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Robbie Ray

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Robbie Ray
Ray with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2016
Toronto Blue Jays – No. 38
Pitcher
Born: (1991-10-01) October 1, 1991 (age 33)
Brentwood, Tennessee
Bats: Left
Throws: Left
MLB debut
May 6, 2014, for the Detroit Tigers
MLB statistics
(through 2020 season)
Win–loss record49–51
Earned run average4.26
Strikeouts1,042
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Robert Glenn Ray (born October 1, 1991) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Detroit Tigers and Arizona Diamondbacks. Ray was an MLB All-Star in 2017.

Career

Amateur career

Ray attended Brentwood High School in Brentwood, Tennessee. He committed to attend the University of Arkansas to play college baseball for the Arkansas Razorbacks.[1]

Washington Nationals

The Washington Nationals selected Ray in the 12th round of the 2010 MLB draft. He signed with the Nationals, receiving a $799,000 signing bonus.[2]

Ray pitched in one game for the Vermont Lake Monsters in 2010, striking out two in one inning pitched. Pitching for the Hagerstown Suns in 2011, he went 2–3 with a 3.13 earned run average with 95 strikeouts in 89 innings pitched.[3]

Ray struggled pitching for the Potomac Nationals in 2012, going 4–12 with a 6.56 ERA.[4] He returned to Potomac for the start of the 2013 season.[5] After going 6–3 with a 3.11 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 84 innings, he was promoted to the Double-A Harrisburg Senators.[6] He posted a 5–2 record with a 3.72 ERA at Harrisburg.

Detroit Tigers

On December 2, 2013, Ray was traded to the Detroit Tigers, along with Ian Krol and Steve Lombardozzi Jr., for Doug Fister.[7][8]

Ray with the Detroit Tigers in 2014 spring training

Ray started the 2014 season with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens. The Tigers announced he would be called up to MLB following an April 26 injury to starter Aníbal Sánchez. Ray made his MLB debut on May 6, 2014, earning his first MLB win in the Tigers' 11–4 victory over the Houston Astros.[9] On August 12, he was recalled to replace an injured Aníbal Sánchez again. Ray pitched five innings, allowing four runs on six hits, while striking out five and walking two, in a 4–2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.[10]

Arizona Diamondbacks

On December 5, 2014, the Tigers traded Ray and Domingo Leyba to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three-team trade that brought Shane Greene to the Detroit Tigers, and Didi Gregorius to the New York Yankees.[11]

In 2015, Ray started the season at their AAA affiliate, the Reno Aces.[12] He made his debut in a Diamondbacks uniform on May 6, being called up to face the Colorado Rockies in the second game of a doubleheader.[13]

On June 7, 2016, Ray hit his first career home run, off of Chris Archer. Despite striking out 218 batters, Ray finished 8–15 with a 4.90 ERA in 174⅓ innings in 32 starts, giving up 24 home runs and recording just 10 quality starts in 32 total starts. In 2016 he led the major leagues in allowing opposing batters the highest batting average on balls in play (.352).[14]

In his first month and a half of 2017, Ray pitched poorly, recording a 4.57 ERA in 8 starts. In his following 8 starts, however, he went 6–1 with a 1.81 ERA in 54⅔ innings, holding opponents to a .173 batting average. He pitched his first career complete game shutout on May 30 against the Pirates, striking out 10 while allowing just four hits. In his next two starts he struck out 11 and 12 batters respectively. In a five start stretch (those three and the two prior to the shutout), Ray went 5–0 with an 0.24 ERA (1 ER in 37 innings) holding opponents to a .115 batting average (just 14 hits allowed) and 48 strikeouts. On July 2, Ray was named to his first career All-Star game. At the time, he had an 8–4 record and a 3.06 ERA in 100 innings, with a .202 batting average against and 128 strikeouts. In a game against the St. Louis Cardinals on July 28, Ray was struck in the head on a line drive by Cardinal first baseman Luke Voit in the 2nd inning and carted off the field, but a CT scan later showed that he did not suffer any fracture and only needed a few stitches to his head.[15][16] He was put on the 7-day concussion DL and did not return to the mound until August 24. On September 4, Ray struck out a career-high 14 batters while pitching 7 2/3 innings in a 13–0 victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ray earned his 12th victory of the season, and this would propel the Diamondbacks to their 11th consecutive victory. He finished the season with 15–5 with 218 strikeouts and a 2.89 ERA over 162 innings in 28 starts. His 12.11 K/9 rate was the best in the National League and he held opponents to a .199 batting average. In 2017 he had the highest rate of bases on balls per 9 innings pitched in the majors (3.94), and led the majors in giving up the highest percentage of hard-hit balls (40.4%).[17][18] He also led major league pitchers in lowest contact percentage (67.9%).[19]

Ray began the 2018 season as the Diamondbacks #2 starter. He was placed on the disabled list on April 30 with an oblique injury.[20] He finished the season 6–2 with an ERA of 3.93 in 24 starts. In 123+2⁄3 innings, he struck out 165 batters, and gave up 70 walks.

Ray pitched a career high 33 starts in 2019 despite averaging less than 6 innings per start. He was 12-8 with a 4.34 ERA in 174+1⁄3 innings, tying his career best innings pitched from 2016. He also struck out a career-high 235 batters.

On August 16, 2020, Ray reached 1,000 MLB career strikeouts.[21]

In 2020 with Arizona he was 1-4 with a 7.84 ERA.[22] He led the NL in walks given up (31).[23]

Toronto Blue Jays

On August 31, 2020, the Diamondbacks traded Ray along with cash considerations to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Travis Bergen.[24] On September 1, 2020, he made his Blue Jays debut.[25] With the 2020 Toronto Blue Jays, Ray appeared in 5 games, compiling a 1-1 record with 4.79 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 20.2 innings pitched.[26] He re-signed with the Blue Jays for the 2021 season, signing a 1 year, $8 million contract.[27]

Pitch selection

Ray throws a fastball in the 92–95 miles per hour (148–153 km/h) range, topping out at 98 miles per hour (158 km/h). His primary offspeed pitches are a slider that averages about 85 miles per hour (137 km/h) (tops out at 87 miles per hour (140 km/h)) and a curveball that he throws at about 84 miles per hour (135 km/h).[28]

Personal life

Ray married Taylor Pasma on November 2014. The couple had their first child, a son named Asher, in December 2015.[29]

References

  1. ^ Gilfillan, Kelly (August 18, 2010). "BHS pitcher Ray signs pro contract | Sports". williamsonhomepage.com. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  2. ^ Kilgore, Adam (August 16, 2010). "Nationals announce signing of Robbie Ray". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  3. ^ Sheinin, Dave (May 10, 2011). "A dazzling debut for Hagerstown's Robbie Ray". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  4. ^ Seiner, Jake (January 2, 2013). "Ray continues to rebound for Nats". Minor League Baseball. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  5. ^ Kilgore, Adam (May 2, 2013). "A. J. Cole, Robbie Ray together again at Potomac". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  6. ^ Morrow, Geoff (July 5, 2013). "Robbie Ray makes Double-A debut for Harrisburg Senators in opener of Friday night doubleheader on City Island". The Patriot News. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  7. ^ Beck, Jason (December 2, 2013). "Tigers send Fister to Nats for three players". Major League Baseball. Archived from the original on December 6, 2013. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  8. ^ Sipple, George (February 16, 2014). "He may be key to Doug Fister deal, but lefty Robbie Ray knows he must prove himself to Detroit Tigers". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  9. ^ "Tigers 11, Astros 4". CBS Sports. May 6, 2014. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  10. ^ Iott, Chris (August 12, 2014). "Pirates 4, Tigers 2: Robbie Ray takes loss, bats silent as Detroit losing streak reaches four games". MLive. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  11. ^ Nowak, Joey (December 5, 2014). "Gregorius goes to Yanks, Ray to Arizona, Greene to Tigers". MLB. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  12. ^ [1][dead link]
  13. ^ Graham, Pat (May 6, 2015). "Gregorius Diamondbacks earn 1st DH sweep on road since 2006". cbssports.com. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  14. ^ "Major League Leaderboards » 2015 » Pitchers » Dashboard | FanGraphs Baseball". Fangraphs.com. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  15. ^ Piecoro, Nick (July 28, 2017). "Robbie Ray hit in head by line drive, knocked out of loss to Cardinals". azcentral.com. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  16. ^ Piecoro, Nick (July 30, 2017). "Robbie Ray thankful head injury wasn't worse". azcentral.com. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  17. ^ "Major League Leaderboards » 2017 » Pitchers » Batted Ball Statistics | FanGraphs Baseball". Fangraphs.com. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  18. ^ "Major League Leaderboards » 2017 » Pitchers » Dashboard | FanGraphs Baseball". Fangraphs.com. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  19. ^ "Major League Leaderboards » 2017 » Pitchers » Plate Discipline Statistics | FanGraphs Baseball". Fangraphs.com. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  20. ^ "Arizona Diamondbacks news: Robbie Ray heads to DL with oblique strain". Azcentral.com. April 30, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  21. ^ Steve Gilbert (August 16, 2020). "Escobar, Ray break out as D-backs sweep". MLB.com. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  22. ^ "Robbie Ray Stats". Baseball-Reference.com.
  23. ^ "2020 National League Pitching Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com.
  24. ^ Matheson, Keegan (August 31, 2020). "Toronto acquires Ray (official), Villar (source)". MLB.com. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  25. ^ Keegan Matheson (September 1, 2020). "Ray shows potential in Blue Jays debut". MLB.com. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  26. ^ "Robbie Ray Stats, Fantasy & News". MLB.com. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  27. ^ "Blue Jays reach agreement with Robbie Ray on one-year, $8M deal". Sportsnet. November 7, 2020.
  28. ^ "Robbie Ray PitchFX at FanGraphs.com". fangraphs.com. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  29. ^ "Trades, movement hard on baseball families". azcentral. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
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