Sonny Gray, the top offseason acquisition for the St. Louis Cardinals, was removed from his second exhibition start with right hamstring tightness, according to a team spokesperson.
He had thrown 20 pitches over 1 2/3 innings Monday against the Washington Nationals but motioned for catcher Willson Contreras after throwing a pitch midway through an at-bat against catcher Keibert Ruiz.
Gray was quickly met at the mound by Contreras, head trainer Adam Olsen, manager Oli Marmol and pitching coach Dusty Blake. The decision to remove him from the game soon followed.
Gray, who signed a three-year, $75 million deal with St. Louis in November, was named the Opening Day starter last week. He remained in the dugout until the end of the inning Monday before being taken off-site for further evaluation.
What is the initial level of concern?
Concern will always arise after a team’s presumed ace leaves a spring game early. Gray was slated to throw three innings and breezed through the first of them. But after recording an out in the second inning, both Gray and Contreras immediately recognized something as wrong.
The Cardinals will not know the extent of Gray’s hamstring tightness until Tuesday. Gray is set to undergo an MRI on Monday evening in Jupiter.
The Cardinals obviously hope to avoid any serious injury, but if Gray is sidelined, their rotation leaves much to be desired. Miles Mikolas and Kyle Gibson would round out the upper tier, with Steven Matz (who notched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts in his Grapefruit League debut Monday) and Lance Lynn making up the middle. Matthew Liberatore and Zack Thompson would be the likeliest candidates to fill out the rotation, and perhaps both left-handers could make the cut if the Cardinals decide to use a temporary six-man rotation to open the year.
Still, the Cardinals will wait to make any decisions until they know the extent of Gray’s injury.
Has Gray dealt with hamstring injuries before?
Gray notched a healthy 2023 for the Minnesota Twins, making all 32 of his starts, but landed on the injured list three times in 2022. Two of those stints were hamstring-related. Gray missed nearly three weeks in mid-April in 2022 with what the Twins termed a “low-grade right hamstring strain” and was placed on the IL again in mid-September with another right hamstring strain.
Despite the injury-riddled 2022, Gray all but certainly put concerns about his hamstring to rest in 2023. He and the Cardinals hope Monday’s premature exit was a precaution, but the next 24 hours will be telling.
(Photo of Sonny Gray: Jeff Roberson/Associated Press)
