GRAND CHUTE, Wis. (WLUK) — Marco Dinges has been shining this season in the Brewers farm system.

After beginning the year with the Carolina Mudcats, the Brewers’ low-Class A affiliate, he moved up to join the high-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in May.

Unfortunately, he strained his hamstring last Sunday and will miss a few weeks. But facing adversity is nothing new for this catcher.

After a stellar season at Florida State that included a trip to the College World Series, Dinges became eligible for the 2024 MLB Draft.

“I was a designated hitter all last year, so I didn’t get to catch,” Dinges said. “A lot of teams were a little worried about that because you don’t want to draft just a DH without the defense, but the Brewers I knew would take a shot in the fourth round.”

Dinges’ inkling proved to be true. Milwaukee selected him in the fourth round with the 123rd overall pick.

“Once my agent called me, we knew we were gonna sign. So he gave me the call, we got to watch the name get picked and it was a dream come true,” Dinges said.

But Dinges’ dream of playing professional baseball almost didn’t come true.

In April 2023, during his sophomore season at Tallahassee Community College, Dinges became sick.

“I was trying to play through it, but my body was just shutting down. So we went to the doctor. They kind of just kept saying it was mono originally at the Tallahassee hospital. But they kept me overnight, so it was severe mono,” he explained.

But Dinges’ overnight stay turned into a week. Once doctors realized Dinges was dealing with more than just mono, he was transported to Shands Hospital in Gainesville.

He spent 10 days there, but was discharged once his fever began to break.

“He was released and he stayed at a hotel one night until I arrived. And when I got to him, it was the worst,” said Mark Dinges, Marco’s father. “His fever was 104 degrees. He was completely dehydrated and he was losing his sight. We walked in the emergency room, they took his blood pressure.”

“Immediately pulled me to the back of the room and I had like 20 doctors working on me,” Marco said. “Because I guess my blood levels and my heart rate was so low, they were like, ‘He’s about to die.'”

Mark couldn’t watch his son go through this anymore.

“Nothing was getting better, so my dad actually came in and they moved me down to the Children’s Hospital,” Marco said. “They did another bone marrow, and that’s when they found what’s called HLH disease.”

HLH — or hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis — is a rare, life-threatening condition where the body’s immune system attacks its own cells and tissues.

Even while battling this fatal disease, baseball was all Marco could think about.

“You know, I’m praying that I have a son still. I’m not even thinking about baseball, and Marco still is,” said Mark.

“When you look it up, it says you’ve got a 40% chance to live and you’re just like, ‘Oh no,'” Marco said. “Like I just went from having the greatest season ever to ‘You may never play baseball again.'”

But Dr. Melissa Elder told Mark she was going to save his son.

“They put me on Gamifant. For about two weeks, I started to feel better. And the numbers were getting better,” Marco said.

After 43 days spent at two different hospitals, Dinges was released–this time for good.

“Without Gamifant, I probably wouldn’t have survived, honestly,” said Marco.

“I can’t thank the nurses, the doctors, the staff for checking on him every morning. It’s a miracle,” said Mark.

From fighting for his life, to now fighting his way up to the majors, Dinges has shown he can handle any curveball life throws at him.

“You know, I already dealt with the most adversity possible. So, a pitcher that’s well known on the mound or has really good stuff isn’t as fearful as what I had to go through. So kind of just knowing I went through so much, I’m always going to be confident now. I’ve got nothing to lose. That’s how I play,” Marco said.

Dinges wore the number 43 during his lone season at Florida State to represent the 43 days he spent in the hospital battling HLH.