Jon Gray’s dynamic fastball sets up everything else. When it’s not working right, he becomes an average pitcher.
So it’s critical that the Rockies right-hander regains the strength in his shoulder. He’s confident his arm will recover — quickly — and that he will be back in form for his next scheduled start, which comes Monday against Toronto and former Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.
“I passed all the strength tests. My shoulder’s just a little bit fatigued, but I think I will be back out there,” Gray said Thursday, a day after he was pulled after pitching just four innings in Colorado’s 9-8 loss to the Yankees in New York.
Gray, 4-3 with a 4.80 ERA in 12 starts, throws his fastball almost 58 percent of the time and it averages 95.2 mph, according to Fangraphs. During his four innings against the Yankees, his fastball velocity ranged from 91 to 97 mph, yet his command was lacking and he walked six batters.
“There’s no pain. The only thing I really felt was a lack of strength, and that kind of messed up my timing,” Gray said.
Said manager Walt Weiss: “He didn’t look quite right. His fastball command really wasn’t there from the beginning. … He didn’t look like himself.”
Gray is scheduled to throw his normal side session Friday. But he plans to cut back the number of pitches he throws, from 40 to 25.
“I think maybe I was throwing a little bit too much the last week, so we are going to give it a bit of a rest,” Gray said. “I will throw the side tomorrow, but itap maybe going to be less pitches … and it will mostly be fastballs.”
Weiss in confident Gray will bounce back.
“He’ll most likely make his next start,” Weiss said. “He doesn’t have any pain or anything like that. He will go his typical four days between starts and we’ll see what that looks like. But I think there is a pretty good chance he makes his next start.”
Reyes update. Jose Reyes may rejoin the New York Mets as soon as Saturday. Thursday, the Rockies requested waivers to grant the veteran shortstop his unconditional release, making him a free agent after 48 hours. The announcement was mostly procedural, because Reyes was designated for assignment last week.
According to a report from , the Mets have interest in signing Reyes, 33, possibly as soon as this weekend. He will be available to any team for the prorated portion of the major-league minimum salary, which comes out to about $277,000 for the rest of the season.
Reyes is still owed about $41 million through 2017 and the Rockies are still on the hook for that.
Reyes served a 51-game suspension from Major League Baseball for his domestic violence arrest Oct. 31 The criminal charges against him were dropped after his wife, Katherine, refused to cooperate with investigators.
Looking ahead …
Diamondbacks RHP Archie Bradley (3-3, 4.83 ERA) at Rockies LHP Tyler Anderson (0-1, 2.25), 6:40 p.m. Friday, ROOT; 850 AM
Injuries to Tyler Chatwood, Chris Rusin and most recently Jon Gray have left the Rockies’ rotation reeling. Thank goodness for Anderson, who has been impressive in his first two major-league starts. He doesn’t have a victory yet, but he pitched well enough to have two. In his last start, the rookie held the Miami Marlins to four hits and struck out four in 5⅔ innings before being pulled after 102 pitches. He was charged with two runs, but both came after he left the mound. Bradley has been a disappointment, but he was excellent in his last start, allowing the Philadelphia Phillies just one earned run over six innings. Bradley beat the Rockies at Coors Field on May 9, pitching six innings and allowing four runs on seven hits in the Diamondbacks’ 10-5 victory.
Saturday: Diamondbacks RHP Shelby Miller (2-6, 6.36 ERA) at Rockies LHP Jorge De La Rosa (4-4, 7.17), 2:10 p.m., ROOT
Sunday: Diamondbacks LHP Patrick Corbin (4-6, 4.63) at Rockies RHP Chad Bettis (6-5, 5.44), 2:10 p.m., ROOT
Monday: Blue Jays RHP Marco Estrada (5-3, 2.70) at Rockies RHP Jon Gray (4-3, 4.80), 6:40 p.m., ROOT
