After a long climb through the minors and even Mexico, Justin Dean delivered his first major-league hit for the Cubs on Friday—tripling with the bases loaded in a 16-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. The moment came after his call-up from Triple-A Iowa, with m
When Justin Dean came off the bench with the Cubs already ahead 11-2, it looked like the kind of game where little things get swallowed by the score. Then, in the bottom of the seventh, Dean tripled with the bases loaded—his first major-league hit—and everything about the moment changed.
Cubs manager Craig Counsell had called up the 29-year-old Dean from Triple-A Iowa before Friday’s 16-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. planning to use him in pinch-running and as a defensive replacement. Dean replaced hot-hitting Pete Crow-Armstrong in center in the seventh inning. A right-handed batter. Dean sliced a center-cut sinker from Toronto right-handed submariner Tyler Rogers beyond right fielder Jesus Sanchez and into the corner. He reached third easily.
Dean said the emotion surprised him. “I almost cried, “Dean said. “We kept it inside, though. I’ve been waiting a long time for that I’m super happy it came at this stadium, with this team and with these guys.“
He added, “I’m going to watch the video a couple of time, feel the moment and get back to it tomorrow,” as he tried to keep the breakthrough from turning into a once-in-a-lifetime distraction.
For Dean, the hit was the payoff to a decade-long detour. From Maudlin. South Carolina. he’d spent 10 seasons in the minors and Mexico before making his way back to the majors. Last season. he appeared in 18 regular-season games with the Dodgers. but he had only two at-bats and plate appearances. pushed into a specialized role. He then reached the postseason with Los Angeles as part of the World Series champs. appearing in 13 postseason games—though he still didn’t have plate appearances. Even so, he scored as a pinch runner.
With the Cubs, he got the kind of at-bat moment that had been missing.
His patience wasn’t just about waiting for playing time—it was about enduring a route that didn’t guarantee a straight line. Dean admitted that his path hasn’t been easy, even after he began heating up at Iowa. With the Triple-A club, he was batting .238 with eight doubles, two triples and three homers, plus 14 stolen bases in 56 games.
Friday was also the first game at Wrigley Field for Dean after the Cubs optioned catcher Moises Ballesteros, who was struggling offensively, to their top affiliate.
Dean framed his own arrival as a willingness to do whatever the team needs. “I played baseball my whole life, I like to think I’m a capable hitter,” Dean said. “Whatever the team needs, though.”
While the moment carried a long build-up, it also came with strange timing. Dean said the Dodgers sent him a World Series ring that arrived in Iowa as he left for Chicago. “Just crazy timing,” he said.
He described how he planned to handle the at-bat afterward, too. Dean said he intended to simply stare at the ball he struck for the hit before sending it to his parents for safe keeping. He credited his parents with giving him a “support system” throughout his travails—even during periods when he considered leaving baseball.
“Baseball is a hard game, No 1,” he said. “I was in the minor leagues for a while for, 2.”
Counsell, watching the hit land with the decisiveness of a moment finally arriving, talked about the larger story behind it. “The big thing is Justin’s been playing this game for a long time,” the Cubs manager said. “It’s a a little different when you go though what Justin’s gone through in the game and played the game as long as he had.”.
The game moved on quickly after Dean’s triple, but his words stayed pointed at what Friday really meant: not a highlight at the end of a comfortable afternoon, but a breakthrough that had taken years to earn.
Justin Dean Chicago Cubs Toronto Blue Jays Wrigley Field Major League Baseball first major league hit pinch running Triple-A Iowa Craig Counsell