Once upon a time not so long ago, Derek Dietrich toiled in the MLB shadows. Now, suddenly and improbably, he's thrust himself into the spotlight.
Though he sometimes performed like a solid platoon player, Dietrich was largely a middling utilityman for the Miami Marlins from 2013 to 2018. That's about as close to professional sports obscurity as anyone can get.
When the Cincinnati Reds signed Dietrich to a minor league contract with an invite to spring training in February, it registered somewhere between a "meh" and a yawn.