Josiah Gray Graduates From College Summa Cum Laude: No Wonder His Baseball IQ Is So High

Josiah Gray Graduates From College Summa Cum Laude: No Wonder His Baseball IQ Is So High

by | May 28, 2024 | THE THREE SPOT

BOSTON – It’s been quite a while since Josiah Gray has been on a Big League mound, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been putting in the work.

 

On May 20th, Gray posted on his social media that he had earned his Bachelor of Science degree in business and economics from Le Moyne College in New York. He got his degree with Summa Cum Laude honors, meaning that he had a grade point average of around 3.9-4.0, and he was in the top 5% of students in the graduating class.

 

 

“Sometimes plans take a little longer than you expect… but in the process, dreams come true. I’m grateful to finish what I started 9 years ago,” Gray said on X when announcing his achievement. 

 

Where Is Josiah Gray From?

 

Gray was born and raised in New Rochelle, New York, going to the local high school, and then accepting his one and only scholarship offer for the Dolphins of Le Moyne College. He played there for his first three years, improving significantly each season, and then left school early to be drafted in the second round, 72nd overall in the 2018 MLB draft by the Cincinnati Reds.

 

He was with the Reds for about six months, but in December of 2018, he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was the centerpiece of a return trade package that sent him, Homer Bailey, and Jeter Downs to the west coast in exchange for veterans Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig, Alex Wood, and Kyle Farmer.

 

There’s A Brother On The Rubber In LA | Josiah Gray Time For The Dodgers

 

He would work in the Dodgers farm system for the next two and a half seasons, before making his debut for the Boys in Blue on July 20th, 2021 against the San Francisco Giants.

 

Josiah Gray Traded Several Times Before Finding Home In DC

 

He only suited up in the Dodger blue for less than two weeks, because on July 30th, he was once again the centerpiece of a return package, now being sent to Washington, D.C. to the Nationals with Keibert Ruiz, Gerardo Carrillo, and Donovan Casey for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner.

He’s been with the Nationals ever since, consistently improving his ERA each and every year. In 2023, he earned his first All-Star honors, and had a sub-4 ERA for the first time in his career, and has slowly become the ace of a young and rebuilding Nationals team.

 

Josiah Gray Has Had Injury-Plagued 2024

 

It’s been a rough start to say the least for Gray in 2024, as he’s only made two starts, but lost both of them. He went less than five innings in both starts, and has given up a total of 13 runs, with a 14.04 ERA. On April 9th, Gray was put on the IL with a right flexor strain in his elbow, and he’s been on the shelf ever since.

 

He has been making steady progress, as he was able to throw in a simulated game over the weekend at Nationals Park. Everything went well, but Gray will need a couple of more simulated games/rehab starts before he can make his return to game action, which the team is hoping can be around mid-June.

 

 

Whenever his return may be, he will be welcomed back with open arms. When he’s on top of his game, it’s very hard to stop him.

Josiah “Sway” Gray Is Getting Closer To Return

Josiah “Sway” Gray Is Getting Closer To Return

by | May 6, 2024 | THE LEAD OFF

The Washington Nationals have been without their all-star pitcher Josiah Gray since the second week of April.

Gray landed on the injured list on April 9 with a right elbow/forearm flexor strain. Not the start of the season Gray and the Nationals were looking to have.

But the good thing is that he’s shown signs of improvement. On March 4, he threw his first bullpen since landing on the IL, a step in the right direction for the 26-year-old.

Nationals manager Dave Martinez was pleased to hear about Gray’s bullpen session.

 

“Good. He felt good,” Martinez said in an article from masn.com. “So the next step, again, will be to throw another one in about three or four days. We’ll see how his recovery is. He says he feels fine. So he’ll throw another one here probably either Tuesday or Wednesday.”

Gray was poised to start the year off strong, especially coming off a 2023 season where he was named an all-star for the first time in his career.

He was named on the Opening-Day starter for Washington this season and did not have the start he envisioned. The Cincinnati Reds put up a total of seven runs in four innings against Gray.

In his next start, the Pittsburgh Pirates got the best of him as he gave up six runs on seven hits. That was his last start before landing on the IL.

After that start against the Pirates, Gray noticed some discomfort in his throwing arm.

When the discomfort did not go away, Gray alerted the staff and went to get an MRI and the team decided to scratch him from his third scheduled start of the season.

 “The MRI was a good result,” Gray told mlb.com. “Everything was intact — the UCL was intact, all the other forearm muscles were intact. … Overall, a positive outlook.”

“It’s sort of a dull linger on the muscle, on the pronator flexor mass muscle,” he said. “[It’s] sort of a common thing for pitchers. The training staff is going to take care of it and take care of me.”

The Nationals want to make sure that Gray is 100 percent before he goes back out there on that mound.

Throughout his career, Gray has been injury free up to this point.

 

 

“It sucks,” Gray said of the injury. “Ever since I joined the Nationals, I made every single start that I was scheduled to make and I prided myself on doing that. So, obviously, it’s a little bit of a gut punch to come to the ballpark and not be slated in the five-man rotation for the foreseeable future.

“It’s a harsh reality of what we do as pitchers, especially in today’s game. Injury risk is going up. It definitely gives you a sense of reality in what we do. Unfortunately, I have to miss some time, but I don’t think it’s going to change anything I really do. Obviously devote some more time to recovery and stuff like that. But I’m going to turn a corner from this and come back strong.”

Once Gray makes his return, he will look to make an impact and have a different result from his first two outings of the season.