Well everyone seems to believe that Gray is at least a number 3 SP. I just don't see it. He has a penchant for giving up dingers as was noted by some when we acquired him at the deadline. It was recently noted by Zuck that if his innings pitched were extrapolated out for a full season he would give up more HR's than Corbin did last year (37?). I would settle on him being an innings eater at a # 5. Can he right the ship? He is certainly young enough and I hope so.
Last year he was 23, coming off a year with no minor leagues, had a total of 40 career innings above high-A going into the season, and was pitching to two rookie catchers who were also trying to figure out MLB hitters and umpires on the fly. He's barely had an opportunity to figure out through experience what the differences between A-ball hitters and MLB hitters are. There are a lot of things that pointed to him potentially struggling even more than he did.
He's only six months older than Cavalli. There are multiple top-50 pitching prospects who are already 24 and haven't appeared in the majors yet. Time is on his side, and it's not like there's pressure to succeed immediately.
Maybe he won't be a #3, but I think he'll be substantially better than he was last year given another year or so. And what he was at the end of last year was already a #5 MLB starter on many teams.
