BSN Exclusive: The fundamental adjustment that has Jon Gray back on his game

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The ups and downs of a baseball season can be an endurance test for even those with the slowest of heartbeats.

And that almost pales in comparison to the ups and downs of a baseball career.

All-time greats like Albert Pujols and Roy Halliday dominated for a decade then experienced sharp declines. Tim Lincecum was arguably the most important player on two World Series Championship teams and the best pitcher in baseball for half a decade before falling completely off the map.

For less famous examples, look no further than Colorado’s own Kyle Freeland who came in fourth in Cy Young voting a year ago and excelled in the most important game the club had played nearly 10 years, and is currently trying to iron things out in Triple-A.

On the flip side, reliever Bryan Shaw has gone from a total nightmare to a reliable rock in the course of one offseason.

But the most important transformation from 2018 to 2019 has been the search of Jon Gray, The Wolf of Blake Street, to find himself again.

It began in the offseason and has carried through the early parts of this one as Gray attacked his weight issue with a new plan to keep him strong and healthy over the course of a long and grinding season.

But there has also been a specific technical change of late that has him not just feeling better, but pitching measurably better as well.

“I had to change the grip on my fastball,” Gray tells BSN Denver.

That’s a pretty extraordinary thing for a guy who has been throwing fastballs his entire life, including a few years in the Bigs, to change up such a fundamental part of his game. But, Gray says, it was vital to getting back both the command and velocity that he needs to succeed.

“I had my fingers too far apart on the baseball,” he explains. “For a long time, I’ve gotten run on my fastball but don’t always know where it comes from. This year, I was getting too much movement and it would tail right back to the center of the zone.”

Gray further notes that plenty of times this year, a fastball has felt good out of his hand only to move more than he anticipated and end up getting hammered, often for home runs. This frustration ultimately led to a conversation with catchers and pitching coaches wherein they realized that Gray’s fingers were spreading too wide in the glove just before delivery, causing the extra bite and lack of control.

“So I just started focusing on that,” he says. “Putting my fingers together tight on the seems.”

He picks up a baseball and shows how this helps to keep him on a straight line to the plate. “Now, I feel like I can throw it where I need to,” he says.

He also felt like it was robbing him of his best potential velocity on the pitch. So, in between a start in Philadelphia and his next one in Pittsburgh, he says he “spent all week practicing” holding the fingers closer together. Then, suddenly against the Pirates, it clicked.

“It just felt so natural. I was able to stay behind the ball and put more force behind it,” he says. “Everything came out a lot better.”

He hit 98 mph on the gun multiple times in that game and has sat around 96-97 mph ever since. “I noticed that the balls I was throwing away to righties were staying true, not running back over, and they had to guess because it was zipping.”

He says after feeling that early success, he has made a similar adjustment with his slider, “gripping it a bit tighter” for more torque and better accuracy.

In his last three starts since implementing the changes, Gray has tossed 19 innings and given up five earned runs (2.37 ERA) while striking out 16 and walking six.

“It’s just pitch-to-pitch,” he says. “When it’s leaving my hands, I just feel good. Even if I miss the spot, I know it’s gonna be a good pitch that’s gonna force weak contact.”

The first big step was getting himself physically right and Gray has done that. Now he has a far more solid foundation to build from, taking his most important pitch and honing it into a far more devastating weapon.

“It’s better velo and better control,” Gray laughs. “I just have a better all-around fastball.”

The Gray Wolf still has a long way to go before anyone will resume arguing about whether or not he has “ace” potential. But don’t let his handful of poor starts or relatively mundane top-line stats from this season fool you, he is back on the prowl.

Jon Gray has put in the work to retailor his body and his number one pitch to once again make himself a core member of a team fighting for the postseason.