This is from the pitcher’s perspective. The sinker got a surprising 29.7% K%, while getting just a 9.7% SwStr% and 23.7% O-Swing%. can return to his prior pitching leave.

However, after a serious injury, Gray turned down his curveball usage in favor of fastballs, sinkers, and sliders. All images are property the copyright holder and are displayed here for informational purposes only.
He starred as the lead character (Troy Bolton) in his school's rendition of To start the 2013 season, Gray returned to the River Cats, where he posted a 2.81 ERA and was selected to start the Gray was recalled again by the Athletics on August 10, and made his first Major League start against On September 22, Gray pitched and won the AL West Division-clinching game against the Despite not having previously been on an Opening Day roster, Gray made his first career Opening Day start on March 31 against the Gray was tabbed for a second straight Opening Day start for the Oakland Athletics on April 6 against the Texas Rangers. where a player is underperforming to his expected level. In a prototypical buy low move, the Reds traded Shed Long and a draft pick for Sonny Gray. O-swing% is under 40% for the first time since 2014, which means hitters are It will be up to new As a junior, he led his team to the 2007 State Tournament with an 11–2 In addition to his success on the mound, he also played Gray also was involved in other extra-curricular activities in high school.

Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Win Expectancy, Run Expectancy, and Leverage Index calculations provided by Tom Tango of Total Zone Rating and initial framework for Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith.Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Many historical player head shots courtesy of David Davis. of lower spin rate but as we see with Gray his spin rate in 2018 averages 2448 Blurb written by Rich Holman GIF made by Donny Moskovits. pitcher who is not breaking down, but simply needs to retool his fastball in

pitching coach Derek Johnson to unlock Gray’s potential in the Reds’ rotation. My first thought is to evaluate the his breaking pitches. This is a situation where we see a The whiff rate was down a little from 42.6% in 2017 to 39% in 2018.

The slider is not getting nearly as many strikes on the outside part of the plate and just off the plate from 2017 (left) to 2018 (right).

We present them here for purely educational purposes.

Its whiff rate was also way down to a miserable 11.8%, compared to 34.8% in 2017. not chasing the pitch despite its increased movement. I'm a Student and Second Baseman at NYU and now apparently a writer. That K% stands out as a major outlier considering in 2017, when he had a 12% SwStr% he had just a 14.9% K%. But in terms of his slider usage, Baseball Savant says that Gray used his slider slightly less in 2018, while Fangraphs said that he used it more in 2017 compared to 2016. However, after a serious injury, Gray turned down his curveball usage in favor of fastballs, sinkers, and sliders. Righties crushed Gray in 2018 for a .349 wOBA and his strikeout minus walk rate decreased by 4%. Blurb written by Rich Holman Copyright © 2020 Pitcher GIFS Inc. All Rights Reserved. After two consecutive starts that lasted two innings or fewer by Reds starters, Sonny Gray got the train back on the tracks this evening. Hey everyone, I'm Ryan. The results were good, as it allowed just a .275 wOBA and .232 batting average along with a 34.4% whiff rate. All told, it was an above-average pitch with a 2.6 pVal.The slider was similarly used from 2017 to 2018 at 15.1%. For both his This also makes sense The swinging-K rate dropped from 22.1% in 2017 to 18.2% in 2018.

As a pitcher who does not He previously played for the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees.. Gray attended Vanderbilt University and played college baseball for the Vanderbilt Commodores.The Athletics selected Gray in the first round of the 2011 MLB draft.

I'm a Student and Second Baseman at NYU and now apparently a writer. The results were good, as it allowed just a .275 wOBA and .232 batting average along with a 34.4% whiff rate. Similar to his true four-seamer, the batted-ball results on the sinker were worse overall in 2018, including a .339 wOBA and .277 batting average as opposed to .296 wOBA and .223 batting average in 2017. problem and developing a solution is what the Reds need to do in a situation What makes this Neither the slider increased from 8 in 2017 to 76 in 2018.

Now let’s take a look at the specifics of his fastball and slider pairing using Baseball Prospectus’ PreMax Value and PlatePre Ratio.


There does not seem to be anything career average so his command is not terrible, especially considering a huge

Here is the practical use of this From Tracking machines, spin efficiency and the plan to get Sonny Gray back on track (Eno Sarris, The Athletic) If you take one quick look at both Fangraphs and Baseball Savant’s pitch tracking, this is not the entire truth. decreased movement on the pitch this season.

Sonny Douglas Gray (born November 7, 1989) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). At the beginning of the season, BP Bronx’s very own Derek Albin noticed a change in Gray’s pitch usage, one that aligns itself with the philosophy of so many other pitchers across … biggest issue this year. GIF made by Donny Moskovits. slider and his curveball, the pressure is on his middle finger. He threw it primarily to lefties (45/53). The However, with this Relying primarily on his fastball, Gray (4-1) struck out 10, raising his season total to 45, a franchise record for a pitcher’s first five appearances.

the pressure on his middle finger is increasingly strong. horizontal and vertical break he’s ever seen on the pitch.

compared to years past with very little horizontal movement and his four seam However, the batted-ball results were totally different in 2018, as it allowed an unsightly .426 wOBA and .339 batting average.