WHITBY, Ont. — Evan Grills picks up his mini radio looking for something to drown out the sound. The chime of beeping forklifts and buzz of machinery are bouncing loudly off shipping containers that are piled ceiling-high. Not exactly the type of noise a pitcher is used to hearing during a bullpen session.
As he turns the radio dial, the riff from George Harrison’s 1970 hit “What is Life” rings through the speakers and Grills has found what he’s looking for.
“How many people right now are throwing in a place like this listening to classic rock?” Grills asks trainer Kevin Chapman.
It’s early January and Grills, 24, is in the Bowden Transport warehouse, a mere five-minute drive from his home in Whitby, Ont. He learned about the training portion of the facility, which the owner constructed for his baseball-playing children, just one week prior.
The corner of the warehouse has everything Grills needs for his first real bullpen session of the off-season: The mound is a large wedge with retrofitted turf and a pitching rubber; there’s a bucket of baseballs and he’s brought a local high-school catcher.
A veteran of seven seasons in professional baseball, the six-foot-four left-hander, who recently signed a minor-league deal with the Colorado Rockies, runs his 30-pitch session with precision.
As he works through his repertoire, Grills takes deep, loud breaths that almost rival the echo of Harrison and the forklifts. It doesn’t matter that he’s throwing in a cold warehouse instead of some warm diamond. All that’s going through his head is his mantra: Decision. Execute.
Grills developed that mantra from his work with sports psychologist David Mullins, who works with SBG (Straight Blast Gym) Ireland, a team that’s home to several mixed-martial arts fighters including UFC superstar Conor McGregor.
The relationship Grills formed with Mullins was responsible for completely altering the course of the pitcher’s career.
Ireland’s Conor McGregor is the reigning UFC Lightweight Champion. (John Locher/AP)
Grills was something of a phenom as a youth, joining Canada’s junior national team as a 14-year-old. He pitched in two world championships, caught the attention of scouts and was even projected by some to be selected in the top rounds of the MLB draft. However, a shoulder injury derailed any chance of that, causing him to fall to the 10th round, where he was picked by the Houston Astros.
Grills, who tops out at 91 mph and relies on command, didn’t find much success during his first six seasons in the organization, never advancing beyond Class A. His darkest moment came in 2015 when, while pitching for single-A Lancaster and sporting a 7.20 ERA, he injured the pulley tendon in the middle finger of his left hand. He was shut down in July for the remainder of the season and went back home to Whitby.
“I think that was a blessing in disguise,” Grills said. “I had eight months to work on my mind and refresh for the next season.”
Grills and his off-season trainer Chapman, head strength coach at Whitby’s Elite Training Systems, worked around the finger injury in the gym while also setting out to find other ways the pitcher could improve, especially on the mental side. A big fan of McGregor, Grills was reading about the fighter one day when he came across the name of Mullins, who didn’t coach the UFC star directly, but worked with his team.
Chapman encouraged Grills to reach out, even though Mullins had mostly worked with combat sports athletes.
“It’s similar to pitching in the sense that, obviously pitchers aren’t out there fighting people, but as a pitcher, you’re one on one against a batter. And when (a fighter) goes in the ring, you’re one on one against another opponent,” Chapman said.
Mullins, who’s based in Toronto and now also coaches basketball players and a skeleton athlete in addition to fighters, was open to working with a baseball player.
“The same core fundamentals apply across the board,” said Mullins, over the phone. “When we get down to the details of the sports and what the athlete is asking themselves to do, then it gets individualized.”
During face-to-face sessions Mullins taught Grills how to apply visualization techniques, concocting different situations — for example two runners are in scoring position and the score’s tied 2-2 in the seventh — to get Grills to picture himself working under such circumstances.
“We can prepare for that kind of thing so when it actually happens in a game, you’ve been there a little bit before,” said Mullins. “You know how you want to respond in this situation and you can trust yourself to go do it.
“When I talk about visualization, it’s a bit misunderstood,” he added. “People think it’s visualizing the win: ‘Picture yourself winning the World Series, getting that last out in Game 7.’ To me that’s more outcome-focused. With visualization, I want it to be about the process. So we’re just picturing the details around what it is you want to go and do. Visualizing that execution.”
Evan Grills says he uses a daily journal to help him maintain focus. (David Singh)
The two would also work on breathing exercises, which Mullins describes as key.
“In a high pressure situation, you want to be calm and in control. One of the ways of reminding yourself of how much control you have, is taking control of your breath and slowing it down. It takes you back to the moment a little more, instead of going away with the momentum of the situation.”
Staying ‘in the moment’ led to the creation of Grills’s mantra, which forces him to keep his mind present at all times on the mound. It resonated with Grills to the point that he’s even studied Buddhism and adopted daily meditation. He’s got a collection of 250 books on those subjects, including several by renowned Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh.
“When you get in tune with that kind of stuff and you’re pitching, it’s crazy what happens. Everything feels like it’s in slow motion,” said Grills. “I felt that when I was a kid but never was conscious of it. Whereas now, I experience it. I’m in control of it.”
Grills’s results in 2016 reflected a change. While talking regularly to Mullins, he rocketed up the Astros system, finishing the season in triple-A with a 9-8 record and 3.71 ERA across three minor-league stops. His 135.2 total innings were a career high and he added to that with a successful stint in Puerto Rican winter ball, posting a 2.09 ERA across 43 frames.
“It was a total shift of perspective,” Grills said. “Instead of wanting things to happen and hoping for things to happen, I was seeing them and believing in them. It just happened exactly how we talked about in the off-season.”
Adds Mullins: “He’s a different guy now as an athlete and as a performer. He’s better than he was and it’s good to know why that is. It’s because of the work he’s put in. That just motivates you to put more work in when you see results coming.”
The Astros didn’t re-sign Grills, because they couldn’t envision him breaking the big-league club this year. The Rockies jumped on the opportunity to bring him in, showing strong interest in his repertoire. As a groundball pitcher with a change-up, cutter and slider, Grills fits with the organizational plan of avoiding hurlers who rely on curveballs and induce fly balls — dangerous ingredients for their high-altitude ballpark, Coors Field.
Grills has been told to be ready for any number of roles: Starting pitcher, long-relief or even left-handed specialist. He’s currently scheduled to begin the season in the rotation of the Rockies’ triple-A affiliate.
Next up, he’ll head to the team’s Arizona spring training home with a clear goal.
“Show them all the work I’ve put in and dominate,” said Grills. “Hopefully I’m looking to spend no more than a few weeks at triple-A and then get shot up to the big leagues. I have no control over that, but that’s how I see it in my head.”
There’s the decision. All he needs to do now is execute.