40 in 40: Josiah Gray
The 26-year-old took a big step forward, but he needs to improve if he wants to live up to his potential.
Position: Starting Pitcher
Current Status: Entering his Pre-Arbitration Season
How Acquired: Josiah Gray was one of the headlining pieces in the Nationals trade with the Dodgers for Trea Turner and Max Scherzer in 2021
2023 Grade: B-
2024 Opening Day Projection: MLB front-of-rotation starter
2023 Stats: W-L: 8-13, ERA: 3.91, IP: 159.0, SO: 143, WHIP: 1.459
2023 Analysis:
Josiah Gray made a huge leap in 2023, making his first All-Star game appearance as the Nationals’ lone representative last season.
Gray in his second full season in the bigs had a career-high in innings pitched at 159 while drastically cutting down on home runs given up. A huge improvement for the young pitcher but there is still room for him to grow in 2024.
2024 Outlook:
While Gray took a huge step in the right direction in 2023 in order to keep the Nationals on track in 2024, he needs to continue to improve on his year. The biggest area Gray can improve in is his pitch selection. In 2023, he threw his slider 24.6% of the time, the most used pitch in his arsenal while at the same time being the only pitch to see an increase in barrel percentage on the year. If he can control his slider a little better, he could make another jump in 2024.
