NY Mets: 9 under the radar free agents the Mets should target

Like most pitchers, it would behoove Jon Gray to leave Colorado. He has the chance to do that and come to the Mets this winter.

The righty pitched 149 innings, allowed 140 hits, 76 earned runs, 58 walks, and he struck out 157 batters. His ERA was 4.59, his FIP was 4.22, his ERA+ was 104, and he tallied 2.3 WAR.

Gray has also shown the ability to eat innings. In his seven MLB seasons, he’s pitched more than 110 innings five times and more than 149 innings four times. He’s basically a two-pitch pitcher; he’s got a mid-90’s fastball that he throws 48% of the time, and a high-80’s slider that he throws 38% of the time. He also has a changeup and curveball, which he uses eight percent of the time and six percent of the time, respectively.

Gray is good at limiting hard contact and getting ground balls, 48.4% of his outs come on the ground. He was 62nd percentile in barrel percentage and 61st in xSLG. His fastball velocity is in the 76th percentile and he gets nice spin on his curve, which is in the 69th percentile. What Gray can improve on is his walk rate (39th percentile) and his chase rate (just 5%).

Gray doesn’t have any options and likely won’t receive the $18.4 million qualifying offer. He would probably be a third or fourth starter on the Mets, fitting somewhere between a hopefully-heathy deGrom and a hopefully-extended Marcus Stroman at the top, and some combination of Carrasco, Walker, and Peterson at the bottom.