A glimmer of hope regarding the 2021 Rockies rests with their starting rotation. But even that sliver of optimism comes with a huge question.
Which Jon Gray will show up?
The right-hander who went 11-8 with a 3.84 ERA in 26 games in 2019 while many of his fellow starters were getting the full Charlie Brown treatment?
Or the pitcher with reduced fastball velocity and poor command of his slider who went 2-4 with a 6.69 ERA in eight starts during last year’s 60-game season, and was shut down with inflammation and an impingement in his right shoulder?
Gray, naturally, forecasts the 2019 version — only better.
“I believe in myself,” said Gray, 29, who was the third overall pick of the 2013 draft. “I know myself and I know how talented I am, but I haven’t been able to show all of it. There has been a lot of obstacles, but I’m so thankful for tomorrow and for the next opportunity.”
Rockies pitchers and catchers were tested for COVID-19 on Tuesday, will receive their physicals Wednesday and are scheduled to hold their first spring training workouts Thursday. Gray has been throwing steadily, building up his pitch count and has already thrown five bullpen sessions.
“I think I’m ahead of schedule,” he said.
So far, the shoulder is feeling good.
“Every once in a while I’ll feel a little soreness in there, but as soon as we start working in that area, it starts to get better faster,” Gray said.
Pitching coach Steve Foster is predicting a rebound year for Gray, who’s eligible to become a free agent at the end of the season.
“Thinking about what Jon went through last year, I wrote something down about him,” Foster said. “I wrote, ‘Success requires the emotional balance of the committed heart. When confronted with a challenge, the committed heart will always look for a solution. The uncommitted heart looks for an escape.’
“I wrote that down because I believe Jon has a committed heart. He’s all in. If you want, you can call last year a mulligan, but I expect Jon to bounce back.”
Gray, who described the 2020 season as “depressing and “lacking any fun,” is hopeful that he’s found a solution to the physical issues that have plagued him for three of the past four seasons. After he was sent to the injured list last August, Gray underwent an extensive assessment of his body and his pitching mechanics. What was discovered was a connection between his right shoulder and troubles with his left (landing) foot.
“It’s kind of weird because I didn’t see a connection,” he said. “I think we have figured it out now.”
A sore left big toe cost Gray time in his 2017 spring training, and a stress fracture in his left foot put him on the injured list for 2 1/2 months before he finished that season strong. His 2019 season ended on Aug. 21 when he suffered another stress fracture and underwent surgery.
This offseason, Gray worked out in his home gym, building his core strength and performing shoulder exercises using stretch bands and light weights. He also began seeing an acupuncturist.
He’s optimistic the new regimen will keep him healthy and help him regain his fastball velocity, something that was key to his success in 2019. Gray’s four-seam fastball average dipped from 96.1 mph to 94.1. The speed of his slider — a pitch he’s still trying to remaster — fell from 88.5 mph to 86.4.
All of that, plus a dip in strikeouts from 9.0 per nine innings to 5.08, made the right-hander wonder what the heck was going on.
“It was frustrating, because the MRI didn’t show anything at all, but I knew something was really wrong,” Gray said. “It just didn’t feel right at all. The shoulder hurt, there were lots of kinks in it and I would feel this stinging pain.
“But all of the treatments we’ve done have helped and it’s feeling so much better. I have been able to clear out some of my scar tissue area and the shoulder is moving a whole lot better. Now I can’t wait to get started. I just want to get out there and have fun playing baseball again.”
Gray has been the subject of legitimate trade talk for two years, and if the Rockies fall flat in the first half of the season, there’s a chance he’ll be traded at the July 31 deadline, if not before. There were even whispers the Rockies might no-tender the right-hander back in December. Instead, the club gave him a $6 million contract in his final year of arbitration eligibility.
General manager Jeff Bridich, in fact, called Gray to reassure him that the Rockies were not going to cut him loose.
“That was important and it made me feel really good,” Gray said. “It showed me that they wanted me here. I was feeling so negatively about myself that I was starting to think, ‘I wouldn’t want me there, either.’
“So to know that they believed in me, I knew I was going to do everything I could to be a better pitcher.”
SHADES OF GRAY
The Good
* .684 home winning percentage (26-12) ranks second in franchise history to Jorge De La Rosa (.726, 53-20).
* Threw a complete-game shutout vs. San Diego on Sept. 17, 2016, setting a Coors Field record with 16 strikeouts.
* Finished the 2017 season allowing three runs or fewer in 13 consecutive starts, going 7-3 with a 2.64 ERA over that span.
* Finished the 2019 season 11-8 with a 3.84 ERA, becoming the first pitcher in franchise history to post at least 10 wins in four consecutive seasons.
The Bad
* Has missed significant time with left foot injuries (2017 and ’19) and a sore right shoulder (2020).
* Posted a 12-9 record and 5.12 ERA in 2018 and was sent back to Triple-A for a tune-up.
* Went 2-4 with a 6.69 ERA in eight starts in 2020.
* Pitched poorly in two big games, giving up four runs on seven hits in 1 1/3 innings at Arizona in the 2017 wild-card playoff loss, and giving up five runs on seven hits in two innings in a 12-2 loss to Washington in the penultimate game of 2018 when Colorado was trying to nail down the NL West title.
— Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
