Washington Nationals news & notes: Josiah Gray and the bumpy road back…

Notes and quotes on Josiah Gray, TJS, and the long road back…

“I’m a little concerned right now,” Davey Martinez told reporters on July 2nd, after Josiah Gray struggled on the mound in a minor league start.

Gray, who turns 27 later this month, was five outings into a rehab assignment after landing on the IL two starts into the 2024 campaign, with what doctors determined was, “… a right elbow/forearm flexor strain” in early April this past season.

“We got him ramped up, he looked good,” Martinez continued. “Last outing, the velo wasn’t there. He said he just felt tired. His arm — he felt like he had nothing in there.

“So we’ll wait and see what happens.”

Gray, Martinez stressed, did everything right throughout the rehab process.

“He did everything he could. It’s just part of this game,” the manager said.

“It’s unfortunate. I feel bad that we had a setback, but hopefully everything works out well.”

A couple weeks later Martinez made the official announcement Gray was headed for Tommy John surgery.

“He’s going to have surgery. He has a slight tear of his UCL,” Martinez said.

“At this point, he’s going to have the surgery. We don’t know whether they’re going to do the brace or the full [Tommy John surgery]. Only time will tell when they go in there and explore and see how bad the tear is. He’s going be out a while, but we got an opportunity to talk. We both — he was very emotional. We’ll miss him, but he’ll be back. He’ll be back and he’ll be back in a great time where we feel like we’re going to be vying for another playoff spot, and it will be fun for him. So let’s get this fixed and get him on the mound again and get him going. It stinks, but as we all know, it’s a bad part of the game. So we just wish him well through surgery, and we’ll get him ready to go again.”

In the end, the damage was determined to be bad enough to neccessitate both Tommy John and the internal brace procedure.

Gray, acquired at the trade deadline in the Max Scherzer/Trea Turner deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021, made 72 starts for the Nationals, posting a 4.80 ERA in 378 ²⁄₃ innings before the injury.

Adding to the frustration with the official diagnosis was the fact things were going well for Gray before the final rehab start.

“He didn’t feel anything ‘til his last rehab start,” Martinez said. “He just said he felt like he had dead arm. So we let it rest.

“After talking to him, he just kind of wanted to let it rest before he went and saw the doctor again. And they deemed that, after swelling went down, he had a little, slight tear.

“Then it was up to him with what he wanted to do and how he wanted to handle it. Between him and the doctor, they opted to have the surgery.”

The manager and his starter talked it out once Gray made the decision to have TJS.

“It was tough,” Martinez acknowledged.

“He was emotional, I got emotional. As you know, I love the kid, just like I do all the other ones we got. But he’s kind of special because he cares a lot about this organization, this team, and wanted to be out there and compete and help us win. But I told him, I said, ‘Hey, there’s been a lot more before you. You’re not going to be the last one. You’ll get through this and it will make you a better, stronger person, and a player.”

A few days later, Gray had the surgery.

“He had reconstruction. He’s going to miss time, as we all know. But he’s doing well. He feels good about it. I think he’s going to try to come back tomorrow to see all the guys.

“He’s got a long road, he knows that. But knowing him, he’s going to work really hard to get back.”

The club did all it could to boost Gray at a tough time for the pitcher.

“I told [Josiah] when he left for the airport, ‘You’re not dying. This isn’t a death sentence.

“We’ve been through this 1,000 times before, it’s Tommy John surgery so let’s get after it and get the surgery,’” GM and President of Baseball OPs Mike Rizzo told The Sports Junkies.

“‘[Dr. Keith Meister] is a good surgeon, he’s done a million of these things, we’ve rehabbed a million of them. Guys that have had this have had 10- and 15-year careers, All-Star careers, MVPs, all sorts of things, it’s not a death sentence by any means.

“‘It’s going to be a year of loneliness and hard work and determination and you’re going to find out who you are as a person because you’re going to be stuck in West Palm Beach for a long time in the hot summer days working out by yourself practically. It’s time to have a gut check and get through this thing and come out of it a better pitcher than you went into it.

“‘You’re going to have a healthy elbow, you’re going to work on every other portion of your game and your body and when we start throwing again it will be a big mechanical tweaks so that we don’t hurt the elbow again, so you’ve got to be up for all that.’”

Looking to the future, Rizzo tried to give Gray motivation at the start of the whole process.

“I told him, I said, ‘Hey, this time next year you might be my big trade deadline acquisition — you coming off the injured list to pitch for us.’”

Gray returned to visit with the team a few weeks later.

“This is a long process, but also you can learn a lot about yourself in this process,” Gray told reporters as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman.

“You can come out of it a better athlete, a better pitcher, a better person. … I’m looking forward to seeing where I’m at this time next year.”

Gray said at the time he was determined to remain positive and put in the work to get back.

“That’s the only way you can look at it,” he said.

“This is going to be a short blip in what is the hopes of a long career. You have to be optimistic. You have to understand there will be good days, there will be bad days. But as long as you understand this is a year, maybe 14 months, of time you’re going to have to develop, to work on yourself. And those 14 months can turn into a long career.”