Heading into the 2020 Major League Baseball regular season there are two starting pitchers with the same last name (are not related) who are trying to build off of excellent 2019 regular seasons. Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Jon Gray of Shawnee, Oklahoma and Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Sonny Gray of Nashville, Tennessee are expected to play major roles for their respective teams starting rotations as the regular season gets underway in two weeks.
Jon Gray took major strides in 2019 after giving up a National League high 98 earned runs in 2018. This past season, he had a respectable record of 11 wins and eight losses with an earned run average of 3.84. That ERA is respectable when you consider the fact that the Rockies play at the hitter friendly Coors Field and that three other Rockies starting pitchers last season had an earned run average over 6.5.
Set to be the ace of the Rockies pitching staff, Jon Gray also gave up fewer hits (147) than innings pitched (150) in 2019 and had 150 strikeouts. One area where there is some improvement that may need to be made is with Jon Gray’s WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) as it was 1.35 last year. That was the second straight season it was higher than 1.3.
Sonny Gray is slated to be second in the Reds pitching rotation in 2020 and only behind Luis Castillo. Last season, Sonny Gray represented the Reds and the National League in the All-Star Game. At the end of the season, he had a record of 11 wins and eight losses, a fantastic earned run average of 2.87 and a marvelous WHIP of 1.08.
Heading into the season, there is no doubt that the Reds strength is their pitching staff. Their problem is actually scoring runs. In 2019, Cincinnati scored 701 runs, the sixth fewest runs in Major League Baseball.
