Jefferson P. Nolan
jnolan@mustangdaily.net
When Cal Poly pitcher Bryan Granger kicks back on the rubber and extends his arm to pitch, his sleeve pulls back to reveal the name “Sylvia” on the inside of his forearm.
It is a tribute to his biggest fan, his mom.
She shows up regularly to watch her son pitch against some of the best hitters in college baseball on afternoons in the spring.
“She has always been a big part of my life and she’s always at my games,” Granger said. “We’d have a rocky relationship every now and then, but in my senior year of high school, we got really close. I got this tattoo right after I graduated.”
The thorns and roses that frame the tattoo speak to a once-difficult relationship. That can happen when your parents divorce while you are in the first grade.
But while he is close to his mother, Granger’s success as a Cal Poly starter was the work of his dad.
Mike Granger, a former pitcher at San Francisco State, made sure a bat and glove were thrust into the boy’s hands by the time his son took his first steps.
“As soon as I could walk, I was playing with my dad,” the younger Granger recalled. “He’s been my pitching coach my whole life, and I learned pretty much everything I have from him.”
Having grown up idolizing the great Nolan Ryan and with an uncle drafted into the major leagues, his childhood was formed around baseball.
The game, though, still runs in Granger’s blood.
The path to Poly
As a senior at San Benito High School, Granger hit 83 miles per hour (MPH) on the radar gun, fast for a high schooler, but not anything that made scouts drool.
However, there was potential at a Division I program like Cal Poly.
“For me being a pitcher, the development started in high school,” Granger said. “I didn’t throw 90 (MPH) like I do now, so I couldn’t overpower guys. I had to learn how to throw inside and outside, mix pitches and pitch guys backwards. That’s when it started for me.”
Granger’s first taste of San Luis Obispo didn’t come on a recruitment trip, but from a travel-ball game against San Luis Obispo High School.
“We played at SLO High School, and it was just unreal,” Granger said. “I’m from a small town. I like it just like this. I like walking outside in the morning and seeing deer on the hillside and turkeys.”
After discussing scholarship possibilities with other schools, he received an appealing offer from San Jose State. But after being recruited by Cal Poly pitching coach Jason Kelly, head coach Larry Lee made Granger an offer he could not refuse. The country boy verbally committed to Cal Poly as a wine and viticulture major.
“To get money for school and play baseball … it’s unreal,” Granger said.
The muddy hunt
Quiet by nature, Granger bonded with his closest teammate in a different passion: hunting.
Fellow Cal Poly pitcher Michael Dingilian had never hunted before in his life, but when Granger asked him to, he was more than happy to give it a try. But what the sophomore relief pitcher remembers from the experience isn’t the duck his teammate brought down over the muddy surf of Morro Bay. It was watching Granger fight his way through the knee-deep muck after retrieving his prize.
“He couldn’t get out,” Dingilian said with a laugh. “I was out there on my first hunt, and I was panicking and thinking the water was going to come in and he’d drown. Eventually he was able to use the butt of his gun to finagle his way out. All I could do was watch.”
The two have been best friends ever since.
“Being teammates … it’s like having family,” Dingilian said. “Everyone is pulling for each other, and it’s no different for him. When I went out there and got my first outing of the year, he was the first one out of the dugout to give me a high-five. That’s just kind of how it is between us.”
After pitching his freshman year as a midweek starter, Granger developed a splitter and matured under Lee.
“When pitchers come in as freshmen, the majority of them are not ready to be extremely successful at this level of competition,” Lee said. “Bryan gained some valuable experience in getting his feet wet and competing in the midweek games. It is a natural progression that all players go through.”
‘Championships are won on Sundays’
Now in the heart of conference play, Granger (5-3) admits he is oblivious of his earned run average (ERA) — it’s 4.47. He hasn’t tallied his 22 strikeouts, and he has no intention of recording how many walks or hits per inning he has allowed.
It’s not that the numbers don’t matter; the right-hander from Hollister simply doesn’t care.
“I’m not the type of guy who looks at his stats,” Granger said. “I couldn’t tell you my ERA or how many strikeouts I’ve made. That stuff doesn’t matter to me. I just want to win.”
Granger has made a name for himself as the Sunday starter for the baseball team, and the righty enjoys the challenges he faces on the mound.
“I like having pressure,” Granger said. “As coach Lee says, ‘Championships are won on Sundays.’ The pressure helps me focus and dial in on pitches.”
The righty will take the mound on a Big West Conference series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m. as the second-place Mustangs (24-9, 6-3 Big West) host conference leader Cal State Fullerton (31-5, 8-1).