Even after coming off the worst season of his career, Sonny Gray will be pitching for Team USA in this year’s World Baseball Classic.
The Oakland Athletics‘ ace had an extremely rough 2016 season, being just one season removed from finishing third in the American League Cy Young Award Voting.
He pitched well until the end of April but then came that fateful game against Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers. Gray threw 65 pitches in the first two innings, while only allowing four runs, it was obvious that he would not be returning to pitch the third.
He never really recovered. Over his next four starts Gray posted a 9.61 ERA over just 19.2 innings and had a win-loss record of 1-3. He was placed on the DL on May 22 with a strained right trapezius muscle.
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Gray returned on June 6 to pitch against the Houston Astros at home in Oakland. He looked much like his old self, allowing just one earned run over five innings, while being held to a lower pitch count than usual, throwing 69 pitches.
That game still ended in a loss for the A’s but it was encouraging to see a familiar Sonny Gray on the mound.
Unfortunately for both Gray and the A’s things did not continue as planned, leaving some wondering if Gray was really injured or perhaps he’d lost part of his calm, cool, just pitch mentality.
When he faced Verlander in the 2013 postseason as a rookie, who had been called up in mid-July, Gray delivered a great performance. Afterward he said,
"“I wasn’t watching him pitch. I was just sitting in the dugout, just getting myself ready for the next inning. I wasn’t really looking into it as facing Justin Verlander … if I do that, one of their hitters is going to get you. They’ve got one of the best lineups in all of baseball.”"
Over his next 12 starts after coming off of the disabled list for the first time last season, Gray posted a 5.43 ERA and went 3-9 over that span.
And again, on August 7, Gray was placed on the disabled list with, scarily, a right forearm strain. We all know what that could have meant for Gray.
If you are unfamiliar with the symptoms of a torn ulnar collateral ligament, the ailment that can only be corrected by Tommy John surgery, a forearm strain is the main one.
Luckily, however, Gary had not torn his UCL, but he was kept on the disabled list until September in which he pitched a single inning against the Los Angeles Angels.
The game ended in yet another loss for the 2016 Oakland Athletics but it was a good day for Gray.
He allowed just one hit and got one strikeout but out of a total of 18 pitches, 13 were strikes. It was a decent sign that the A’s may be able to expect a healthy 2015-like Sonny Gray in 2017.
Now, things have gotten interesting. Gray has been at work in the offseason with a personal trainer and apparently believes he is ready to pitch competitively earlier than normal this year.
He’s accepted an invitation to play in the World Baseball Classic. It’s a great thing if Gray is as healthy as he maintains he is.
Still, it’s impossible not to question this decision. It means that he will need to pitch at a higher level for Team USA than he would if he were to just stay in training camp with his Athletics teammates.
Yet, on the other hand, ever since he was called up to the big leagues in 2013, Gray has been the consummate professional. It’s hard to see him doing something that could not only hurt himself but both Team USA in the WBC or the A’s in the 2017 season.
The decision is certainly questionable but baseball fans and especially A’s fans need to have faith right now that Gray is doing what he’s always done and that’s been being a professional, that he’s not going to push himself further than he can go.
It could change a lot down the road too, if Gray were to be injured. Whether or not the A’s trade Gray or keep Gray depends on how he pitches during the first half of the regular season.
On the one hand, he could pitch like the champ he is and up his stock – meaning the A’s could trade him for a haul of good prospects or they could elect to extend his contract and have him be the leader of the team of youngsters who will be up in the big leagues before the A’s new stadium is even finished and then beyond, once it is.
Or on the other hand, Gray could get injured, pitch poorly or even moderately – maybe third starter status – and if that occurs the A’s will trade him for whatever they can still get.
Right now the team is waiting to see if his stock goes up and if so how much, without deciding whether or not to trade him.
If Gray is injured before the season begins by playing the WBC or pitches poorly during the season, A’s fans can most certainly wave goodbye to their then-former ace.
Gray, however, has always at least seemed to be a straight-shooter, a guy on the up and up – and if that is true then Team USA needs the 2015 Sonny Gray and so do the 2017 (and beyond) Oakland Athletics.
Next: Do the A's need another lefty in the bullpen?
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