This week will mark almost a full month since left-hand reliever Grif Hughes had his contract purchased by the Toronto Blue Jays. During that period, Hughes has been pitching in the Florida Complex League in Dunedin, Florida. While he had a lot to say about his game, the biggest thing that Hughes has tried to do since his acquisition is to have as much fun as possible.

“I’m just having a ton of fun. This is an opportunity that you work your whole life for,” Hughes said, reflecting on the past few weeks with Blue Jays Nation. “Getting a chance to be a part of an organization like this and a place like this has been unbelievable.”

Still just 23 years of age, Hughes spent the 2024 season and the first couple of months of the 2025 season with the Evansville Otters of the Frontier League, an 18-team independent baseball league that partners with the MLB. Last season, he appeared in 36 games out of the bullpen, posting a 3.07 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and a 12.5 K/9 across 44 innings.

This year, the 6-foot-4 lefty got off to a great start, improving several of his statistical figures from his previous season.

He owned a 2.89 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, and a 13.5 K/9 through 18 2/3 innings, and he also brought down his BB/9 from 3.5 to 1.4. 10 of his 13 outings were scoreless, and he only had three outings in which he struck out less than two batters.

Hughes spoke highly of the Frontier League, particularly the lineup depth that those teams possess. Several players in that league have played in Minor League Baseball before, so witnessing a talent jump from one level to another is something he’s already seen.

“There are some lineups in the Frontier League that, one through nine, have all been to affiliate ball, and a good portion of them up to double-A,” Hughes said. “These are dudes that have been around baseball for a long time.”

Hughes and his representation had heard from a few teams this season, but the Blue Jays weren’t on their radar.

That all changed while he was sleeping in during an off day, and he was abruptly woken up by one of the host family members. At first, he thought there may have been a house fire, or he thought he had missed a kids’ camp that he couldn’t remember whether he volunteered for it or not. Thankfully, after answering the calls from his manager and pitching coach, he finally realized that he had earned a spot in a big league organization.

Although he wasn’t too familiar with the Blue Jays at first, Hughes pitched alongside and got close with Braden Scott at Evansville, another lefty who pitched across multiple levels in the Blue Jays organization between 2022 and 2023. Scott was one of the first people that Hughes called, and he was able to give Hughes a bit of a rundown on the organization and what they expect.

Hughes has come a long way in his development since signing with the Otters. He even admitted that he “probably should’ve been cut” after his first few appearances with the team. However, after the team gave him some time to reset, he was good to go.

“I think the biggest thing was trying to be too perfect,” Hughes said of his initial struggles. “You get worried about, ‘Oh, I’m young. All these guys have played forever. Do I belong?’

“I had good people in my corner. That’s one thing I’ve carried with me since college. It would be easy for me to not continue to talk to these people like I’m above where I was just at, but the people I was talking to a year ago are the same people I’m talking to now.”

Hughes has appeared in four games with the FCL Blue Jays to this point, allowing just two earned runs in relief with six strikeouts over six innings of work. While controlling what he can control and staying where his feet are sound cliché, those are the ideas that Hughes is trying to live by each day.

“If I can control what I can control in the weight room and as a teammate, then good things are going to happen for me when I get on the mound,” Hughes said. “Right now, the easiest thing for me is the pitching. If you’re taking care of business outside of stepping on the mound, everything else will fall into place.

“I love the guys around me. I enjoy the process of getting better. If I end up somewhere with good numbers, cool, and if I don’t, I don’t. That’s just God’s plan for what he has in store for the season.”

Whether on his own or with the help of the staff down in Dunedin, Hughes is already starting to notice development in areas that he has struggled in. Making improvements like the ones mentioned earlier from his time in the Frontier League is becoming routine for Hughes, something that dates back to his days in college.

“My story is kind of peculiar. I came into college. I was fat and out of shape. I was topping out at 84 miles an hour,” Hughes recalled. “Throughout college, I just continued to get better and work my butt off to get to the point where I could at least play independent league baseball.”

Those college days occurred at Carson-Newman University, an NCAA Division II school located in Jefferson City, Tennessee. Through four years there, Hughes logged a total of 120 innings through 63 appearances, making strides forward year over year. When he was a senior, he logged a career-best 9 wins and 71 strikeouts, earning him a spot on the D2CCA All-Southeast Region Second Team.

One of Hughes’s final games in college was one of his best; he pitched 6 1/3 innings of relief against Coker University during the SAC Tournament, allowing just four hits, an unearned run, eight strikeouts, and no walks.

For Blue Jays fans who don’t know much about Hughes, he reiterated how much of a competitor he is. Even when asked about the analytics in today’s game, Hughes pointed out that metric numbers are “very important, but I think a lot of times for me it boils down to how big of a competitor I’m being.”

Not only does he get that competitive drive from playing the game itself, but it’s something he’s been exposed to his whole life. His father, Shawn Hughes, helped kickstart the baseball program at Cisco College in Cisco, Texas, and is the current head baseball coach at Pellissippi State Community College in Knox County, TN.