St. Louis Cardinals top starting pitcher Sonny Gray suffered a mild hamstring strain and his status for Opening Day is in jeopardy, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told reporters in Jupiter, Fla. on Tuesday morning.
“This is something that is going to slow (Gray) down,” Mozeliak said. “But we don’t think it’s going to be something that’s going to go deep into the season by any means.”
Gray, who signed a three-year, $75 million contract in November, was slated to be the Cardinals’ No. 1 starter entering the season and was officially named the team’s Opening Day starter last week. However, the 34-year-old right-hander felt tightness in his hamstring after throwing a pitch in the second inning of his second exhibition start Monday, and promptly left the game. Gray underwent an MRI later that evening, which revealed the minor strain.
The Cardinals are scheduled to open the 2024 season on March 28 against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. With roughly three weeks remaining until that date, the runway for Gray to be cleared is short.
“I would imagine the (Opening Day start) is in question, but we’re going to give it some time,” Mozeliak said, later adding that the current timeline of the spring would make it “challenging” for Gray to make that start.
Gray has experienced trouble with his right hamstring before. He missed over a month of the 2022 season with the Minnesota Twins due to two separate hamstring strains, but completed a healthy 2023, where he made all 32 of his starts and finished second in American League Cy Young Award voting.
Mozeliak described Gray’s strain as “less” than what he dealt with in 2022. Still, hamstring injuries can be finicky, and the Cardinals do not have a timetable for when Gray could be cleared to return to game action.
“I’m not going to put any return to play (timeline) on it,” Mozeliak said. “It’s been less than 24 hours, so we’re just going to see how he responds over the next few days. But from the MRI reading, we are definitely encouraged.”
The Cardinals rotation without Gray currently lines up as Miles Mikolas, Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn and Steven Matz, with either Matthew Liberatore or Zack Thompson slated to take the fifth spot. St. Louis had also previously discussed beginning the year with a six-man rotation, and that option remains in play.
After signing Gray, Gibson and Lynn (along with a multitude of relievers) over the offseason, Mozeliak had ruled out his cub from adding another starting pitcher. Top free agents Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery (a former Cardinal) remain available, but there is no indication that Gray’s injury would change the organization’s way of thinking until there is a more clear timeline on Gray’s recovery.
“I definitely feel (adding pitching depth) is not something that is required at this point,” Mozeliak said. “If something changes, we’d have to look at it differently, but we’re not thinking we’ll have to do that at this point.
“Fingers crossed this won’t be something that lingers too long.”
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(Photo: AP Photo / Jeff Roberson)
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