Sonny Gray was only acquired by the Boston Red Sox one week ago and has yet to throw a pitch with his new team.
The three-time All-Star likely earned some new fans in Beantown on Tuesday though, after making headlines when he said during a Zoom interview that “It’s easy to go to a place now where it’s easy to hate the Yankees.”
Some of Gray’s new teammates reacted to the former New York Yankees starting pitcher’s comments later in the day, signaling their approval.
“Obviously you love that,” Red Sox catcher Connor Wong said while volunteering at the Wonderfund warehouse, loading “thousands of gift donations into cars,” according to a report by MassLive’s Christopher Smith. “I think growing up for me personally I wasn’t a huge fan of theirs, so I love that out of him and very excited to have him.”
Wong was asked about his dislike for the Yankees growing up.
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“Honestly, I can’t give you an exact reason,” the backstop said, per Smith’s report. “I just know I didn’t like them. Something stuck with me.”
Fellow Boston hurler Payton Tolle also discussed Gray’s anti-Yankees words.
“It’s good to have somebody that’s like-minded,” the southpaw said with a laugh, according to Smith’s report.
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The 36-year-old Gray has had a largely successful MLB career, making All-Star teams with three different clubs. Gray earned the honors in 2015 with the then-Oakland Athletics, 2019 with the Cincinnati Reds and 2023 with the Minnesota Twins.
He was a top 10 finisher in the Cy Young voting during each of those seasons as well.
One of Gray’s only rough patches across his 13 seasons came in 2017 and 2018 with New York, when he went 15-16 with a 4.51 ERA and 1.41 WHIP during 41 appearances (34 starts).
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