Sonny Gray took a baby step forward for the Yankees

Sonny Gray has provided Yankees fans with a sliver of hope after a difficult start to life in New York. 

There’s no denying Sonny Gray has been bad for the Yankees to open the season. However, his last start against Minnesota was a tiny step forward for the struggling starting pitcher.

He wasn’t able to muster a win against the Twins after exiting the game after just 4 2/3 innings of work. Gray wasn’t even that effective during his time on the mound. He gave up three earned runs, which actually lowered his ERA to a 7.71. Even so, if you squint hard enough there were positive signs for Gray to build on.

First of all, he and his manager Aaron Boone both agree on what his biggest issue is at the moment. Gray simply has to stop walking batters. He gave five Twins batters a free base last night. His stuff simply isn’t good enough to pitch around that kind of trouble at the moment.

There’s another way to look at his control issue, though. If you watched the game last night it’s not as if he was missing spots wildly. Instead, his control issues against the Twins seemed to stem from trying to be too fine with his pitches. That’s a perfectly natural way to pitch considering his struggles as of late.

Fortunately for the Yankees, it’s also a correctable issue. If Gray can continue to throw the ball reasonably well over the next few weeks his confidence should grow. He knows he doesn’t have his best stuff at the moment. That’s definitely wearing on him. His lack of confidence in certain pitches is a massive contributing factor to his issues throwing the ball over the plate.

The good news is that Gray flashed some quality stuff last night. He also struck out four Twins during his brief outing. Those successful battles give him something tangible to build on when he’s planning for his next outing.

Even more encouraging for Gray is the fact Boone seems to be coming around to the idea of making Austin Romine his personal catcher. It’s encouraging to see Boone warming to the notion of supporting Gray by giving him his preferred catcher for the foreseeable future.

Next: Yankee fans are not amused by Sonny Gray

Yankees fans shouldn’t get excited about Gray yet, but there are some encouraging signs that he might have a future with the team. If he can keep taking tiny steps forward he could become at least an average starter for New York this season.