Jon Gray Working to Add New Pitch to Arsenal

Jon Gray is one of the Colorado Rockies’ brightest prospects heading into the 2016, and he looks to add another pitch to his arsenal this offseason.

Jon Gray currently has three pitches in his arsenal: fastball, change-up, and slider; however, he hopes to add a curveball to his arsenal heading into the next season. With four pitches, Jon Gray becomes a much more dangerous pitcher on the mound, able to change speeds and get the ball moving in different directions. The difficulty with learning a new pitch entering the season is that Jon Gray might suffer for inconsistent pitch locations.

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In Jon Gray’s short stint with the Colorado Rockies last season, he looked more like a thrower than pitcher, at times. He leaned heavily on the use of his plus-plus fastball that can touch the upper-90s. Moreover, the Colorado Rockies limited Jon Gray’s exposure to Major League hitters, setting strict pitch count limits for their highly touted prospect. By doing so, Jon Gray registered only 40 innings pitched over nine starts.

Jon Gray finished the 2015 season with an 0-2 record over 40.2 innings pitched, registering a 5.53 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, and 3.63 FIP. With a FIP nearly two points lower than his ERA, this shows that Jon Gray may have been on the receiving end of some bad luck. He demonstrated a keen ability to strike out hitters at the MLB level, posting an 8.85 K/9 last season. However, the good comes with the bad, as Jon Gray registered a 3.10 BB/9.

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With Jon Gray looking to add a curveball to his repertoire next season, we might see an increase in strikeouts from the hard-throwing right-hander, but his walk rate may hover around the same rate due to the newly-added pitch. If Jon Gray can gain confidence and command with his curveball, he might vault himself into a future ace of the Colorado Rockies’ pitching staff. Hopefully, Jon Gray enters the 2016 without an innings/pitch count restriction, so he can prove his worth at the next level.

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2016 marks the first full season for Jon Gray as a member of the Colorado Rockies, and he will have to learn how to become a better pitcher at the next level on the fly. He figures to headline an underwhelming pitching staff next season, but Jon Gray has the potential to blossom into one of the best young pitchers in the game. Look for Jon Gray to implement his newly-added curveball heading into Spring Training next season.

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