10 Fantasy Baseball Players to Buy and Sell for Week 14

Buy Sonny Gray

You won't have Sonny Gray to kick around anymore.

Gray just hasn't been able to find any consistency over the last three seasons, and after putting up a 5.44 ERA, 4.41 FIP and 4.32 xFIP in 16 starts (82.2 innings), New York has demoted him to Triple-A. Clearly, this is not what the Yankees were expecting when they acquired him from the Oakland Athletics at the trade deadline last year.

Gray pitched decently last year, with a 3.55 ERA and 3.90 FIP, but his strikeout rate has fallen from 22.6% to 19.7% year-over-year, and his walk rate has jumped a bit, from 8.4% to 9.7%.

The big problem appears to be that Gray has simply stopped throwing his fastball. His four-seamer continues to have the same velocity to it (average of 93.2 miles per hour), but he's thrown it only 33.8% of the time, down from 55.1% last year and 61.5% two years ago. Instead, he's going to the cutter (23.3%) and curveball more (20.9%), with the slider (17.5%) also in the mix.

If Gray can rediscover how to use his fastball when he's eventually called back up, he could be a solid performer in the second half of the season. He wouldn't cost anything to acquire, so now is the right time to buy low on Gray. Just don't give up much for him.