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Sonny Gray vocal on ‘strong’ mentality entering age-35 season

Originally posted on MLB on ClutchPoints
By Russell Steinberg | Last updated Feb 24, 2025 8:48 PM ET

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Sonny Gray is entering his 13th season in Major League Baseball, and the righty has been through it all in the big leagues.

He has twice finished in the top three of Cy Young voting, once in his 20s and once in his 30s. He also struggled mightily during his tenure with the New York Yankees, pitching to a 4.90 ERA in 2018, a year before he was an All-Star for the Cincinnati Reds.

Entering his age 35 season with the Cardinals, Gray is confident he has enough left in the tank.

“Physically, I still feel more than capable and mentally I’m strong,” he said, per John Denton of MLB.com. “I still love baseball and I still am very good at baseball, so I still feel really good about it.

Gray added that he feels like pitchers peak a little bit later, meaning he is still right around his prime.

“I think you peak as a pitcher when you get into your low- to mid-30s, so we’ll see how the high-30s go. Being who I am with my [smaller] stature, as long as I take care of my body, I’ll be fine. Mentally, I think I’m as strong as ever with the repetitions I’ve made. But with the pitching, I still feel strong.”

Erick Fedde and Sonny Gray will lead a Cardinals rotation with plenty of potential

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Erick Fedde (12) delivers a pitch in the eighth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Yes, the Cardinals are looking to re-build, but that doesn’t mean their rotation can’t pitch them to a few wins along the way. Gray’s 2024 wasn’t nearly as good as his Cy Young-quality 2023 season with the Minnesota Twins, but it was still plenty effective (13-9, 3.84 ERA, 203 SO).

If Gray is the team’s ace, then the re-invented Erick Fedde isn’t far behind him. The Cardinals acquired Fedde last year at the trade deadline and his magical return from Korea continued down the stretch. From 2017 to 2022 with the Washington Nationals, Fedde had a 5.41 career ERA. Last year, between the Cardinals and Chicago White Sox, it was 3.30.

After those two, there are more question marks, for sure. The Andre-Pallante-as-a-starter experiment went well last year, but now he needs to follow that up in year two. Michael McGreevy shined in his first three starts in the majors, but we’ve yet to see what he looks like over a full season (or a full month, for that matter). Then there’s Miles Mikolas, a nine-year veteran who remains durable as ever. His 5.32 ERA over 32 starts last year, however, doesn’t inspire much confidence, particularly with only 6.4 strikeouts per nine innings and a hard-hit percentage north of 42%.

This article first appeared on MLB on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

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