Dalton Pompey #45 of the Toronto Blue Jays hits an infield single in the sixth inning during MLB game action against the Seattle Mariners on September 22, 2014 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images
The moulding of a Major League Baseball player began with a plastic bat being placed in the hands of a young boy who was encouraged not only to swing from the left side, but also the right.
Dalton Pompey was just four years old when he became a switch hitter.
Pompey's parents, Ken and Valerie, had a dream of what the future might hold for their precocious child almost from the time he was potty-trained. And they would go to great lengths to ensure that dream would become a reality.
That included selling a home and purchasing one in a new jurisdiction so that young Dalton could play for the minor league baseball team of his choice. It also meant Valerie had to take a crash course in how to score baseball games in order to more accurately track her son's progress.
"We knew from a really early age that Dalton was just good at baseball," she said in a recent interview. "And we decided that we wanted to give him every chance we could to take it as far as he could."
It's hard to argue with the results. Dalton Pompey, now 22 and an angular 6 foot 2 and 200 pounds, has a chance to become the starting centre fielder for the Toronto Blue Jays this season. It would be quite the accomplishment for the Mississauga native.
"For me, it's all about confidence, just believing in myself and trying not to be overwhelmed with everything going on around me," the even-keeled Pompey said in a recent interview.
Unless general manager Alex Anthopoulos has another trade up his sleeve, Pompey and 26-year-old Kevin Pillar will be the two main contenders for the position when spring training begins next month.
"If the season were to start tomorrow with what we have today, with what I saw last year, I'd love to see Pompey out there," came the ringing endorsement from Toronto manager John Gibbons back in November when asked during a radio interview who would be patrolling centre for the Blue Jays in 2015. "It was a short audition, but I tell you what, he played very, very good. I think he's got a chance to be a hell of a player."
If Pompey, a lowly 16th-round draft pick out of high school in 2010, earns a starting role, it would cap what has already been a remarkable 12-month period.
It began last April with Pompey buried in the lowest depths of the Blue Jays' minor league system, toiling in the Class-A Florida State League with Dunedin. He hit .319, with six home runs, six triples and 12 doubles in 70 games, earning a promotion to Double-A New Hampshire. In 31 games with the Fisher Cats, Pompey hit a solid .295, and in mid-August he was on the move again, this time to Toronto's top Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo.
With the Bisons for 12 games, Pompey continued to blister opposing pitchers, hitting at a .358 clip that really caused the Blue Jays brass to sit up and take notice. He had exceeded all expectations.
"To be completely candid, the goal was to have him spend the whole year in the Florida State League," Anthopoulos said.
The Blue Jays elevated Pompey to their big-league roster for the final month of the season, and he wound up starting the final 10 games. He did not look out of place.
He stroked a homer off Felix Hernandez in one game. Three days later, he hit two triples and a double in a memorable outing against the Baltimore Orioles in which he also made a great catch in foul territory in left field.
His performance helped spur the decision to let the often-indifferent Colby Rasmus, the Jays' starting centre fielder since 2011, depart to the Houston Astros via free agency. It was also a factor behind Toronto's decision to trade Anthony Gose, the previous centre fielder-in-waiting, to the Detroit Tigers for second-base prospect Devon Travis.
Anthopoulos realizes that the major league sample size for Pompey is minuscule, and that the team might be taking a chance by giving an inexperienced player a shot at a major league job for 2015.
"Just because you earn the job in spring training, it doesn't mean you're going to keep it," Anthopoulos pointed out. "We've seen that plenty of times with young players. I think a lot gets made of, 'Wow, they made the opening-day roster.' It doesn't ensure you're here all year. So you still need to perform well and you still need to have depth. These guys have options.
"Opening day is just a day. I know it's a big deal, I respect it, I understand it. But you have to continue to play well the entire year to stay up here."
Earlier this month, Pompey joined the likes of slugger Jose Bautista and knuckleball pitcher R.A. Dickey at a downtown Toronto shopping mall for an autograph session.
"It's pretty surreal, actually," Valerie Pompey said said of her son's swift ascent. "We used to be the ones who were in the lineups and waiting hours and hours and hours to get an autograph when Dalton was younger. Now he's signing. It's absolutely crazy."
She said her son still has a pair of batting gloves sitting on top of his dresser at their home that were given to him years ago at the Rogers Centre by former Blue Jays infielder Orlando Hudson.
Being a local boy, Pompey said he knows his presence in the Toronto lineup will attract attention. He said he is ready for it, and will not let it alter his mindset.
"I still expect a lot out of myself," he said. "I'm not trying to go in there and just do okay with whatever performance that I have. I've always strived to be great, and that's the approach I'm going to take. There are a lot of great players on this team, so the pressure is kind of lifted off of me a little bit. As long as I stick to my game, I think I'll be all right."