Ready to Go: The Journey of Alabama Pitcher Dylan Ray

After undergoing Tommy John surgery during the preseason of his freshman year and the year of rehab that followed, Ray finally took to the mound last Saturday for the Crimson Tide.

As the sun shone down on the fresh-cut, bright green grass and wet red dirt of Sewell-Thomas Stadium last Saturday afternoon in Tuscaloosa, Ala., a moment took place that had been building up for years.

To most of the 3,673 Alabama baseball fans in attendance, the moment likely went by mostly unnoticed. It wasn't a moment as exhilarating as a walk-off home run, as right fielder Owen Diodati had done the previous evening against Xavier. Nor was it quite as impactful as the four-run second inning that the Crimson Tide had conducted just over an hour earlier.

For redshirt-freshman pitcher Dylan Ray, though, the moment was everything that he had been seeking since joining Alabama baseball in the fall of 2020.

“That was my first time pitching in a game in two years, so it was just surreal being out there being able to throw for the first time," Ray said. "I felt good, I was ready to go. I was anxious when coach called my number. When I got called, I was excited and I was ready to be back out there.”

While Ray's moment on the mound ultimately lasted two innings, where he allowed two hits, a run, walked two and struck out two more, his appearance signified so much more than simply a relief outing by a young reliever.

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Hailing from New Market, Ala. — a small town located roughly 17 miles northeast of downtown Huntsville, Ray grew up being a big Alabama football fan. His father, Tom, and his older brother, Jacob, both attended the university. However, neither of them had participated in athletics for the Crimson Tide.

"None of my family played baseball," Dylan said. "My older brother played high school ball but my dad never played baseball, so we didn’t really go to any Alabama baseball games growing up, but we’ve always grown up big Alabama football fans. I can’t even count the amount of Alabama football games I’ve been to growing up, so that was definitely a huge inspiration to me that I go here.”

Dylan started playing baseball when he was four, and while Jacob didn't stick with it to the same level as his younger brother, Dylan found a love for the game. It wasn't until middle school that he began to realize that baseball could play a role in his college career, though.

Seeing his travel ball teammates being recruited by college coaches, Ray admitted that he was a tad jealous.

"I guess I was jealous of them for a little while," Ray chuckled. "I was like ‘Man, if they can do that, I’ve played with them my whole life, played against them my whole life.’ I thought I deserved an opportunity, so probably in eighth or ninth grade that was one of my true goals to play college baseball. I started going to all the camps and things like that.

"I started trying to make an effort to be noticed by colleges and stuff like that, so that’s when that started really.”

While he looked at other options throughout his college search, it was his father and brother's alma mater in Alabama that he ultimately chose to attend. The decision didn't come without a certain level of bias, though.

“Alabama was definitely first on my list,” Ray said. “It was the first school I visited. I already knew the campus pretty well. I didn’t even need a tour, almost. I was singing the fight song in the stands the first visit, so it wasn’t much of a surprise that I came here. I was looking at other schools as well, but none of them — my heart was never really in any other school so it was a no-brainer for me to come here.”

During his junior year of high school, Ray had to undergo ACL surgery in order to repair damage that he had sustained from playing baseball. Throughout middle school and high school, Ray had had to deal with frequent arm pain, even having multiple platelet-rich plasma injections to help him recover. While the surgery required rehab and was a slight setback, Ray didn't let it dissuade him from continuing to play the game he loved.

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Ray joined the Crimson Tide for school and soon started taking part in fall workouts and practices. However, he soon became aware that his throwing arm wasn't completely healthy. After the pain persisted, Ray had an MRI done on his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). The result? A full tear that would require reconstructive surgery before he had even thrown a single pitch in a college game.

While the diagnosis would be disheartening for most athletes, Ray took it in stride.

"I knew what the process was through rehab and kinda what it took to come back fully from a surgery like that, and so I was actually really optimistic going through Tommy John surgery," Ray said. "I remained positive the whole time. It never really affected me in any negative way other than I couldn’t be out there.

Ray was forced to watch from the dugout for the entirety of his freshman season while he rehabilitated his UCL. However, as with his first surgery, he used it as an opportunity to learn and grow.

"I learned way more than I could have ever asked being a part of the team, being a part of the culture of last year," Ray said. "I was able to go to a few of the SEC weekends. I was keeping a chart and I was in the dugout and I was experiencing it without experiencing it if that makes any sense, and so I thought it was actually really good for me to be able to deal with something like that while also being a part of the team. It was definitely tough not playing.”

Ray's chart monitored the pitching efficiency of both his Crimson Tide teammates and opposing pitchers. He charted first-pitch strikes, getting ahead in the count and other factors. The charting not only helped him learn what it took to be an SEC pitcher, but it also helped his teammates develop their own games.

Last fall, Ray took to the mound and began throwing pitches for the first time on a mound since his surgery. Having fully recovered, he was eager to pitch once again. However, he wasn't quite ready for the role as a starter, and primarily pitched relief in scrimmages leading up to the 2022 season.

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On that beautiful sunny afternoon at The Joe last Saturday, Ray finally got his first career mound appearance in a Crimson Tide jersey.

“I’ve never pitched out of the bullpen before, and so it was definitely a little weird running out there,” Ray said. “It was cool. It felt like a dream come true just being able to run out to the bullpen and I was ready, so it was just really awesome when they called me in.

"I tried to make my jog out there pretty cool. I hope that worked.”

After a year-and-a-half of being forced to wait in the dugout meticulously charting down the pitches of others that were originally supposed to be his own, Ray had finally made his Alabama debut. While it was a moment that likely went by unnoticed by the majority of Crimson Tide fans present on Saturday, it was a moment that Ray will never forget.

Heading into the season, Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon noted the impact that he believes Ray can have on the Crimson Tide's pitching staff.

“D-Ray’s a dude,” Bohannon said. “He’s probably a guy that we’re really counting on that a lot of our fans don’t really know anything about because he hasn’t pitched for Alabama yet. He can run his fastball up to 95 and he’s got a really good breaking ball and a good changeup and he throws a ton of strikes. Really mature, really competitive and I have to remind myself that he’s never pitched an inning at Alabama.

"He’s a physical kid, he carries himself with a lot of maturity socially and the way that he works and prepares and competes, he’s like a senior; not like a kid that’s never pitched in a college baseball game before, so I always have to remind myself of that. He’s had a really good fall and been really impressive in the preseason and somebody we’re expecting to be a part of whatever success we have.”

There's still a long road ahead for Ray and his journey with Alabama baseball. While he might have gotten a later start than he would have liked, he still has four seasons of eligibility and will be throwing with a fully-healthy arm for the first time in years.

Now that he's back to full health, Ray is completely confident in his abilities and is excited to show the Crimson Tide faithful what they've been missing out on in his absence.

“I think that Alabama fans should expect to see my full effort,” Ray said. “I’m going to leave every single bit I have on that field. That’s basically all you can ask is 100-percent effort. I don’t predict outcomes. I’m willing to do whatever it takes for our team to win.”

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