Former Vanderbilt baseball, Smyrna ace Sonny Gray second in AL Cy Young Award voting
Former Vanderbilt baseball and Smyrna High School star pitcher Sonny Gray finished second in the American League Cy Young Award voting, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced Wednesday.
Gray, the Minnesota Twins pitcher who finished behind the Yankees' Gerrit Cole in voting, had a 2.79 ERA across 32 starts, striking out 183 and walking 55 in 184 innings. He pitched for Vanderbilt from 2009 to 2011 and was an All-American his junior season, leading the Commodores to their first-ever College World Series berth.
He was named an All-Star in 2023, the third of his career. This is his highest Cy Young Award finish; he was voted third in 2015 and seventh in 2019.
Gray received second-place votes from 20 of the 30 voters and appeared on 29 ballots overall. He has the highest Cy Young Award finish of any Vanderbilt pitcher other than David Price, who won it in 2012 and finished second twice.
Walker Buehler, who was fourth in Cy Young Award voting in 2021, is the only other former Commodores pitcher with a top-five finish.
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Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Sonny Gray, ex-Vanderbilt baseball, Smyrna ace, 2nd in Cy Young voting
