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A delayed flight didn’t dampen Josiah Gray’s mood.
He’s become accustomed to waiting and remaining patient. So, when his scheduled 2:45 p.m. flight to St. Louis to join the Nationals at the beginning of a six-game road trip was delayed until around 10:45, the right-hander didn’t fret.
His journey to this point — Gray was activated Thursday after suffering a torn UCL in 2024 and a right flexor strain in mid-March of this season — was filled with starts and stops. When assistant general manager Devin Pearson called to inform him he was joining the big league team after more than two years away, Gray’s first feeling was appreciation.
“Just happy to be where my feet are right now and be able to pitch in a big league ballgame sometime soon before the season ends,” Gray told The Banner in a phone call. “I get to do what I love to do and have my passion back.”
Gray was named a 2023 All-Star for the Nationals after posting a 3.41 ERA in 18 first-half starts. The former second-round draft pick, acquired in 2021 as part of the trade that sent Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Los Angeles Dodgers, entered 2024 feeling upbeat.
He went to spring training prepared to build on his All-Star campaign. He had introduced a cutter in 2023 for lefties and, by midseason, he started incorporating a sweeper to get more whiffs. He had the pitch mix; now it was about refining the execution. But Gray wouldn’t get that chance because his season ended on April 4, 2024. In July, he underwent Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery.
That setback was crushing, but Gray knew wallowing in that despair would do no good.
“It’s the hard part of being a baseball player, with the injuries and the rehab part of that,” he said. “But, over the past two years, I’ve tried to switch up my mindset and not look in the past and say, ‘What could I have done differently?’ I try to keep my head and my feet in the moment and say, ‘What can I do differently from this point on?’ And I think that’s offered me a lot of peace.”
He limited the time he spent dwelling on the past. But dealing with the present and future presented its own tribulations. Rehab is isolating for a professional athlete. In one moment, a player is performing in front of thousands of fans feeling he’s at the peak of his powers. The next, he’s waking up early for a long, monotonous day of working out away from the limelight. Along this arduous path back to the majors, Gray’s perspective on patience shifted.
The injuries forced him to appreciate persistence. They taught him gratitude and grace, knowing he was fighting every day to return to the mound.
He had a support system when the rehab proved frustrating. Family members told Gray their last memories of him on a major league mound wouldn’t be that April 2024 start. Teammates past and present, such as Erick Fedde, Jake Irvin and Cade Cavalli, offered advice.
“Once you’re able to appreciate that things happen for a reason and you’ve got to come out on the other side better, I think that really helped me appreciate every day and build myself up. Even on days that weren’t good,” he said, “I kept my eye on the prize and the goal, keeping the main thing the main thing, and that was getting back to the big leagues and succeeding.”
Succeeding is a key word for Gray. The 28-year-old knows there’s more of his story to be written. He didn’t put in ample time rehabbing in Florida for it to end with that memory of his last start against the Pittsburgh Pirates, when he allowed six runs on seven hits. “That didn’t go too hot,” he said.
Shifting to a bullpen role for the rest of the season, while unfamiliar, affords Gray a chance to face major league hitters and build momentum into the offseason. He had to wait after “something didn’t feel right” during the last week of spring training this year. After he was optioned to Triple-A Rochester to begin the season, Gray started feeling pain and alerted the staff.
He was diagnosed with a flexor strain. He took a month off from throwing before resuming in May and playing in minor league games in August.
“I’m not throwing in pain, and I’m not worrying every day how my elbow feels, how my body feels,” Gray said in August. “It’s a mentally freeing thing that I didn’t know I would truly feel again.”
Now he is back. He’s ready to help the team, while seeing how his pitch mix works against hitters.
Up 9-1, the Nationals called on Gray in the ninth inning of Friday night’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals. He surrendered a leadoff single and got the next three batters out.
“I don’t think I want to come up here and have it be, ‘Oh JoJo’s back in the big leagues,’” he said. “No, I want to come up here and help these guys win and continue to make an impact and show that I’m back to myself.”
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