running, focused on getting to third. Once I kind of settled in, I almost cried. We kept it inside though. I was just super happy. I’ve been waiting a long time for that.”
Eight years. Countless games. And it finally arrived in the most unglamorous, perfectly fitting way possible — a bases loaded triple in a blowout win that nobody outside Chicago will remember the score of, but every single person inside Wrigley Field that day will never forget.
The Long Road That Got Him There
Dean was a 17th round pick by the Braves back in 2018 — about as far from a can’t miss prospect as you can get in draft terms. What followed was eight years of Minor League baseball, a brief taste of the big stage as a baserunning and defensive specialist with the Dodgers last season, and a World Series ring that was earned through speed and instincts rather than a bat that ever got the chance to swing for a meaningful hit.
In 18 regular season games and 13 more in the postseason with Los Angeles, Dean went 0-for-3 at the plate. His moment of glory came not with a bat in his hands but with them raised in the air — a decision in Game 6 of the World Series that helped force a ground rule double and seal a Dodgers championship.
This spring he was in Cubs camp fighting for a bench spot before being sent down to Triple-A Iowa. In 56 games there he posted a .369 on-base percentage and stole 14 bases in 15 attempts — exactly the kind of speed and discipline profile that gets a player a phone call when a team needs a pinch runner.
The Reaction Around Him
Pete Crow-Armstrong, who has known Dean since the two trained together back in 2020, admitted he was genuinely surprised this was Dean’s first hit given everything he’d already experienced in the game. “Pretty cool perspective he’s probably got, having gone all the way in the playoffs and been around players of a caliber like that. One thing I do know about him is that he works and works and works.”
Craig Counsell put it even more simply. “When you’ve gone through what Justin’s gone through in the game and played as long as he has, and you don’t have that Major League hit yet, I think that’s probably what everybody felt.”
The dugout erupted when Dean looked over after rounding third. The crowd, once they understood what they’d just watched, gave him a standing ovation.
A Sweet Bit Of Timing
Adding to the magic of the moment — Dean’s World Series ring from his time with the Dodgers arrived in Iowa just as he was leaving for Chicago. “It’s crazy. It’s on the way,” Dean said with a smile. “It just got to Iowa as I left. Just crazy timing.”
Asked how many times he had pictured this exact moment over the years, Dean didn’t hesitate. “Countless, countless, countless.”
Eight years of waiting. One swing that made it all worth it. Justin Dean finally has his Major League hit — and an entire stadium that will remember exactly where they were when it happened. ⚾🔥
