Day signed a free agent deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization Aug. 1 and is starting his journey through the minor leagues that he, like all young players, hopes will end up with him in the big leagues some day.

“I feel great about it. I’m excited to learn from these guys and see what they have to offer. I think it’s gonna be a great opportunity for me to not grow just as a baseball player but as a person. There’s a lot of good things to learn and the game gets tougher, so it’s a good adjustment for me to get even better and working hard,” Day told the Standard-Examiner in a phone interview Thursday.

Day flew to the Dodgers’ Camelback Ranch training complex in Glendale, Arizona, July 30 to start negotiating the contract and then signed it two days later.

He’ll start out in the instructional league the next few weeks and Dodgers coaches have told him they want to work on mechanical aspects of his pitching motion to increase his velocity and his slider pitch. He said his current fastball velocity sits around 94-97 mph, and he’s touched 99 mph.

Day struggled in his two years with the Utes, tallying an 8.54 ERA in 117 innings with 91 strikeouts against 57 walks. Opposing batters hit .361 against him. Utah has high elevation, which is more friendly for hitters than it is for pitchers.

“There’s a little bit to do with that and then also the execution on my end also wasn’t super great. I love the coaches and I thought they had a lot of great things, and they taught me as much as they possibly could and I’m thankful for that. But at the end of the day, it was kind of just me not executing when I needed to,” Day said.

He could’ve come back to the Utes, he said, but also felt it was time for him to move on. Day said he isn’t nervous about turning professional.

“Weirdly no, like not at all. It almost feels normal to me. I don’t know, I think it’s just because this is a dream I’ve had ever since I was a kid, and now that I’m here it’s kind of just, I don’t know, maybe it hasn’t hit me yet. But I’m just excited. It’s something that I want to keep doing,” Day said.

Day was the Standard-Examiner’s All-Area Baseball MVP in 2021 after a stellar senior year leading Layton High to the Region 1 championship.

He attracted MLB scouts to his starts his senior year with the Lancers but didn’t like the offers he got during the MLB Draft, and decided to go to Utah. During last month’s MLB Draft, Day once again didn’t like the offers that came his way.

“It was crazy. It wasn’t for sure the whole time, but going through the draft, I wasn’t getting what I wanted because I didn’t have the year I wanted,” Day said.

A few days after the draft, the Dodgers called with a free agent offer and they let Day sit on it and think about it for a little bit. Day went and pitched with the Utah Marshalls baseball team, thought about the offer for two weeks and then signed it.

He’s very excited about joining the Dodgers organization, which has a good track record of developing its minor league players. Day also just turned 21 and was anxious to start his pro career.

“I didn’t want to wait too much longer. I had a great opportunity to go back to Utah and I loved every minute there, but I was excited to get on with my next journey and get into pro ball,” Day said.

Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.