An Interview with Quad Cities LHP Evan Grills

Quad Cities left-hander Evan Grills is as laid back and easygoing as just about any ballplayer you'll ever meet. But he's also smart, competitive and a very hard worker. Pitching Coach Dave Borkowski said of Grills, "He prepares himself day in, day out, takes care of his body and listens and learns and wants to be a big league pitcher. He's put the work in. He has the desire. He's a hard worker and he's going in the right direction."

Quad Cities Manager Omar Lopez added, "He's a guy that works hard. He's a great competitor. He's been a leader for some of the pitchers too. He goes out there and just pitches." Lopez is working with Grills on slowing down his game a little, particularly when he gets behind in the count, but he sees in Grills a hard worker who also knows how to have fun.

Evan Grills - June 2014

Photo by Jayne Hansen

As is usually the case, my first question centered around Grills' pitch repertoire. Grills gave me the basics and much more. "My repertoire is fast-ball (4-seam), sinker, curveball, change up. My 4-seamer's around 90-92. Sinker same around 88-92 depending on the night. Curveball ... it's a mid 70's, high 70's curveball, straight 12-6. (He went on to explain that sometimes his curveball gets a little slurvish, but he doesn't like when that happens.) But change up is probably my out pitch. When it's good, it keeps everyone off my fastball. It's like a mid 70's pitch too. I have really good control with that. I sink the ball a lot, sink in to righties and come in to them with a 4-seam. And to lefties, sink it on their hands and 4-seam away. I utilize sinkers and change ups most until I get to the 4th and 5th inning and I can start using my breaking ball a little bit."

In response to my query regarding what Grills has accomplished so far this season, he responded, "This season I've been really consistent. Every outing I go out there, I always pound the zone with strikes. Even if I don't have my best stuff, I'm still competing and getting deep into games. This year I'm just trying to focus on throwing a lot of innings because if you throw a lot of innings, you probably had a pretty good year so I'm focusing on that."

As to what Grills is working on improving, he told me, "I guess 1-2 and 0-2 counts. Lately I've been giving up all my hits on 1-2. I've been giving up a lot of hits so I've got to get my hits down in 1-2, 0-2 counts. Putting people away. Not trying to do too much. Just making the right pitch instead of trying to blow the guy away with my high 80's fastball [laughs]."

Grills has seen a lot of changes since he was first drafted in 2010. "We're a lot more competitive now. In Spring Training, it was funny. Every game I threw was an intrasquad game. I'd rather face other teams because the lineups I had to face on our own team [were tough]. They were way better than the lineups on the other teams so we've gotten a lot more competitive and just the mindset has changed with pitching. [There's] a lot more focus on arm care, just mechanics and doing stuff properly. It's great. I'm having a blast with it. I think I've really taken off with the new regime in there so I feel good about it."

This led me to ask Grills about his season in Lexington in 2012. He pitched for the full season Low A Lexington team that year as a 19-year old. He held his own that season, but I wondered whether he had been pushed a little bit. According to Borkowski, Grills earned that spot in Spring Training, but in retrospect, Grills admits that pitching out of the bullpen for that team was a tough assignment.

Of that season in Lexington, Grills said, "I think if I was in this position starting, I would have done better. I've been a starter my whole life and I went to relieving and I don't really know how to do that. It's helping now that I relieve with the piggyback, but I didn't know how to do that back then. I remember going through 10-12 innings where I'd let no runs in and then 10-12 innings where I'd go up and let a bunch of runs in. So it was up and down, up and down. I couldn't really find consistency because I didn't really know the routine. I was always routine-oriented and the bullpen is ... weird, just get a call and you're up. I don't know. If I started there, I think I would have done better. I might not have done as good as I'm doing now, but it would have been better results I think because I was routine-oriented."

I also asked Grills about the tandem starting situation, the modifications made this season and how he likes those changes. "[The change] where we're getting our own games every now and then, I like that. But I also like the piggyback sometimes gives your arm a rest if you're in the back half. I like that now we have one game at least between every piggyback where we get our own game. I like how it is right now." He always wants to have his best stuff in the piggyback games, though, so that he isn't taken out of the game early. He wants to get his innings in.

I segued into those of my questions that help me learn more about the other players in the system as well as the player I'm interviewing. Which hitter in the Astros system would he least like to face? "I saw Springer hit in Spring Training. I remember him hitting a line drive ten feet off the ground that just went over the right field wall so that was pretty insane. I guess I'd have to go with him." His answer to which Astros pitcher has a pitch he would like to steal echoed the answers I got from Kevin Comer and Tyler Brunnemann in those interviews, "What about [Jandel] Gustave's fastball? It seems like he just throws harder and harder."

Grills has always had a tendency toward a high ratio of ground ball outs so I asked if there was one particular fielder that he really enjoyed having play behind him, "We've got one of the best ones here, [Thomas] Lindauer. Everything to him is an automatic out it seems like. I really like him playing behind me. I like everybody playing behind me, but he's one of the better ones I've played with, just makes plays on a regular basis that [make you think], 'How did he do that?' They say the same thing about [Carlos] Correa obviously, but I haven't played with him, so Lindauer is probably the best defensive player I've played with.

Who on the team makes him laugh? "There's a lot of dudes who make me laugh. [Andrew] Thurman's kind of a clown, [Brett] Booth, [Chan] Moon obviously. I'm a kind of a clown, too, so I make everyone laugh and everyone makes me laugh. I just try to get along with everyone. All the Dominican guys make me laugh [too]."

I asked him to tell me something that most people don't know about him and might be surprised to hear. His response? "I guess it would be that I'm really just into the arts and music and writing and stuff like that. I read a lot. I read and write a lot of poetry. I'm always playing music in my free time."

With that in mind, what would he do if he couldn't play baseball? "I'd probably go into music or writing, something like that. I enjoy writing a lot. I picked up the guitar about 5-6 months ago and I play that thing if I have any free time. I just got an electric guitar when my girlfriend was in town so I'm enjoying that a lot. Trying to learn "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns N' Roses. So probably something music or writing for me. Those are the two things."

Evan Grills is a very personable, engaging person to talk to. He doesn't take himself too seriously. And, although he is a very hard worker and quite competitive on the mound, you won't see him beating himself up after a rough outing. As Grills told me, "I just believe in having fun. Because what's the point of doing it if you're not having fun?" I couldn't have said it better myself.

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Thanks for your time, Evan, and best of luck as the season continues.