Sonny Gray studied Bartolo Colon when the two pitched for the Athletics:
The main lesson he learned from Colon: patience. These days, when Gray pitches, he’s never in a rush. That wasn’t always the case, though. Gray, a two-time state champion quarterback in high school who could have played collegiately at Colorado, is a tad hyper by nature.
Now, Gray takes about as much time as any pitcher in baseball between deliveries. The trait came from Colon, who was a mere 40 in 2013, and an 18-game winner for the A’s the year Gray debuted with Oakland.
Colon was more than willing to teach:
“The thing about young pitchers like that is: It is not about how much I want to teach them, it is about how much they want to learn,” Colon said through an interpreter. “Sonny Gray was one of those guys [that wanted to learn].”
Gray never considered skipping college to go to the pros straight from high school, and Colon noticed Gray was a student. Colon saw Gray wouldn’t go home early when Colon pitched a night game, even if Gray was scheduled to start a day game the next day.
We will see if that calmness pays off tonight for the Yankees.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2xVFBCW
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