This past weekend, I had the pleasure of talking with Grant Dayton and was fortunate enough to be able to ask him a few questions about his off-season as well as the season to come.

Like many others, Dayton made his Major League debut with the Dodgers as a result of an injury; in his case an injury to hard-throwing workhorse left-hander reliever Adam Liberatore, who saw time on the DL with elbow issues. Liberatore was having an amazing season and when he was put on the shelf, Dayton filled his spot in the Dodgers bullpen emphatically and without missing a beat.

Dayton’s debut came on July 22, 2016 as a 28-year-old and he made every pitch of his combined 26.1 innings count. Even after Liberatore’s return Dayton remained with the big club and pitched his way through the end of the season and onto the Dodgers post-season roster. In those 26.1 innings Dayton posted an outstanding 2.05 ERA and opposing batters – both righties and lefties – hit just .149 against him. His magnificence – albeit a relatively small sample size – paved the way for his return to the Dodgers bullpen for the upcoming 2017 season, where he could have a huge impact and be among the team’s top contributors.

Dayton filled the vacancy created when fellow lefty Adam Liberatore landed on the DL. He pitched well enough to remain in the Dodgers bullpen even after Liberatore returned and earned a spot on the Dodgers postseason roster. Liberatore did not. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Now that the stats have been laid out, let’s quickly talk about the off-season improvements that Dayton is currently making. Last season, Grant heavily relied on the use of his fastball, a pitch he threw approximately 77 percent of the time, and also went to a nasty slow curve and a slider. But, even though his curve sliced up hitters, Grant feels as though he needs to “…work on the location of my curve so I can get batters out faster.”

Grant also shared that he is still working on his, “…fastball down pitching”. For those who may not know what that means, he wants to keep his fastball down so that it is harder to hit. When up in the zone, batters hit fastballs at a significantly higher rate than when it is down.

Lastly, he wanted to “… learn the slider better.” At times, when he didn’t have the best feel for his slider, Grant felt as though he “… couldn’t quite bring it back under control,” so this off-season he has focused on turning his slider into a more controllable pitch and a pitch that he feels he can command when things “go wrong.”

Now the good stuff.

For those who don’t play sports on a professional level it’s easy to assume that when projections and stat predictions come out, it gets to your head. There is, in our minds, a certain feeling of being the best in the game or like you are unbeatable when these numbers are published and you are on the top of the list. But for Grant Dayton, they simply are just numbers that, in his words only exist “… so the media can get a story out”. He shed some light on the attitude that he carries with him when he hears about these stats by simply saying “…I am who I am.” So, although Grant Dayton can be found on top of a lot of reliever projection charts, it genuinely has zero effect on him or his mental state.

On the topic of attitude and skills, in my opinion, the ability to learn from someone and the ability to look up to someone is the most important skill that one can have. And after talking to Grant for a mere ten minutes, I can wholeheartedly tell you that he has that skill. When I asked him to name a few people he looks up to and to name some people that he models his game after, his answers were very interesting. First, Grant shared that he really looks to recently re-signed pitcher Rich Hill for advice. Hill possesses one of the best fastball/curveball combo’s, which also happens to be Dayton’s forte. Last year, he found his success in his fastball and got outs using his curve. Grant looks to Hill for advice on the curve and also mixing pitches to get outs.

The second person Dayton looks up to caught me by surprise, but in a very good way. He said that he “… loves the way Craig Kimbrel pitches.” Kimbrel, like Dayton, is very heavy on his fastball and tends to throw it the majority of the time. Grant told me that he wants to be like Kimbrel in that he has the ability to get outs consistently with his fastball but also can use secondary pitches when necessary.

My conversation with Grant was truly fascinating and I thank him for his time. But, I would like to end this with a quote from our interview. When talking about Craig Kimbrel, Grant said that he “… probably doesn’t know who I am.” For those of you reading this, I can tell you with full confidence that Craig Kimbrel will certainly soon know who Grant Dayton is if he continues to enjoy the success he started his career with last year.