Globe iconLogin iconRecap iconSearch iconTickets icon

Here are six reasons Yankees fans should be excited to have Sonny Gray on their team

A much-anticipated trade finally happened on Monday when the Yankees acquired A's pitcher Sonny Gray for top prospects Dustin Fowler, Jorge Mateo, and James Kaprielian.
Now that the deal is done and Gray is finding himself on his way to sporting pinstripes, Yankees fans will now have plenty to be excited about, and Todd Frazier agrees.

Here are a few things Yankees fans have to look forward to now that they have Gray on their team.
He can handle the pressure
Now that the Yankees' pursuit of him paid off, he finds himself on a team that has been making moves the entire season to make sure they stay in first place in their division and continue their success into postseason play. And they will do just that with the addition of Gray.

He's a Vanderbilt graduate
Gray was drafted to the A's in the first round of the 2011 MLB Draft from Vanderbilt. The university has hosted some of the biggest names in baseball in addition to Gray.
Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson was an attendee from 2013-2015, Blue Jays pitcher Matt Buschmann sported a Vandy uniform from 2003-2005, slugger Pedro Álvarez went to the school from 2006-2008 and Red Sox pitcher David Price attended from 2005-2007. Gray and Price have a strong friendship because "once a Vandy boy, always a Vandy boy."

He has a thing for musicals
One thing you always associate with New York is Broadway musicals. Gray recently had an off-day in New York City and he took to Twitter to ask if anyone had suggestions to a musical he and former teammate Josh Phegley could check out.
He's already seen "Book of Mormon" so his new home in the Big Apple is setting him up for a very entertaining life.

He's back to his All-Star form
Gray landed on the All-Star roster in 2015 and in that same year was third in American League Cy Young Award voting. That's what a 2.73 ERA, a league-leading two shutouts, and limiting players to 166 hits in 31 games will get you.
This season, he's boasting a 3.43 ERA, but in his last four outings he has an impressive 1.48 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 24 1/3 innings.  

He is now a part of the core Yankees rotation
With the addition of Gray, the team is now able to strengthen its pitching rotation which already has plenty of muscle.
The rotation has Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, Jordan Montgomery, CC Sabathia and Jaime García (!) -- who was acquired by the Yankees on Sunday from the Twins. 
Regardless, the Yankees are stronger than ever.

He's a family man
Gray and his wife Jessica are the parents of Gunnar and the three of them are too cute for words.

With Gray making his way to the Bronx, fans have a lot to look forward to and we can't wait to see what he brings to his new team.

BarberJordan
beephero
AP_702417634020
NYC