Gray day is finally here. The Colorado Rockies have called up pitcher Jon Gray from the minor leagues. The former University of Oklahoma pitcher is looking to uplift a Rockies pitching staff that has been downright awful this season. In fact, Colorado has the fewest quality starts among all Major League clubs with just 36 in 104 games.
Hopefully that is about to change with the arrival of Gray. In the minors he had a 4.33 ERA, 1.49 WHIP and 110 strikeouts in 114 1/3 innings for Triple-A Albuquerque. Gray also has accumulated a high number of strikeouts during his time in the minors with 274 strikeouts in 276 innings.
Over the course of his last full season, in Double-A Tulsa, Gray had an 8% walk rate and a 22% strikeout rate, which were both slightly better than the league average.
Gray has a three-pitch arsenal, which have the potential to bring him to the front of the Rockies pitching staff. He has a 91-95 mph fastball. The speed of his fastball has slowed down by about 5 mph since his arrival in the minor leagues due to the pitching staff smoothing out his delivery in order to improve accuracy. Gray also has a mix between a curve and a slider, a “slurve,” which could really surprise batters. Finally, he has a solid changeup that breaks hard down and away from right handed hitters. Gray’s off-speed pitches are in the mid 80s.
Gray knew that giving up hits was a huge problem and wanted to improve in that area before being called up.
“I was too much in the zone. So I gave up a lot of hits. And then it turned into expanding the zone and walking people,” Gray told the Denver Post “But I’ve been a lot better at it lately. I want to make everything look like a fastball in the zone. If it’s my slider, I want it out of the zone, but I want it to look hittable.”
Zach Wilson, Rockies director of player development knows that now is absolutely the right time to bring up Gray.
“Obviously there have been times when we could have called him up earlier in the year. We could have sent him up in May and he would have been fine,” Wilson told the Post. “But we’re not trying to create a fourth or fifth starter. We want a No. 1 starter because he has that kind of ability. To bring him up before he was ready would have been a disservice to him and the team.”
Gray’s debut could not have come at a better time. The team desperately needs to fill out its rotation. Right-hander Kyle Kendrick underwent an MRI on his shoulder Monday to determine if he’d torn a rotator cuff and Chad Bettis is currently on the disabled list with a strained elbow.
Gray and the Rockies will the the Seattle Mariners at 6:40 p.m. at Coors Field.
Marcus Flowers, a Mile High Sports intern and Claflin University student, contributed to this report