Gray Impressive in First Outing, Casali Getting On-Base Early for Reds
The Vanderbilt Commodores have put their stamp on Major League Baseball of late with the amount of talent produced that are now in "the show."
Sonny Gray is one of those guys, and he got his 2020 season off to an impressive start, tossing six innings of three-hit baseball, allowing one earned run while striking out nine to earn his first win of the season in a 7-1 season-opening road win over Detroit.
Gray, now 30, broke into the mayors in 2013 after being the No.18 overall selection in the first round of the 2011 draft, He enters his second season with Cincinnati after spending the first 4.5 seasons with Oakland, the moving to New York and the Yankees, before joining the Reds last season.
The former Commodore is the best pitcher on a Reds squad that had high hopes entering the season, but after dropping two of three on opening weekend to the Tigers, there is some work to do for the Big Red Machine.
A two-time all-star in both 2015 with the A's and 2019 with the Reds, Gray finished second last season in the voting for the MLBPA's National League Comeback Player of the Year Award and finished seventh in the Cy Young Award voting.
Gray is scheduled to retake the hill for his second start of the season on Monday, against the Cubs in the Reds home opener.
With just 60-games on the schedule, and the Reds losing two of three, the team finds themselves. Tied for second place in their division at 1-2 alongside the Brewers and Pirates,
Gray's teammate and former Commodore catcher Curt Casali is off to a slow start at the plate.
Having started all three games behind the dish, Casali is just 2 of 9, and a .222 batting average and struck out twice. One of his two hits was a home run that produced his only RBI of the season to date. However, his on-base-percentage is .417 thanks to three walks on opening weekend.
While the batting average for Casali must climb, the fact he is getting on base is a positive sign for the third year Reds catcher.
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A 29 year veteran of radio in the Middle Tennessee area and 16 years in digital and internet media having covered the Tennessee Titans for Scout Media and TitanInsider.com before joining the Sports Illustrated family of networks.