He went 14-8 with a 4.28 ERA with a 27 percent strikeout rate and 5 percent walk rate over 180⅔ innings for the Cardinals last year.
Here are four things to know about the newest Red Sox pitcher.
He’s close friends with some big Boston names
Vanderbilt has been a perennial producer of major leaguers throughout Tim Corbin’s two-decade tenure as the Commodores coach, and Gray’s time there was no exception.
While at Vanderbilt, Gray roomed with Mike Yastrzemski — an Andover native, one-time star at St. John’s Prep, grandson of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, a 2009 Red Sox draft pick, and current major league outfielder.
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He also grew close with David Price, who grew up just a few towns over from Gray in Murfreesboro, Tenn., despite not playing on the same roster.
Price played for the Commodores from 2005-07, when Tampa Bay picked him first overall in the draft that June. Then came Gray, who first pitched for Vanderbilt in the spring of 2009.
Price in 2015 signed a seven-year, $217 million deal with the Red Sox, making him the highest-paid pitcher in baseball at the time, and he went on to become a key piece of Boston’s 2018 World Series-winning team, pitching seven innings of one-run ball in Game 5 as the Red Sox beat the Dodgers, 5-1.
Gray and Price have maintained a friendship and often worked out together at their alma mater as they progressed through their respective careers.
David Price (left) pitched seven innings in Game 5 to help the Red Sox win the 2018 World Series.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff
He was a real-life Troy Bolton in high school … sort of
While he starred on the baseball and football fields as a student at Smyrna High School in Tennessee, Gray was living a double life as a musical star.
He played the leading role of Troy Bolton in his school’s production of “High School Musical,” — which, funny enough, is the story of a star basketball player who also has a passion for the theater.
Corbin was in the audience for one of Gray’s performances while he was recruiting the pitcher.
But there was one problem.
“He was the lead singer; he can’t sing; he’s terrible,” Corbin told Bleacher Report in 2016. “Like everything Sonny does, he thought he was really good. And he is really good at most things. Just not singing.”
Following a tragedy, he showed renewed drive and determination
Gray, then a freshman starting quarterback at Smyrna High School, was with his mother and sisters at Vanderbilt University Medical Center the morning of the Aug. 26, 2004, when the decision was made to take his father, Jesse Gray, off life support following an early-morning car accident.
Smyrna football coach Philip Shadowens joined the family at the hospital, and as the coach was leaving, Gray approached him and told him he wanted to play in the Bulldogs’ game that night.
Shadowens resisted at first and told his quarterback he should be with his mom and sisters in the wake of the tragedy.
“And then he looked me dead in the eyes, as a 14-year-old kid, and said, ‘Coach, my daddy would want me to play tonight,’” Shadowens said, according to the New York Daily News.
Gray threw four touchdown passes that night as Smyrna beat Hendersonville, 48-42.
“It sounds like folklore, but that’s just kind of who Sonny has always been,” Shadowens told the Daily News. “That’s why he’s the golden child of Smyrna, Tennessee.”
Gray went on to win back-to-back state titles in football in 2006 and 2007 and was named Tennessee’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 2007 and 2008.
The Red Sox narrowly missed on Gray in the 2011 MLB Draft
The Red Sox were next on the clock and poised to select Gray when the Athletics nabbed him with the 18th pick in the 2011 draft.
With Gray off the board, Boston opted for righthander and Connecticut native Matt Barnes, who played nine seasons in a Red Sox uniform. Barnes appeared in relief in Game 1 of the 2018 World Series, an 8-4 win over the Dodgers.
Emma Healy can be reached at emma.healy@globe.com or on X @ByEmmaHealy.