The St. Louis Cardinals have announced the long-awaited debut date of Sonny Gray

The St. Louis Cardinals have endured injury after injury throughout Spring Training and the start of the regular season, but they've survived and are off to a much better start than 2023. Now, it's time for the reinforcements to come back and bolster the roster even more. Lars Nootbaar will be reevaluated tomorrow in St. Louis after a rehab stint in Memphis, and the Cardinals' new ace Sonny Gray is set to debut on Tuesday against the Phillies.

Gray, who strained his hamstring in just his second Spring Training start, will face hitters in a game setting for the first time since his injury. He threw around 50 pitches in a simulated game in Springfield last week but missed his scheduled rehab start due to a rainout. When deciding whether or not to ramp up in another rehab outing in the Minors or in Major League action, Gray chose the latter.

According to Gray, he's at 100% and just needs to ramp up before being completely ready. He's slated for around 65 pitches on Tuesday, and Zack Thompson, who was initially supposed to start Tuesday, will presumably follow in a piggyback role. Thompson won't be used available out of the bullpen before Tuesday, barring an emergency, to serve as a backup to Gray. He won't pitch as long an outing as we hoped, but having Sonny Gray back on the team in any capacity is a tremendous upgrade to the team.

The Cardinals' rotation was pitching quite well to start the season, but it will be great to have a much-needed addition in Sonny Gray. The current group of Mikolas, Lynn, Matz, Gibson, and Thompson looked scarily similar to the 2023 rotation. Now, the impact addition of Sonny Gray to headline the staff with a true frontline starter will hopefully boost the team further as they make a run to win an ultra-competitive NL Central division.