Tag: Sonny Gray

MLB Players Who Will Blossom into Superstars in 2015

This is one exclusive club. Simply put, there just aren’t that many big leaguers who earn the title of MLB superstar.

Players like Clayton Kershaw and Miguel Cabrera easily fit the bill, and each season, a host of rising stars aim to join the ranks. “Superstar” is a tricky term to define. For the purposes of this list, the idea is to find five big leaguers on the verge of joining that stratosphere.

The first requirement is that all the players on the slides that follow must have actually appeared in a big league game. The minors are flooded with highly talented players, but it’s not fair to put them in the superstar conversation before they’ve actually stepped onto a major league diamond.

The second requirement is that none of the players who crack this list can be too established in the majors. The idea is to avoid including players who have already broken out. Think Anthony Rendon of the Washington Nationals, who is entering just his third season, but who earned an All-Star nod in 2014 and landed No. 5 in National League MVP award balloting. As a cutoff, any player who has already appeared in an All-Star Game is ineligible.

As a result, the five players on this list have all enjoyed some success in the major leagues, but they have yet to establish themselves as All-Star-caliber contributors. Thanks to the way these players performed in 2014 and how they have stepped up this spring, all five have the ability to take off in the upcoming campaign.

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Athletics’ Sonny Gray Records 10 Straight Quality Starts to Start Season

Per Jane Lee of MLB.com, Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Sonny Gray has become the first A’s player since at least 1914 to open a season with 10 consecutive quality starts. Gray ran his streak to 10 games with an eight-inning performance Thursday afternoon, allowing only a single earned run to the Tampa Bay Rays while striking out three.

In order for a pitcher to get a quality start, he must toss a minimum of six innings while allowing no more than three earned runs. Sixteen of Gray’s 20 career starts qualify, and three of the other four weren’t far off. He’s only had one truly bad outing, which came Aug. 25 against the Baltimore Orioles.

Through 10 starts and 68 innings in 2014, Gray has compiled a 5-1 record with a 1.99 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 55 strikeouts. On April 28 against the Texas Rangers, he recorded his first career complete game and first career shutout.

Gray is averaging just slightly less than seven innings of work per start this season, and his five wins are tied with the resurgent Scott Kazmir for tops on the Athletics’ staff. Gray has made 20 starts of a total 22 appearances in his major league career—10 starts in 2013 and 10 more thus far in 2014. 

The A’s have compiled a stout 7-3 record in the 24-year-old’s starts this season after going 6-4 in his outings last year. The team lost three of Gray’s first four career starts, but dating back to Aug. 31, 2013, Oakland’s record over his last 16 appearances is an impressive 12-4.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


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