Peyton Gray has been mowing down batters on either side of the border.
Following a spring and summer season in which he was a 2023 American Association All-Star with the Franklin, Wis.-based Milwaukee Milkmen the right-handed pitcher finds himself back in the Mexican Pacific Winter League — this time with Algodoneros de Guasave (Guasave Cottoneers) — and he just recorded his circuit-leading 13th save for a first-place team at 26-14 through Nov. 29.
“Baseball’s very huge in Mexico,” says Gray. “There are a ton of fans. I enjoy it down here. It’s very winning-focused. They value wins and playing hard.”
The lifestyle, including the food, are different in Mexico than the U.S. but Gray sees the common denominaters.
“The way you have to look at it is that you’re still playing a kids’ game for a living,” says Gray. “You’ve got to just have fun with it. You may not speak the same language as the umpires or the fans, but it’s still baseball. I’m still pitching, the strike zone’s the same, the hitters are the same.
“It’s nice to play in a different country. I know it’s going to be great memories.”
Gray, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound right-hander, has made 21 mound appearances so far in 2023-24 and is 0-0 with a 0.00 earned run average (he’s allowed two unearned runs). In 21 innings, he has 33 strikeouts and seven walks. He averages 14.1 strikeouts per nine innings.
After a dozen days of summer training, the season opened in mid-October and runs until late December. The playoffs in January are three best-of-seven rounds. The league winner moves on to the 2024 Caribbean World Series Feb. 1-9 in Miami.
On Nov. 28, Gray locked up a job for the 2024 season by signing with Saraperos de Saltillo of the Mexican Baseball League.
“I’m technically still a free agent,” says Gray. “I can still sign with a (Major League Baseball) club or Japan or Taiwan team.”
In Milwaukee in 2023, the 2014 graduate of Columbus (Ind.) East High School pitched in 37 games (all in relief) and went 1-2 with nine saves, a 1.38 ERA, 64 strikeouts and eight walks in 39 innings. His K/9 rate was 14.8. Gray turned 28 on June 2 and earned the save for the East in the American Assocation All-Star Game at Franklin Field on July 18.
“I gave that league all I had and posted some pretty good stats,” says Gray of the American Association. “I wasn’t really getting signed out of that league.”
He had also hurled for the Milkmen in 2020 and 2022 with stints in the Colorado Rockies (2018 and 2019) and Kansas City Royals (2021) systems.
Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery came for Gray in August 2021. Cleared to play again in July 2022, he was released by the Royals and went back to independent ball with Milwaukee.
Gray pitched in seven games for the MPWL’s Yaquis de Obregon in 2022-23 and went 0-0 with a 7.11 ERA, six strikeouts and four walks in 6 1/3 innings.
“I wasn’t quite 100 percent again from my surgery but I wanted to get my foot in the door and the opportunity to play in Mexico,” says Gray. “(Guasuave) liked what they saw this summer and gave me a shot to come down and be the closer. I took it and ran with it.”
Flash forward to the present day and Gray is a tick up in velocity since the surgery and recovery.
“I’m a little better than I was,” says Gray. “I did tear my (Ulnar Collateral Ligament) on a single pitch. I don’t know if my elbow was messed up for awhile. I throw a little harder (with the four-seam fastball going from about 90 to 93 mph to 92 to 94 while almost touching 96) and my slider and change-up velocity has gone up.”
A relief pitcher throughput his pro career, Gray has noticed more resiliency since surgery which replaced his UCL with Palmaris Longus tendon taken from his right wrist.
“I’ve noticed that I’m able to bounce back a lot faster,” says Gray. “My recovery’s a lot shorter. I can throw more days a week.
“At first it’s hard to get conformable and really let it rip. Once you realize that — man — I’m 100 percent and mentally I’m super-confident in my arm. It’s healthy and I’m not going re-tear my UCL.”
Gray threw five times last week, including ends of a Nov. 20 doubleheader.
Rehab has shown Gray how to stay healthy with shoulder and mobility work between trips to the mound.
There’s another important part of his routine.
“I try to drink a lot of water,” says Gray. “That’s definitely going to help me recover, stay hydrated and have energy.”
After reporting the to field, he stretches, runs and plays catch. Around the third inning he ramps up his focus and begins getting his body ready. He walks out to the bullpen in the fifth inning and does his band and plyo ball work — things he has done while visiting PRP Baseball at Mojo Up Fieldhouse in Noblesville, Ind.
“It’s one of my favorite places to train,” says Gray. “I’m thankful for everything (PRP founder) Greg (Vogt) did for me (when I made my first velo jump in 2019).
“I still message those guys and ask them questions. They’re always there for me.”
Peyton and wife Samantha Gray — the Columbus East alum answers to Sam and her maiden name is Watters — were married in 2021. The couple resides in Fort Myers, Fla. Sam’s family has a vacation home in nearby Cape Coral.
This winter, she has been going back and forth to Mexico about two weeks at a time.
Gray pitched one season at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo (2015), one at Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City, Fla. (2016) and two at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers (2017 and 2018).
“I still have a lot of college buddies down there which is nice,” says Gray. “It’s great weather and it’s nice to throw outside year-round.”
Full article can be found at: https://takeoutyourscorecards.wordpress.com/2023/11/30/indiana-raised-right-hander-gray-closing-the-door-in-mexico/