Oakland Athletics Place Sonny Gray on the DL
By Bill Pivetz
Athletics starting pitcher Sonny Gray is the latest victim of the 2016 injury bug. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained shoulder muscle.
The injury bug strikes again.
Oakland Athletic 2016 struggles continue with the news that broke Sunday afternoon. Ace pitcher Sonny Gray finds himself on the 15-day DL with a strained right trapezius. After his Cy Young-worthy season last year, Gray hasn’t been the same this season. Maybe the injury has something to do with it, but the fact is he will be out at least two weeks.
The all-star season Gray had last year was fun to watch. He went 14-7 with a 2.73 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 7.3 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9. He had three complete games, two of which were shutouts. Though, the final month of the season wasn’t the best. In the final five starts, he went 2-1 with a 6.84 ERA, 1.78 WHIP and 19 strikeouts.
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This season picked up where he left off. In nine starts this season, he is 3-5 with a 6.19 ERA, 1.65 WHIP and 41 strikeouts. Late last year, I wrote about Sonny Gray being a potential top-five starting pitcher this season.
His first couple of starts would echo that statement, but his recent three starts have me rethinking that. He has not reached six innings pitched and allowed at least three runs on those outings.
There is no set timetable for Gray’s return, but we do have some reference.
Attention trade deadline shoppers. Strasburg missed almost a month with this injury last year. https://t.co/pRYzzfZa6A
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) May 22, 2016
If that were the case, Sonny Gray wouldn’t return until the final week of June. With the All-Star break just a couple of weeks after that, it’s possible that he would come back after the break. That is the worst-case scenario, though.
His strikeout and ground ball rates are at career levels. Even his fastball velocity hasn’t dropped off. The only thing that has increased this season is his HR/FB rate (17.4) and hard hit rate (32.9). He is inducing fewer swinging strikes and swings out of the strike zone, so that could have something to do with the high ratio stats.
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It’s amazing that the A’s are able to field a full team every night. The team has a franchise-record 13 players on the DL. Sonny Gray is just the latest victim. Unless we get some negative news, I would keep Gray if you own him. This time off could be the reset he needs to right the ship and finish the season strong.
In the meantime, there are plenty of viable options on the waiver wire to fill his spot.