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NEW YORK – Josiah Gray has made it through his prescribed rehab program healthy. Now the Nationals must decide if they want to activate the right-hander to make one final game appearance in the big leagues before season’s end, fully completing his return from last summer’s Tommy John surgery.
Gray threw 45 pitches Friday night for Triple-A Rochester, tossing 2 2/3 scoreless and hitless innings while walking three and striking out two. That was his third rehab start across three levels of the minor leagues, a stint that ended with zero runs allowed across 6 2/3 total innings, with four hits, five walks and five strikeouts.
With the minor league season ending Sunday, there’s nowhere left for Gray to pitch, unless the Nats believe he’s ready to be activated off the 60-day injured list and pitch for them during next weekend’s final series against the White Sox. The club has not yet made that decision, according to interim manager Miguel Cairo.
“We’re seeing what we’re going to do,” Cairo said this afternoon. “We’ll wait to see. And as soon as I know, I will let you know.”
The Nationals don’t believe a big league start is necessary for Gray before he heads into the offseason, eventually building his arm back up for spring training. But they remained open to the idea if they believed it was worthwhile and wanted to wait until after he made his final rehab start to make that decision.
A major league start, even if abbreviated as it surely would be, would provide Gray and the organization peace of mind heading into the winter. But there are valid questions about the 27-year-old’s readiness for the assignment, and Friday night’s start kept those questions on the table.
Though he emerged from the start healthy and had bottom-line success on the scoreboard, Gray’s average fastball velocity was only 90 mph, well down from the 93-94 mph he consistently threw prior to suffering his elbow injury. That’s not uncommon for a pitcher returning from major surgery, and Gray simply may need a full offseason and spring training to get his arm back into big league shape. But team officials may be hesitant to actually pitch him in a major league game with diminished stuff like that.
Regardless, Cairo does want to see Gray in the clubhouse and back with his major league teammates before heading home for the winter.
“I hope so,” the interim manager said. “I would love to see him to come to Washington and be with us. He’s part of the team; he’s been doing rehab. But it would be nice to see him over there in Washington with us.”
Gray was an All-Star in 2023, going 8-13 with a 3.91 ERA in 30 starts. That earned the Opening Day assignment in 2024, but he pitched only twice before going on the IL and has since only pitched in minor league rehab games.
