Sonny Gray: Sweeping away the competition for the Cardinals

After an impressive performance against the Dodgers on Monday, Sonny Gray will get the ball once more on Sunday as the St. Louis Cardinals hope to take down their rival Chicago Cubs. In Monday’s contest, Gray went seven strong innings, struck out eight batters, and surrendered just one hit and one run. Seven innings marked Gray’s longest start since his complete game shutout against the Cleveland Guardians on June 27th. What has been a pivotal part in Sonny’s success in St. Louis? The sweeper.

When Gray comes out with a sharp sweeper, the opposition always has a tough time at the plate. In the aforementioned complete game shutout versus Cleveland, seven of Gray’s eleven strikeouts came on the sweeper. On Monday, it was more of the same, with six of Sonny Gray’s eight strikeouts coming courtesy of the sweeper. Three-time MVP award winner Shohei Ohtani fell victim to the sweeper twice, while Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts did so once each.

In 23 starts thus far for the Cardinals, Gray’s sweeper has a strikeout percentage of 50, easily proving to be the most deadly pitch in his seven-pitch arsenal. Earlier in the season, this number sat at 52.8 percent and was the highest strikeout percentage of any individual pitch in the major leagues. Furthermore, this pitch carries a putaway percentage of 28.1, meaning that when it’s thrown with two strikes, it results in a strikeout 28.1 percent of the time. Overall, Gray strikes out batters 26.8 percent of the time (with any pitch), a percentage that ranks him 16th in baseball. With an impressive 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings and 141 K’s total, Gray will look to finish another strong season with 175+ strikeouts.

Success with the sweeper is nothing new for Gray, dominating with it last year as well. In 2024, according to Baseball Savant, Gray’s sweeper finished with a strikeout rate of 57.1 percent and a putaway percentage of 27.9. This pitch accounted for 112 of Gray’s 203 strikeouts last season. The only two pitches with more strikeouts generated were Chris Sale’s slider (123 strikeouts) and Dylan Cease’s slider, which led the majors (141 strikeouts). Although the Redbirds have fallen out of the division race, trailing the Milwaukee Brewers by 13 games, there’s no reason Gray can’t use his sweeper to spoil the Cubs' Wild Card hopes on Sunday.