HOUSTON — His first major league at-bat played out in Dylan Beavers’ mind for almost as long as he could pick up a bat.

Swing, a blast, it’s gone!

Who hasn’t thought about that?

“I always wanted to play in the big leagues,” Beavers said Saturday, his first day in the big leagues. He’d been thinking about this moment since he was about 6 and started playing the sport to which he has devoted his life. The California boy, from San Luis Obispo, did envision it in his wildest dreams — and over the years those dreams began to seem attainable.

Saturday at Daikin Park it became reality. He walked into the clubhouse and saw his name on the No. 12 orange jersey hanging in a cubby. On the field, as he strode to the plate for his first at-bat, a road crowd cheered the debutant anyway. Then he struck out on three pitches, but he’s played long enough now to know that’s how this game goes sometimes.

He knew going into the game how big the moment would be — and how important it was to keep it in context.

“I know myself,” he said. “No matter what, my heart will be pounding, I’ll be excited, thrilled. It’s really just kind of slowing it down and reminding myself that it’s the same game.”

His parents, Scott and Shanlee, were there for the surreal moment — as they had been for so many leading up to this point. He called them as soon as he found out he was going to the show, after a Norfolk Tides game in Jacksonville, Florida, on Friday night.

Like their son, Scott and Shanlee have been forced to exercise patience. And when the words tumbled out of his mouth — I’m a big leaguer — they felt a rush of emotion.

“She had her composure,” Scott said, sitting in the stands at Daikin Park. “I didn’t.”

“Just tears of excitement, joy,” Shanlee explained, sitting next to her husband. “Just so proud. This has been his goal his whole life, and it’s so amazing to see your kids reach their goals. It was so much hard work, so it was pretty incredible.”

They knew from the earliest of ages that Beavers enjoyed hitting things. He had one of those large, plastic Wiffle ball bats, and he already swung left-handed as a 2-year-old despite drawing and eating with his right hand.

Soon, weekends for the family were devoted to baseball and softball tournaments around the state and country for Beavers and his sister.

“It paid off, obviously,” Shanlee said. “Our whole family was baseball.”

They recognized he had talent, but Shanlee and Scott didn’t let themselves get too far ahead of the moment — even when Beavers’ first personal coach, Mike Murphy, told Scott when his son was 12 that he had the potential to reach a high level.

“He’s been dreaming about it, and he’d talk about it, but that’s a kid talking, you know?” Scott said. “We were like, ‘OK, just keep working.’”

From Mission College Prep, he attended Cal Berkeley. The Orioles chose him 33rd overall in the 2022 draft. He kept working, and his performances with Triple-A Norfolk turned this into an inevitability. He hit .304 with a .934 on-base-plus-slugging percentage at that level.

Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday, left, and outfielder Dylan Beavers return to the dugout before a Grapefruit League game in February. (Ulysses Muñoz/The Baltimore Banner)

As his debut neared, there was no shortage of advice. But even out of the mouths of those who have been here before — the Orioles have so many young players who’ve lived this day in recent years — the words fell somewhat flat.

It’s the same game, he’d hear. Only, it’s undeniably different at the same time.

“There’s a lot going on, obviously, a lot more going on around,” Beavers said. For one, look in the stands. This isn’t Norfolk, anymore. “But keeping the main thing the main thing is kind of what I’m going to try to do and slow down my heart rate.”

Jackson Holliday is still only 21, but he tried to help Beavers, 24, find perspective.

“It’s an awesome moment but it’s scary and exciting and nerve-racking,” Holliday said. “So that would just be my advice. Take it all in, enjoy it, go out there and have as much fun as you can.”

After all, before this became a job for Beavers, it was a dream centered on playing a game. A fun game. Even with an elevated heart rate and a lack of sleep the night before, that context wasn’t lost on Beavers.

He thought of his younger self and how the persistence paid off. He always envisioned himself here; on Saturday, he really made it.

“It’s super exciting,” Beavers said. “It’s what I’ve kind of been working for my entire life.”