Sonny Gray has been experiencing some back spasms this spring and he was scratched from his scheduled mound time today as a result. The Cincinnati Reds pitcher says he had an MRI on it last night.
“It’s still lingering just enough when you really kind of crank on pitching,” said Gray. “Lingering just enough to say ‘let’s just take a step back, let’s just try and knock everything out now’ so it doesn’t become a larger issue down the road. So that’s what we did. I didn’t throw today. I won’t throw tomorrow. I think the plan is to try and pick up a ball on Wednesday or Thursday, play catch, so it’ll be 3-4 days of not throwing and trying to treat it and just go from there. Realistically looking at it, I’ll be about a week behind these guys.”
It sounds as if Sonny Gray is expecting to miss the very start of the season, but not too much time, either. He isn’t of the belief that it’s serious or concerning at all in the long run.
“It really is nothing serious,” Gray said. “It’s nothing that I think anyone is overly concerned about. It just makes sense. You go back and forth, and it’s like one of those things you’re like ‘I feel ok, do I keep going, do I keep throwing?’ but the way it kind of breaks down and the way we’ve all kind of thought about it is it’s one of those things where do we take 5-6 days right now and try to completely knock it out so you’re a week behind to start the season or 8 days, or whatever it ends up being, or do you keep going and it maybe it turns into a larger issue and maybe you miss 10 starts, maybe you miss 15 starts, maybe you miss zero. I don’t know. But it just kind of makes sense to take 5-6 days now rather than risk taking a month or two months battling through something and maybe potentially getting worse. ”
“It looks maybe just a week behind and that’s strictly just because of build up,” continued Gray. “It’s not necessarily because I’m completely shut down or this or that, I just think it becomes you run out of time before the season starts. I’ll be in games here before spring is over, probably next week. But then it just becomes a build up issue and it’s kind of like, ok, you going to start the season throwing 3 innings or you going to take a couple extra (days) to build up to 5-6-7 innings? That’s strictly what it becomes.”
The plan makes some sense. There’s no real need to risk making things worse when if things go as planned, Sonny Gray could miss one or two starts. Having the scheduled off days in the first two weeks of the season could play into the Reds favor, too, the team could potentially only need to fill in one start and could have Gray return to pitch in Arizona or San Francisco during the second week of the season.
Having back issues is never fun. I know I have a slipped disk that likes to flare up from time to time. I would much rather see him be a little careful then have him hurt himself and be out for a long period.
I have had two herniated disks for about 20 years now and they also flare up every now and then. . The best thing he can do is take it easy right now. I made mine much worse by continuing to work when I first got hurt. . Best of luck Sonny. Get well soon.
Carson Fuller claimed by Reds
Interesting. Derek Johnson reclamation?
Gray, Akiyama, Votto, Castillo, Garrett, now Antone. The “bad luck” is already piling up. If it weren’t for bad luck, I dont think the Reds would have any luck at all.
Garret said he is coming back likely soon or before ST ends up at least. But Antone issue is a very bad new… And what about Castillo? Is he injured too?
The only team with more injuries than the Reds is last night’s opponent, San Diego, who roundly defeated them. Most of the injured have seen very limited action thus far, which says something but I’m not sure what. Guys should rarely go on the DL when sitting on the bench most of the time.
Spring training records mean nothing but when you’re 3-10 and getting outscored by 2.5 runs per game, that’s says something isn’t working. The pitchers are having a feast striking out batters but yet are 29th in ERA. There has been way too many fielding errors and reminders of the miscues and malaise that has affected most of the David Bell era thus far.
The season hasn’t even begun and there is already talk of bad luck. Really? Some Reds people (managers, players and execs) need to look into their socially distanced mirror a little more often. While some newer players have put some needed spark on the field, the song still remains the same.