Gray ready to compete in young rotation

Pitchers and catchers don’t have to officially report to the Nationals’ facility in West Palm Beach until Tuesday. But it’s not uncommon to see guys start arriving a week or so early.

Josiah Gray is among those already down there getting ready for the start of camp. He joined “The Hot Stove Show” last week over Zoom from his back patio under cover from the sun after getting Florida license plates for his car.

Even professional athletes can’t avoid the pain of a trip to the DMV. A necessary evil to save the hassle for future spring trainings.

This will be Gray’s second spring training in West Palm Beach after coming over to the Nats in the blockbuster trade with the Dodgers in July 2021. And this time he’ll be looking to become one of the top pitchers in the starting rotation.

While a lot of focus will be on the Nats’ top prospects entering the second full season of this rebuild, attention will still be paid to the young players at the major league level to see how their development progresses, Gray included.

He will be joined by left-hander MacKenzie Gore, one of the five prospects from last summer’s blockbuster trade with the Padres, and fellow right-hander Cade Cavalli, a 2020 first-round pick. These three are expected to lead the rotation of the next competitive Nationals team. And that starts with them being competitive against each other.

“I think it’s going to be super exciting,” Gray said. “Just watching those guys work and their preparation and everything they do pregame, in warmups, it’s going to be a lot of fun. I think we’re all gonna be rooting for each other. But also competing against each other because we’re all high-caliber guys in terms of how we compete. So it’s going to be a lot of fun competing with those guys.”

Gray will have a lot to focus on improving while competing against Gore and Cavalli on a daily basis this spring. Specific areas that need improving for him are limiting home runs and walks. He led the majors with 38 homers allowed last season, and he led the National League with 66 walks. Decreasing those numbers will also help him improve on his 5.02 ERA and 1.359 WHIP.

There are veterans in camp who can help Gore and his fellow young arms along the way. Patrick Corbin, once a frontline starter in his own right, returns for his 11th major league season, fifth with the Nationals. And Trevor Williams joins as an offseason addition in free agency for his eighth campaign after spending the last year and a half with the Mets in a rotation that included Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.

“It’s gonna be huge,” Gray said of having veteran experience like Corbin and Williams in the clubhouse. “We all know Pat’s pedigree and everything he’s done in the game. It’s gonna be a lot of fun just peeling back the layers on him and seeing how he approaches certain hitters. And then Trevor Williams, I’ve heard nothing but good things in the way he prepares and the way he looks at hitters. So I’m really excited to just learn from him, because he’s been a part of some great staffs. And I think having that veteran presence along with some young guys it’s going to be a good mesh for us just having a bunch of ideas that we throw out, say we’re watching a game, being able to just think and kind of analyze just in a different way depending on how those guys look at it.”

But again, even with Corbin and Williams filling out the rotation, the attention will be focused on this upcoming “Big Three.” And their development on and off the mound will be huge for the future of this franchise.

“We’ve talked a little bit throughout the offseason,” Gray said of Gore and Cavalli. “Seeing where everyone’s at and their plans when they're coming down to Florida and everything like that. I’m really excited to learn from those guys, pitch with those guys and just be in the clubhouse with them and become better friends.”