St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Sonny Gray is entering his 13th season in Major League Baseball, and he’s experienced it all in his career. Gray has twice finished in the top three of Cy Young voting—once in his 20s and again in his 30s. However, he also endured struggles during his time with the New York Yankees, posting a 4.90 ERA in 2018, a year before he became an All-Star with the Cincinnati Reds.
Now entering his age-35 season with the Cardinals, Gray remains confident in his abilities.
“Physically, I still feel more than capable, and mentally I’m strong,” Gray told John Denton of MLB.com. “I still love baseball and I still am very good at baseball, so I still feel really good about it.”
Gray also believes pitchers tend to peak a little later in their careers, meaning he feels he is still near his prime.
“I think you peak as a pitcher when you get into your low- to mid-30s, so we’ll see how the high-30s go. Being who I am with my [smaller] stature, as long as I take care of my body, I’ll be fine. Mentally, I think I’m as strong as ever with the repetitions I’ve made. But with the pitching, I still feel strong.”
Erick Fedde and Sonny Gray will lead a Cardinals rotation with plenty of potential
While the St. Louis Cardinals are in the midst of a rebuild, their rotation still has the potential to deliver some wins along the way. Sonny Gray’s 2024 season wasn’t quite as stellar as his Cy Young-caliber 2023 campaign with the Minnesota Twins, but he was still effective, posting a 13-9 record, 3.84 ERA, and 203 strikeouts.
If Gray is the team’s ace, the reinvented Erick Fedde isn’t far behind. Acquired at the trade deadline last year, Fedde’s remarkable return from Korea continued with solid results down the stretch. After posting a 5.41 career ERA from 2017 to 2022 with the Washington Nationals, he finished 2023 with a 3.30 ERA between the Cardinals and the Chicago White Sox.
Beyond those two, the rotation has plenty of uncertainty. The Andre Pallante-as-a-starter experiment showed promise last year, but he now needs to build on that success in his second season.
Michael McGreevy impressed in his first three major league starts, but it’s still unclear how he’ll perform over the course of a full season—or even a full month. Then there’s Miles Mikolas, a reliable veteran who remains durable, but his 5.32 ERA over 32 starts last year raises concerns, especially with just 6.4 strikeouts per nine innings and a hard-hit percentage above 42%.
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