A’s Daulton Jefferies says he’s ‘excited’ to face Sonny Gray
Daulton Jefferies said it will be “a really cool moment” when he takes the mound for the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday opposing Minnesota right-hander Sonny Gray, the former A’s starter.
Jefferies, 26, pitched at Cal while Gray was pitching nearby in Oakland. Tuesday, Jefferies said he used to watch Youtube clips of Gray pitching — and attend games at the Coliseum to observe the real thing.
“I wanted to try to make a point to come out and see him pitch because it was a BART ride away — six bucks for a broke college student, not too bad,” Jefferies said.
“So I would come watch. I would stand like right above the bullpen, a little bit away — not like a weird distance — and I would get here early and watch his pregame bullpen and take notes on my phone of, like, how many of each pitch he was throwing in his bullpen. I would take that and do it in my bullpens between (starts at Cal), just see if I could do it.”
Jefferies, like Gray, is a compact right-hander with a lively fastball (and youthful features). As a younger pitcher, Jefferies said, watching Gray resonated with him.
“We’re both pretty simple (mechanically), and Sonny’s always been really loose, simple, easy, so I don’t think I necessarily got that from Sonny, but I definitely noticed the similarity of it,” Jefferies said. “And it just kind of gave me some reassurance that I can just be smooth and throw.”
Oakland drafted Jefferies at 37th overall in 2016. Early the next season, Jefferies said he
met Gray while the 2015 All-star was on a minor-league rehab assignment with the A’s affiliate in
Stockton.
“He was just so nice, super humble,” Jefferies said. “I introduced myself and he was like, ‘You’re from around here, right?’ And I was like, that’s pretty cool, he knows I’m like a local guy. That was one of the things that I wanted to take away from him, this guy is one of the best in the world and he’s just a super-nice guy to a kid in High-a.”
Gray, 32, was traded to the Yankees that summer. Jefferies was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery at the time. Gray spent 1 1/2 seasons in New York and three with the Reds before being traded to the Twins this spring. He faced the A’s on May 7 in Minnesota, just back from IL, and threw four scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing two hits.
“He was kind of wildly effective,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said of Gray. “He sprayed enough
pitches but then would hit his spot. That's kind of typical, if I remember, of when he pitched here — he would kind of spray it and then just dart it.”
After stints with the A's the past two years, Jefferies is getting his first real shot in their rotation. Stephen Vogt, who caught Gray in his A's years, said he sees “similarities as far as their mentality.”
“They both kind of have that bulldog mentality on the mound,” Vogt said. “They have a similar repertoire as well. They both move the ball really well, they're really athletic on the mound and able to use their hand positioning to make the ball do what they want to do.”
Both Jefferies and Gray throw a primary sinker. Jefferies offsets his mostly with a cutter and changeup. Gray's wide repertoire includes a four-seamer, curveball and slider.
“He has that really nasty breaking ball and I'm still, like, working on mine,” Jefferies said. “But he has a really good cutter, really good sinker, so we have kind of that same mentality where we're just coming at you with our best stuff.
“He's just a guy that I've always looked up to and I probably always will.”
Jefferies said he talked with Gray on Monday and mentioned going to A's games to watch Gray pitch.
“He was like, `When are you throwing?'” Jefferies said. “I was like `Wednesday, against you.' He goes, `Oh man, that's awesome.' So I'm pretty excited.”