All-Star Gray a hometown inspiration for NY baseball hopefuls

WASHINGTON -- Growing up in Mount Kisco, N.Y., there were not many pro baseball players from the area for left-hander Joe La Sorsa to look up to while he pursued his Major League career.

• MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard: Tuesday on FOX, 7 p.m. CT

But as New Rochelle, N.Y., native Josiah Gray emerged as a standout right-hander at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, La Sorsa and other baseball hopefuls from Westchester County took notice.

“A lot of kids thought it was cool that a kid coming from New Rochelle was able to make it to the big leagues, especially out of a Division II school,” La Sorsa said. “Some of the kids that we trained with when we were in college [at St. John’s University in Queens] were playing with him, and all they kept talking about was how good this kid was and how he was going to get to the big leagues.

“Even when we were in college, everyone knew he was really good and he was going to be something special.”

Gray was selected by the Reds in the second round of the 2018 Draft. The following year, La Sorsa was picked by the Rays in the 18th round. This season, they became teammates on the Nationals. La Sorsa was claimed off waivers by Washington and called up to join the Nats bullpen last month.

“Pretty much ever since everyone from back home found out that I was going to the Nationals, everyone said, ‘You're going to be teammates with Josiah Gray!’” La Sorsa recounted.

In their hometowns, Gray and La Sorsa are about 25 miles away from each other. In the Nationals’ clubhouse, it is just a row of lockers.

“When you think of things in the grand scheme of the New York metropolitan area, yeah, there are some kids down in Long Island and kids in North Jersey, whatnot, but our little Westchester cult, we’ll call it, there’s really only about four or five of us,” La Sorsa said.

Just weeks after Gray became teammates with La Sorsa on the Nats, he also became linked to another Westchester County native. Gray and Mariners right-hander George Kirby from neighboring Rye, N.Y., were named to the 2023 All-Star Game. It is the first career selection for both of them.

The significance has resonated with Gray.

“It means a lot,” Gray said. “I think if you’re from the Westchester area, the 914, there’s not many baseball players that come out of it. … So for us to have two All-Stars -- myself and Kirby -- it’s really cool. Hopefully, it inspires kids from New Rochelle, or wherever they want to come from, to reach for your dreams.”