On the morning of Sunday, March 23rd Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin made it official, sophomore starting pitcher Sonny Gray will be kicking the 2014 season off on the mound on Opening Day. The news hardly comes as a surprise to Athletics fans as 2013 ace Jarrod Parker was shut down for the season as he will need his second Tommy John surgery of his career. But with all of the options that the Athletics have left at their disposal, why did Melvin give the job Gray?
On July 10, 2013 Gray made his Major League debut against Francisco Liriano and the Pittsburgh Pirates which resulted in a 5-0 loss for Oakland. The move came with a bit of controversy behind it as veteran pitcher Daniel Straily had been called down as a result to make move. The move on Straily was the second time he had been demoted to their Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento as well as the second consecutive time he had been called down after pitching a game in which he won and struck out at least seven batters.
Needless to say, the pressure was on Gray’s shoulders early. With four pitches in his arsenal (two-seam fastball, curveball, changeup and a seldom-used slider) Gray struggled a bit in his first three outings, but he managed post high numbers in strikeouts with minimal walks per innings pitched. Finally, in his fourth start of his career against the Houston Astros, everything clicked.
On August 15, 2013 Gray pitched eight solid innings against the Astros at the Coliseum, striking out a career-high nine batters, walking one and not allowing a single run. Gray went on to make eight more starts through the end of the regular season, and in five of those games Gray chalked up strikeouts on at least seven batters. Gray would end up finishing the regular season with a 5-3 record, a 2.67 ERA, 67 strikeouts and a respectable 1.109 WHIP.
With their second consecutive American League Western Division title in the books the Athletics were slated to face their nemesis from the 2012 ALDS, the Detroit Tigers, once again. After dropping Game One in Oakland by the score of 3-2 Melvin called upon Gray to take the mound in Game Two against Justin Verlander.
With no playoff experience, or even a real competitive challenge during the regular season, Gray found himself against the one guy who put an end to the Athletics’ season in 2012, and boy did he accept the challenge.
In Game Two Gray pitched the game of his life (thus far), striking out nine batters and not allowing a single run while only allowing four hits and two walks in eight innings compared to Verlander’s 11 strikeouts and no earned runs in seven innings.
The Athletics would go on to win the contest with a Stephen Vogt RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning, evening the series but unfortunately giving Gray a no decision. Games Three and Four would be spilt as well, sending the series into a decisive Game Five just like the previous season. And like 2012, the Tigers put Verlander on the mound to close it out while Melvin and the Athletics ultimately went to Gray over top-five AL Cy Young Award finisher Bartolo Colon. But unfortunately for the Athletics and Gray, Game Five was met with different results.
In the top of the fourth inning back-to-back AL MVP winner Miguel Cabrera drew first blood with a two-run home run; this would be all the Tigers needed to win the series. Gray was pulled after allowing the first two batters to reach base in the top of the sixth inning and he was charged with the third and final run of the game. Despite getting roughed up a bit Gray managed to keep his composure, striking out three batters and finishing with a total of 12 in 13 innings of work. For a rookie, this is quite impressive.
Going back to the question at the top, “why did Melvin give the job to Gray?” it’s hard to argue the logic when Gray has clearly earned the job by continuing to improve and learn from his previous outings. Before the announcement was made Gray has managed to strikeout 15 batters in 15 2/3 innings of work during Spring Training.
Gray’s ERA currently sits at 4.02; however, that is not entirely telling of how he would perform on a whole season based on the fact that his 15 2/3 innings have come in five games, leaving an average of roughly three innings of work per game. Gray’s youth and strength shown in 2013 clearly note that he will be reliable for at least five to six innings per outing, if not more.
From a fantasy perspective Gray will be a solid asset for whomever decides to roll the dice on him. Granted, this is only his second season and he will more than likely not be going in any rounds higher than the 11th. This isn’t a knock on him, merely a fact of the fantasy game as there are a ton of well-established pitchers who are more attractive of a selection at the moment. Two to three years down the road or even as soon as next season, this trend will change, and Gray will break out of the teens and into the single digit rounds thanks in part to his above average strikeouts per nine innings ratio and low WHIP.