Sonny Gray Wife, Salary, Age, Height, Trade, Bio, Other Facts

Quick Facts

Sonny Gray, like many other athletes before him, started out with more than one sport in mind. He was a title-winning baseball and football player in college. His professional career started with the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball in 2011, however, it took him a while to stake a claim for a place in the Athletic’s squad.

Since then, this North American Tennessee has gone on to win awards like the American League Pitcher of the Month. He was named for the MLB All-Star Game in 2015. In 2017, he was acquired by the New York Yankees.

Sonny Gray’s Bio (Age) 

The Yankees Pitcher was born Sonny Douglas Gray in Nashville, Tennessee, on November 7, 1989. He grew up in Nashville, and subsequently, Smyrna.

Sonny’s high school career beginning was illustrious, to say the least. He played multiple positions in his freshman year and was rewarded with the Freshman of the Year in District 9AAA. After niggling injuries limited his action in his sophomore year, he bounced back and helped his team clinch the 2007 State Tournament earning himself a nomination for the National Player of the Year, and a place in the AFLAC All-American High School Baseball Classic.

His final high school year was cut short again by injury but saw him record a 0.79 ERA, keep a 4-0 record, and bat a .500 average at the plate

Sonny Gray also turned out as a quarterback for his school’s football team that went on to win consecutive 5A State titles in 2006 and 2007. The Tennessean named Sonny Gray the Gatorade Player of the Year for two seasons running (2007 and 2008) in appreciation of his overall athletic contributions.

Career and Trade

After high school, Gray honored the verbal commitment he had made to Vanderbilt University by turning down the Chicago Cubs in the 2008 MLB Draft.

He focused on his play as a pitcher in college and earned the starter’s role late into the season. Over the years he continued to improve his ERA with every season played and recorded the highest strikeouts (113) in the team for 2010. He beat his own record in his third year with 132 strikeouts, helping the team to clinch a place in the College World Series for the first time in their history. They made it all the way to the semifinals of the tournament too.

After his junior year, Sonny Gray left college and joined the Oakland Athletics when he was selected 18th overall in the 2011 MLB Draft. He joined double-A-rated Midland RockHounds of the Texas League soon after signing for Oakland. This led to a stint at the Sacramento RiverCats.

His first game for the team came in the 2013 season against the Pittsburgh Pirates after which he made one more appearance before he was optioned back to a minor league team. His first major league start came on August 10 against the Toronto Blue Jays, he eventually became a mainstay in the team as the team’s fifth starter. He finished the campaign with 67 strikeouts, 64 innings, and a 2.67 ERA in 12 appearances.

Gray made the opening day roster for the first time in the 2014 campaign. He rewarded his coach’s game time with a stellar contribution in April, hitting his first complete game shutout in the process. Sonny was named the AL Pitcher of the Month in April and July. He got the team into the playoffs for their third time with a victory over the Texas Rangers on the last day of the season.

Sonny Gray was named again in his second consecutive opening day game. He concluded the season with a 14-7 record, a 2.73 ERA and was rewarded with a place in his first All-Star Game, however, he did not participate in the game because he had started a game a for Oakland on the Sunday before the All-Star was to show. At the end of the campaign, Gray was the second runner-up for the Cy Young Award.

Sonny’s 2016 was an abysmal one judging by the results he posted in the previous campaign. In 2016, he landed twice on the disabled list, ending the season with a 5.69 ERA and a 5-11 record.

His time with Oakland finally came to an end on July 31, 2017, when the pitcher was traded to the New York Yankees, with Jorge Mateo, Dustin Fowler, and James Kaprielian heading in the opposite direction.

Salary and Net Worth?

The ace pitcher earned a whopping signing bonus of $1.54 million when he joined the Oakland Athletics back in 2011. He also earned $527,500 for his troubles in the 2016 season. He ended up with $3.6 million for 2017, his first season with the Yankees, and it has only gone higher since then.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, the pitcher’s net worth stands at $7 million.

Does Sonny Gray have a Wife?

Gray had been dating his girlfriend, Jessica Forkum for a while when they welcomed their first child, a son whom they named Gunnar Carmack Gray. Jessica is a native of Smyrna, Tennessee and was born on July 7, 1988, to her parents, Patricia and Gregory Forkum.

On November 12, 2016, Sonny and Jessica tied the knot in his home state of Tennessee. In attendance were some of his former and current teammates including Josh Phegley, Billy Burns, Stephen Vogt, and Scott Kazmir.

Height, Weight and Other Facts about Sonny Gray

• Gray stands at a respectable height of 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) and weighs 192 lbs (87.1 kg).
• He knew tragedy early in his life. As a young boy still trying to kick-start his career in sports, he lost his father in a car accident. This happened early on, during his high school freshman year. He had only just started playing baseball for Smyrna high school when the tragedy happened.
• It turns out that back in high school, the pro-pitcher wasn’t all about sports. He was involved in other extra-curricular activities like drama. He was cast in the lead role, as Troy Bolton in his school’s stage adaptation of the popular Disney movie High School Musical.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.