Dustin Crane still feels like he’s living in a dream.

The 22-year-old right-handed pitcher from Gaylesville was drafted by Major League Baseball’s Washington Nationals June 10. The Nationals took Crane – who’s spent the past two seasons at Snead State Community College in Boaz – in the 24th round with the 712th pick.

Ever since Crane got the call from the organization, it’s been a whirlwind of a ride for him since.

He flew out from Birmingham last Monday and is now in Melbourne, Fla. for the next couple of weeks, playing rookie ball.

“It’s been great,” Crane said. “It’s unlike anything I ever thought it would be. They give us whatever we need. All we have to do is ask and it’s ours. I’ve never had a pitching coach working with me constantly. It’s all different.”

Crane said practices start at 6:30 a.m., and last 6-7 hours a day.

“It just depends on what day it is,” he said. “We have a lot of conditioning. There’s just a lot of different details. We have a lot of situational practices.”

From Melbourne, Crane said he could be headed to Hagerstown, Md., or Burlington, Vt., to play with one of the Nationals’ minor league clubs. Crane said it doesn’t matter to him where the Nationals send him. He’s just ready to play again.

“I don’t limit myself to how close to home I am,” he said. “I’ll play wherever they want me to play.”

Playing baseball was something Crane thought might be coming to an end a couple of years ago. In late 2006 he tore a tendon in his pitching elbow, which led to Tommy John surgery conducted by Dr. James Andrews in 2007.

Crane recalled the rehab process as “horrible,” but he persevered.

“Whenever I tore it, I thought it was the end,” he said. “Everybody told me a lot of pitchers don’t recover from that, but I just kept on and now I’m back to where I was. I’m pitching 94-95 (miles per hour) consistently. I’ve topped out at 96.”

Crane’s coach at Snead State, Gerry Ledbetter, said he’s proud of how far Crane has come since the surgery.

“I used him as a closer,” Ledbetter said. “I had to be careful with him because he had Tommy John surgery, and I didn’t want to stretch him out. It’s been a long process for him, but I knew he had a lot of ability. Most kids who have Tommy John surgery – if they do what they’re supposed to do in their rehab – come back and throw better than they did before. I know he throws harder than he did before, and I’m very proud of him. This is a good opportunity for him.”

It was Ledbetter, along with Gerald Covington, who let Nationals’ Southeast Regional Scout Eric Robinson know of his talented right-hander.

Robinson, a former Jacksonville State pitcher who is based out of the Atlanta area, said he’s known Ledbetter over 15 years. He decided to give the 6-foot-2, 195 pound Crane a look-see, and came away “very impressed.”

“He (Ledbetter) told me he had a good pitcher with a good arm who could throw the ball really hard,” Robinson said. “I went up there and worked him out, but it was a very cold and rainy day. He wound up throwing in a metal building, but I later had him come in for a workout in Pelham. We had 15 invitees, nine of which were pitchers, and he really shined.

“I’m always looking for something special. He has a great arm and a strong, lean, athletic body.”

Crane later went for a pre-draft workout in Washington, where he first got to see Nationals Park.

“He (Robinson) come to watch me at several places and invited me up to Washington on June 6,” Crane said. “We stayed at the Hyatt Hotel outside the Capitol, and we went to their ballpark. It was amazing, walking out on the grass. It’s the prettiest park. We were introduced to the general manager (Mike Rizzo) and the owner (Ted Lerner) was there. It was just wonderful.”

A few days later, the Nationals selected Crane in the draft.

“This is something I’ve always wanted to do,” Crane said. “It’s a dream come true. It’s been a long, hard battle, but it’s paying off. It’s been well worth it. I don’t think I’d change a thing. It just makes me that much more appreciative than if it came easy.”