Josiah Gray's Promising Return

0:00On this March 3rd, here's what's making headlines for the Washington Nationals. Josiah Gray is back on the mound for the Washington Nationals after missing most of the last two seasons with Tommy John's surgery. In his return outing, he threw 1.2 innings and looked solid overall. His pitches were crisper early on, though he got pulled early due to a drop third strike. He's leaning less on his fastball these days, during just nine of them out of 38 total pitches. Instead, Gray mixed in sliders, curve balls, and a few sweepers with other breaking balls in his arsenal from before. This shift makes sense since his fastball has been a weak spot when hitters connect. Velocity was up and down, hitting 94 mph in the first inning, which is a good sign compared to 2023. It dipped to 91 or 92 later, but his off-speed stuff still played well. He hammered curve balls against lefties and sliders to right handers. Pitching models gave mixed grades, with one calling his breaking balls above average, while another rated everything below.

1:01Experts say these tools are helpful, but not the full story, factoring in command and release point two. Still, Gray made a strong case in his first look. If he keeps this up, Gray could lock down a rotation spot ahead of some others on the depth chart. The Nationals would love a healthy, league average starter from him right now. This story is made possible by our sponsor. See the episode description. Press play. Put your head down. The sound is already there.