House That Hank Built
Fansided

Update on the Atlanta Braves investigation, roster changes, and trades

By Fred Owens

DENVER, CO - JUNE 11: The ball lies on the grass as the Atlanta Braves face the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on June 11, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - JUNE 11: The ball lies on the grass as the Atlanta Braves face the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on June 11, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) /
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The Day of the lefty continues

Alex Anthopoulus’ first acquisition, Grant Dayton, will disappoint some fans, more on that later.  Dayton graduated from Bob Jones High School in Madison, Alabama and attended college at Auburn. Working primarily as a starter Dayton averaged 8.6 K/9 his freshman and sophomore years and a winning record his freshman and junior season.

         Year    Age W L ERA G GS CG SV IP
2008 20 7 2 3.89 18 14 0 1 81
2009 21 2 6 5.92 13 13 0 0 73
2010 22 8 3 4.36 16 15 1 0 95
    17 11 4.66 47 42 1 1 249
        Year    Age WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9 K/BB
2008 20 1.23 9.7 1 1.44 8.78 6.08
2009 21 1.62 12 1.48 2.1 8.51 4.06
2010 22 1.26 9.6 1.23 1.8 6.54 3.63
    1.36 32 3.71 5.34 23.8 4.43

Stats courtesy the Baseball Cube

After his junior year, the Marlins selected Dayton in the 11th round of the 2010 draft, 374th overall. He finished the season as their #17 prospect (BA) after posting a 111-27 K-BB ratio in 79 innings out of the bullpen. Those numbers came largely from a lot of swing and miss on his mid-nineties fastball and a is slider that  on a right hand hitters back foot.

The movement on Dayton’s fastball not only gave hitters fits,the young left had a lot of trouble figuring out where it was going.  Over the next season his change improved making him a rare item; a reliever with three really good pitches.

Dayton always attacked hitters aggressively and by the end of 2013, he was slicing hitters up on both sides of the plate and the Marlins were projecting Dayton as a future setup man.

He started 2014 in AA but quickly moved to AAA New Orleans and finished the year there with a 3.86 ERA in 55 2/3 IP, 61 strikeouts and 22 walks including 3 intentional passes and a 9.9K /9 IP. He started the following year in AAA but the Marlins traded him to LA in July for Chris Reed.

Hello L A … err Oklahoma City

Dayton had a rough transition to Oklahoma City. The 2.83 ERA he carried in New Orleans ballooned to 9.26 ERA earning him a trip to AA Tulsa. He got himself together at Tulsa and posted a 2.83 ERA in his eight appearances there before the season ended.

Back at Tulsa o start the 2016 season he quickly found his groove and returned to Oklahoma City after 12 appearances. After throwing 36 1/3 innings in 26 appearances with a 2.48 ERA in OKC, he joined the Dodgers. Dayton made 25 appearances for the Dodgers before the 2016 season ended, throwing 26 1/3 innings with a 2.05 ERA and a 13.3 K/9 ratio

This season opened with Dayton a dependable piece in the Dodger bullpen. His first eight appearances covered 8 1/3 IP, 2 hits, 3 walks and 5 Ks and no runs. He gave up 5 runs in his next two outings, then had three clean outings before having another 3 run inning.

The point is that while Dayton’s ERA looks bad he really had only three bad outings between April 1 and June 30 when the Dodgers sent him down.

So why will some fans be upset? When Dayton returned to the Dodgers at the end of July he had two bad outings; those were due to a UCL about to quit. Yep, the Braves just traded for a pitcher recovering from TJ surgery in August and probably who won’t be available at all in 2018.

But wait there’s more. . .

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