Righty Jon Gray has been placed on the 15-day injured list, according to an announcement from the Rangers earlier this morning. A diagnosis wasn’t announced alongside that IL placement, but Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News was among those to relay that (according to club manager Bruce Bochy) Gray is suffering from Thoracic outlet syndrome. There’s no timetable for Gray’s return to play at this point, but Bochy noted that he’ll “miss some time” due to the issue. Right-hander Caleb Boushley was recalled to replace Gray on the active roster.
TOS is certainly a worrisome diagnosis for Gray, though it’s one that comes with a wide variety of potential outcomes. Some of the more notable examples of players who were sidelined by TOS, such as Stephen Strasburg and Chris Archer, were never able to fully recover from the ailment and saw the issue bring an end to their big league careers, even after surgery. On the other hand, however, Gray’s teammate Merrill Kelly underwent surgery due to TOS following his age-31 season and has been quite successful in the years since then with a 3.64 ERA and 3.86 FIP in 128 starts. Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post discussed the medical differences between the situations Kelly and Strasburg faced back in 2023, and interested readers are encouraged to read that piece in full.
It’s impossible to say at this point what the news means for Gray, but it seems unlikely he’ll pitch again this year. Selected third overall by the Rockies back in 2013, the veteran of 11 MLB seasons has spent each of the past four years in Texas. He served as a solid back-of-the-rotation arm for the Rangers from 2022-24, with a 4.16 ERA and 4.05 FIP in 387 1/3 innings of work, but this year he’s surrendered a 7.71 ERA in 14 innings of work across six long relief outings after missing most of the season due to a forearm fracture suffered after he was struck by a comebacker during Spring Training.
The news of Gray’s TOS diagnosis adds a new wrinkle to the club’s decision to place the right-hander on waivers last week, which was only reported on after he went unclaimed last night. The right-hander is owed an additional $3.1MM for the remainder of the 2025 season, and given that the Rangers are known to be just over the first luxury tax threshold it was hardly surprising that the club wanted to see if there were any takers on that remaining chunk of Gray’s salary. There’s no reason to assume that the Rangers knew about Gray’s diagnosis before placing him on waivers, of course, but it’s possible that the specter of an injury causing his recent poor performance scared some would-be suitors off from placing a claim.
Gray is slated to hit free agency following the 2025 season. He figured to be a decent veteran arm for a club in need of a back-of-the-rotation starter or swing man this winter, but now it’s impossible to say what’s in store for Gray until we have more information about his status, including whether he’ll require surgery and how long his recovery timetable looks like. Of course, the possibility of retirement can’t be completed ignored for a veteran facing notable health challenges who will turn 34 in November, but Gray has given no indication to this point about his plans for 2026 and beyond.