{"id":576914,"date":"2026-02-17T05:30:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T05:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/576914\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T05:30:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T05:30:19","slug":"red-sox-sonny-gray-proud-of-his-sons-viral-moment-with-fans-hes-just-a-good-kid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/576914\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox\u2019 Sonny Gray proud of his son\u2019s viral moment with fans: \u2018He\u2019s just a good kid\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 Sonny Gray isn\u2019t one for social media these days, as he doesn\u2019t have an Instagram account and hasn\u2019t tweeted<\/a> from his official account since 2023. It took a heads-up from his wife Jessica, then, for Gray to realize their son had gone viral.<\/p>\n

Gray\u2019s 11-year-old son, Gunnar, gained social media attention for all the right reasons Sunday. A clip posted on Twitter\/X by user Nick Diamond<\/a> showed Gunnar Gray, wearing his dad\u2019s jersey, hand-delivering a signed hat and baseball to two young fans who were watching team workouts at JetBlue Park. The fans were along the fence that separates the part of the facility that is publicly accessible and the grounds that only players, team officials, family members and officials can roam. The younger Gray connected with the boys, then made his way down the walkway into the Red Sox clubhouse. There, he met his dad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had seen that before from him,\u201d Sonny Gray said Monday. \u201cI was in the training room, had thrown a bullpen and I came in. He brought me a hat and a ball and had a couple people\u2019s autographs on it. He said, \u2018Hey dad, will you sign this?\u2019 I knew exactly what he was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The boys, who according to Diamond were Reds fans who had watched Sonny Gray pitch in Cincinnati from 2019 to 2021<\/a>, showed their appreciation with awe \u2014 and a hug for Gunnar Gray. Hours later, two proud parents in Fort Myers were among those who saw the gesture gain traction online. Sonny Gray described the moment as \u201cheartwarming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife showed me,\u201d the pitcher said. \u201cHe\u2019s just a good kid. I think he understands the access that he\u2019s granted and the things he\u2019s able to do being the son of a player. As he\u2019s gotten older, he understands the benefits and the perks of that. He\u2019s just got a good heart. Genuinely, he does.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not surprising, but was that was a nice gesture from him. It\u2019s one of those things he will remember. I was proud to see him do something nice for someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Gray, the episode was just more of the same when it comes to the selflessness he has seen from his eldest son. At school back in Tennessee, Gunnar participates in the \u201cBest Buddies\u201d program. He has helped fans out with autographs in similar situations in the past, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe likes to take care of people,\u201d his dad said. \u201cI think that was his way of taking care of them … Who knows? He could change those kids\u2019 lives forever just by doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Gray\u2019s first week as a member of the Red Sox, his family has been ever-present. Along with Jessica, Gray\u2019s two sons, Gunnar, 11, and Declan, 7, have been frequent visitors to Fenway South. For the Grays, who are on their sixth team since 2017, that\u2019s a preview of things to come.<\/p>\n

Though the family resides in Nashville, Gray, now 36, wants his sons to be around as much as possible throughout the season. It\u2019s something manager Alex Cora embraces in Boston\u2019s clubhouse, too<\/a>. For Gunnar Gray, who was born during his dad\u2019s first All-Star season as a third-year player in Oakland, the clubhouse is a familiar place.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s 11. This is my 14th season,\u201d Gray said. \u201cHe has grown up in a clubhouse his whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gray has made a point of having his sons introduce themselves to new teammates throughout the last week. Upon arriving in Fort Myers, he sat both boys down and told them that on the first day, he expected them to introduce themselves to Cora, look the manager in the eye and shake their hand. After that meeting, Gray checked in with his new manager to see if his instructions were followed. They were, and Cora was impressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle things like that are important to me,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n

The Gray boys have been in the clubhouse after most of Boston\u2019s workouts so far this spring, and that\u2019s not a coincidence, according to their father.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think this is such a good place for them to just understand life a little bit more, getting outside of their little bubble they grow up in,\u201d Gray said. \u201cThey\u2019re not gonna get more culture, they\u2019re not gonna get more diversity, they\u2019re not gonna get more structure and they\u2019re not gonna get more learning and just how to handle themselves as a human being than what they get in environments like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gray\u2019s father, Jesse, died in a car accident in 2004, when Sonny was just 14. <\/p>\n

\u201cI also know there\u2019s a time to have them around and then there\u2019s a time where you need some space,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it\u2019s important to me, especially with me losing my dad and the amount of time we are away from them during the season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At home Sunday night, Gray didn\u2019t go out his way to show Gunnar that he was suddenly famous on the internet. That would have been beside the point.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t do it for that,\u201d Gray said. \u201cHe just does it genuinely.\u201d<\/p>\n

A proud dad took note of how fitting it was that Gunnar\u2019s moment came at the end of a day that started with emotional an all-hands Red Sox team meeting<\/a> that was heavily focused on the theme of family and included a pre-taped video from his sons.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrazy, right?\u201d Gray said. \u201cThey did make a video. It seems like that is the dialogue around here, very much family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like it is all one big family environment. That was his way of bringing (those boys) into it a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 Sonny Gray isn\u2019t one for social media these days, as he doesn\u2019t have an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[67031,152,5,1603,3194],"class_list":{"0":"post-576914","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-2026-spring-training","9":"tag-american-league","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-bullpen","12":"tag-greenfly"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116084331664297762","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}