Update: 3/24, 3:35 p.m. MT
The Rockies have announced that Jon Gray was removed from Friday’s game due to left foot soreness, according to Thomas Harding of MLB.com. Considering the alternatives this is a welcome relief for the Rockies, who are counting on Gray to anchor the starting rotation as the team seeks to be competitive in 2017.
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Jon Gray was removed by a trainer from the Rockies spring training game in the third inning on Friday. Gray had just given up seven straight hits to the San Francisco Giants before he was removed. According to Thomas Harding, there wasn’t an immediately apparent injury, but he was removed from the game by a trainer nonetheless.
After getting a strikeout to start the third inning, the Giants went triple, double, single, home run, single, double, single. He was about to face Jarrett Parker with two runners on when assistant trainer Scott Gehret visited the mound and removed him. Gray’s velocity in the game was sitting around 93-95 mph on his fastball and hit 96 before being removed. He averaged 95.1 mph on his fastball in 2016.
The rotation will miss Chad Bettis for an undetermined amount of time. Right now, Germán Márquez, Kyle Freeland, and Antonio Senzatela are vying for what look like two remaining spots in the rotation. At least right now, it doesn’t look like Gray was removed due to anything serious. And that’s a good thing, because losing Gray would be a major blow to the team’s competitive hopes.
We’ll keep you updated when we hear more.