'The sky is the limit' for Gray's Nats career

ATLANTA -- Josiah Gray’s second start for the Nationals highlighted what makes him such an exciting prospect. It also gave a clear blueprint for what he needs to do to reach his lofty ceiling.

Gray didn’t factor into the decision, but he played a key role in Washington’s 3-2 win over the Braves at Truist Park on Saturday night to snap a five-game losing streak.

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Gray, MLB Pipeline’s No. 40 overall prospect, became the fifth Nationals rookie to strike out 10 batters in a game, and he only needed 82 pitches to do so. He nearly took the tough-luck loss, before fellow rookie Riley Adams launched a massive two-run home run, the first of his career, to take the lead in the ninth.

Saturday’s outing was the best to date for Gray, who tied career-bests for innings (five) and fewest hits (three), earned runs (one), and unintentional walks (one) allowed. And, of course, there were all the strikeouts. Let’s take a look at the biggest takeaways from his outing.

Swings and misses
With a fastball that topped out at 96 mph and a pair of nasty breaking balls, Gray drew 20 swings and misses, including all 10 punchouts. Fourteen of those whiffs came on breaking balls, as he leaned more on his curveball and slider than he had in past starts.

Gray’s breaking pitches have been hard for opponents to differentiate because they both come in around 85 mph. The slider has more horizontal break, and the hard curveball -- his primary weapon against lefties -- has more depth, but the late break can be tricky for opponents to figure out.

"I really liked that arm, man,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He's a good-looking pitcher. His ability to spin the ball, and with that live arm, he's gonna be a good one."

Gray said that he didn’t design the different breaking balls to come out at the same speed, but they evolved that way during his time at the Dodgers’ alternate site last year. And with the two pitches working well in sync together, it makes his high fastball -- which picked up three strikeouts -- even more dangerous.

Limiting hard contact
When he wasn’t striking hitters out, Gray did not give up much hard contact. The Braves only hit three balls at 95 mph or harder, and two of them went for flyouts. It's not as though Gray benefitted from good luck, either -- he gave up just three batted balls with an expected batting average above .200.

“Mixing up the sequences and commanding the baseball better is the key to success in limiting hard contact,” Gray said. “Reading their swings and reading their approaches, that’s all something you have to continue to learn.”

Part of the reason for that success? He got ahead early in counts with first-pitch strikes to 14 of the 21 opposing batters -- excluding an intentional walk -- and got to lean on those breaking balls.

The home run issue
One of the few things that has been a consistent problem for Gray this season has been the long ball. He has served up at least one home run in each of his four outings for a total of six in 18 innings, and the Braves only needed two at-bats to get on the board.

With one out in the first inning, Gray left a fastball over the heart of the plate to Jorge Soler, who launched it at 106.7 mph a projected 424 feet over the left-field fence. The rookie right-hander has given up four of his six home runs on pitches down the middle, and three of those have been fastballs.

However, Nationals manager Dave Martinez is not yet concerned about the home runs. Moreover, he was happy with how Gray was able to bounce back and settle in after spotting the Braves a 1-0 lead in the first.

“Right now, there’s really no concern,” Martinez said. “I want him to go out there and pitch and focus on making good pitches.

“I truly believe that with him, the sky is the limit. For him, it’s just about pounding the strike zone and getting ahead early and utilizing all his pitches. He did that today.”