Sonny Gray is in a better, more competitive environment now, but the start to his Boston Red Sox tenure hasn't exactly gone smoothly.
Through his first two spring training starts covering 5 1/3 innings, the veteran right-hander has recorded a 6.75 ERA and 8.32 FIP while allowing two home runs and three walks compared to just five strikeouts.
It's certainly not the most promising sign, but those who have followed Gray's career closely know this is par for the course. Come the regular season, he should be thriving as the Red Sox's No. 3 starter.
“He’s very specific about his work. Every day has a purpose,” Alex Cora told The Athletic's Jen McCaffrey. “It’s been refreshing having a veteran that acts that way. He’s been outstanding for the guys here in camp."
Sonny Gray's slow start to spring training shouldn't concern Red Sox fans
Truth be told, that's the right attitude to have about Gray. He normally spends the spring exhibition slate working on his mechanics and feel, which don't always lead to the best results. Last year with the Cardinals, his spring training ERA was 12.56. Including that performance and his work this year, Gray has posted a spring-training ERA above 5.00 seven times in his career.
And yet, practically without fail, he shows up ready for the regular season. Over the past three years, his ERA in the season's first month is as follows: 3.60, 1.16, and 0.77.
Gray has run an xERA below 4.00 in every single season since 2019, a feat he's matched in both FIP and xFIP. He's a metrics darling despite modest strikeout numbers throughout his career, though he's improved upon even that recently, ringing up 30.3% of hitters in 2024 and 26.7% of hitters in 2025. Though he's started to allow harder contact as he gets older, he's maintained elite chase, whiff, and walk rates without fail.
Is that really the profile of someone who demands the concerns of most fans? Sure, he's a 36-year-old with low-90s velocity on his fastball, but he also throws eight pitches. He may be removed from his 2023 peak when he led the league in FIP (2.83) and finished second in AL Cy Young voting with the Minnesota Twins, but in 2025, he still led the Senior Circuit in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.29) and handled more than 180 innings for the second time in three years.
Gray is about as reliable as pitchers come. Red Sox fans have other players worth sweating over more. Trust the process and let the 13-year veteran keep preparing in his own fashion for the regular season.