Oakland Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray may not return this season
Oakland Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray has had a rough 2016 season, and it may be over.
After a second straight season topping 200 innings, with an ERA that would have been better in 2015 (2.73) if not for some late-season struggles, Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Sonny Gray looked like a legitimate ace heading into 2016. But that has not come to fruition, as he holds a 5.74 ERA over 21 starts and a couple stints on the DL.
Gray left his start on Aug. 6 with a right forearm injury, which has since been diagnosed as a muscle strain and inflammation. Things got worse on Sunday, with manager Bob Melvin telling Jane Lee of MLB.com that Gray has yet to resume throwing and may not return this season.
Signs of trouble were there for Gray late last year, with a 6.84 ERA and a 19:13 K/BB ratio over five September starts (26.1 innings), so it’s worth wondering if he was pitching through an injury and never completely bounced back. Gray had 13 wild pitches in 2015 and 15 wild pitches in 2014, so outside of a smaller innings total his major league-leading 15 wild pitches this year is not a particular red flag.
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Oakland is 52-66 and 16.5 games out in the AL West right now, so rushing Gray back makes no sense. Melvin alluded to that in further comments to Lee.
"“It just depends,” Melvin told Jane Lee of MLB.com. “I don’t know that it’s necessarily important, but it’s nice to know that you’re healthy again and you don’t have to worry about it in the offseason. But it’s not like we’re going to push him to try to get him out there just to get him out there.”"
The injury bug has hit the Athletics big time this year. Gray is the sixth pitcher to spend time on the disabled list, and a team-record 25 players have spent time on the DL at some point this season.
All in all, 2016 may go down as a blip on the radar for Gray in an otherwise very good career. Making sure he gets back to full health has to be the priority for all involved, so Gray can re-establish himself as Oakland’s much-needed staff ace in 2017.