OAKLAND – Sonny Gray is making one very useful adjustment this offseason.
His young son, Gunnar, who’s about to turn one, is now a load to haul around. So the A’s Cy Young finalist needed to give his throwing arm a rest.
“I had to stop carrying him in my right arm because he got too heavy,” Gray said, “so I’ve got to start using the left more.”
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OK, so he’s also putting other lessons to good use.
Oakland’s ace wants to maintain peak form and consistency over a full 162-game stretch. His 4.11 career ERA in September/October (regular season) is his highest of any month, as is his 1.329 WHIP. It’s appeared that Gray, listed at 5-foot-11 and 195 pounds, begins to wear down a bit down the stretch. To that end, the right-hander is putting in more work this winter on strengthening his core and the area around his left hip.
It was hip soreness that shut him down in late September last season, though that was a minor injury that the pitcher says has not hindered his offseason routine at all.
“More hip stuff, core stuff,” Gray said Monday, addressing reporters at the Coliseum. “Those body parts, just because that has caused me a little bit of trouble in the past.”
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It’s tough to find fault with the overall body of work turned in by the 26-year-old to this point. He is 33-20 with a 2.88 ERA since breaking into the majors in July 2013. Last year he made his first All-Star team and was a Cy Young finalist, finishing third behind Dallas Keuchel and his good friend David Price.
But Gray wants to avoid the occasional dip in performance he’s experienced.
“If I can just stay healthy a whole year, make 33 or 34 starts and get out there and compete every five or six days, I think all the numbers, the wins and losses and the other statistics, will play out the way they’re supposed to,” Gray said.
The month of June has been a bumpy stretch for him, though it’s all relative. His career ERA for that month is a respectable 3.96, and it speaks to Gray’s dominance that such a figure stands out as a weak stretch.
“He’s been so solid for us throughout these last 2 ½ years, and he hasn’t really missed a beat,” A’s pitching coach Curt Young said. “He’s going to push himself. He wants to be one of the best in the game, and he’s put his name near the top of the list.”
Young said Gray’s biggest challenge this season might be getting his rotation mates to follow his lead. The four starting spots behind him all carry their share of questions as spring training approaches. Veteran Rich Hill was signed to help anchor the rotation, but he hasn’t started in the majors over an extended period since 2009. Kendall Graveman, Jesse Hahn and Chris Bassitt all are relatively inexperienced and battled injuries last season, and newcomer Henderson Alvarez is expected to be sidelined until at least May while he recovers from shoulder surgery. Jarrod Parker is an unknown due to elbow issues.
Gray can only take the ball every fifth day, but this appears to be the season where his leadership will be needed on the other days.
Perhaps he can take on some of the veteran qualities that his former teammate and friend, Scott Kazmir, displayed while with Oakland. The two still talk often, and they’ll be staying in spring training homes across the street from each other. Gray was hopeful that the free agent lefty might re-sign with Oakland this winter, but Kazmir took a three-year $48 million deal from the Dodgers.
“I thought there for a little bit he actually might (choose the A’s),” Gray said. “Unfortunately for us he didn’t.”
Getting a taste of the Cy Young spotlight last fall drives Gray to keep pitching at a level among the game’s elite.
“We all knew going in I wasn’t going to win,” he said. “It’s still special just to be a finalist. A lot of people pitch in this league a long time and never get one Cy Young vote. It’s really, really hard to get one. Just to be a finalist was special. It’s somewhere that you would like to be every year.”