Player Profile - Connor Grey

Connor Grey, Syracuse Mets - Photo by Herm Card, Herm4444@gmail.com

Background, Stats, Videos.

Background: 

Update: Connor Grey became a minor league free agent at the end of the 2023 season - 11/6/2023.

Connor Grey. Starting Pitcher, Bats Left, Throws Right, 6'1", 195 pounds; DOB 5/6/1994 in Frewsburg, NY, USA, Drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks 2016 June Amateur Draft - Round: 20, Pick: 13, Overall: 599 from St. Bonaventure University (St. Bonaventure, NY). Eligible for the Major League version of the 2021/22 Rule 5 draft (currently postponed due to the lockout).

From Upstate NY, Connor Grey COVID-19 meant no minor league baseball in 2020.  For some minor leaguers it also meant the unemployment line.  The Arizona Diamonbacks decided to release 64 minor league pitchers, including Connor Grey, despite the fact that he threw a 100 pitch Perfect Game for them in 2017.  

Luckily, the Manager of his 2017 team and former Mets Minor League Manager, Butch Hobson, was now managing an Indy Ball team and gave Connor a call.  Conner signed with the Chicago Dogs with the hope of getting the chance to hook on with a major league organization again.  The Mets liked what they saw and signed him as a starting pitcher.

Connor Grey told Spectrum Local News.com: "Once I get going, I'll be better on the back half of the game, rather than early on, when you're trying to get your feet set," he says. "I like starting better than relieving, and I think that's one of the biggest things. Your mentality of 'I need to go 5-6 innings to give my team a chance to win."

Case in point, I saw him pitch @ Hudson Valley against the Yankees affiliate.  He had a rocky first inning allowing 4 runs, 2 earned, in the first (thought ump was squeezing him) but settled down after that.

He hit 94 with his fastball and showed good movement with his curve and off speed pitches.

His next game, he took a no hitter to the ninth going 8.1 innings, 1 run, 9 Ks, 2 walks.

Overall he made just 11 starts between Brooklyn and Binghamton but showed enough that the Mets sent him the Arizona Fall League where he went 1-2 in 6 games with a 3.00 ERA, 18 innings, 17 Ks, 2 walks. 

He is Rule 5 eligible this winter, and he was 3.7 years older than the average player in Brooklyn and in Arizona.  However, he gives the Mets another quality arm in the minors.  In recent years, the Mets have been forced to sign and trade for guys just to get by.  I think Connor can be an upgrade over recent options.  

Conner Grey did get the call to Syracuse to start 2022.  He was the work horse of the Syracuse team starting 24 games with two relief appearances - leading the team in innings pitched 104.1.  He even was called up to the Major Leagues on 8/27/2022 but did not see any action.  

He became a minor league free agent on November 10,2022 - resigning with the Mets as a Minor League free agent on 1/11/2023.  Unfortunately, he was hurt in March 2023 and never pitched for the Mets.  He once again became a minor league free agent on November 6, 2023.  

Mets Minors.net: Three Unheralded Mets Arms Set To Defy Expectations - "The biggest thing to note about Grey is that he’s throwing harder than he ever has in his career. Now topping out at 93-94 mph...Gray does two other things extremely well – he throws tons of strikes, and he really gets down the mound."

Amazing Avenue: "He throws from a high-three-quarters arm slot, dropping and driving and getting a lot of extension. His delivery features a distinct step, tapping the rubber multiple times with his back foot when starting his windup."

Michael Mayer of Metsmerized.com had Conner Grey as his #43 prospect.

Conner Grey’s Baseball Savant page.

Conner Grey’s FANGRAPHS page.

Stats: 

Standard Pitching -

Register Pitching

Year	Age	AgeDif	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	W	L	W-L%	ERA	RA9	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W
2016	22		2 Teams	2 Lgs	Rk-A-	ARI	4	2	.667	3.75	3.75	15	9	1	0	0	0	60.0	54	25	25	6	18	0	51	4	0	1	250	1.200	8.1	0.9	2.7	7.7	2.83
2016	22	0.8	Hillsboro	NORW	A-	ARI	0	0		0.00	0.00	6	0	1	0	0	0	9.2	4	0	0	0	2	0	14	0	0	0	35	0.621	3.7	0.0	1.9	13.0	7.00
2016	22	0.6	Missoula	PION	Rk	ARI	4	2	.667	4.47	4.47	9	9	0	0	0	0	50.1	50	25	25	6	16	0	37	4	0	1	215	1.311	8.9	1.1	2.9	6.6	2.31
2017	23		4 Teams	4 Lgs	A-A--AAA-A+	ARI	9	4	.692	2.87	3.31	18	17	1	2	1	0	103.1	81	38	33	7	9	0	91	6	0	3	396	0.871	7.1	0.6	0.8	7.9	10.11
2017	23	-3.6	Reno	PCL	AAA	ARI	0	0		6.75	6.75	2	1	1	0	0	0	6.2	7	5	5	1	1	0	8	1	0	0	28	1.200	9.5	1.4	1.4	10.8	8.00
2017	23	-0.1	Visalia	CALL	A+	ARI	0	1	.000	7.36	7.36	1	1	0	0	0	0	3.2	3	3	3	0	2	0	3	0	0	0	16	1.364	7.4	0.0	4.9	7.4	1.50
2017	23	1.1	Kane County	MIDW	A	ARI	3	1	.750	2.11	2.68	7	7	0	2	1	0	47.0	36	14	11	2	1	0	39	1	0	1	173	0.787	6.9	0.4	0.2	7.5	39.00
2017	23	1.4	Hillsboro	NORW	A-	ARI	6	2	.750	2.74	3.13	8	8	0	0	0	0	46.0	35	16	14	4	5	0	41	4	0	2	179	0.870	6.8	0.8	1.0	8.0	8.20
2018	24	0.8	Visalia	CALL	A+	ARI	10	9	.526	4.54	5.89	27	27	0	0	0	0	140.2	154	92	71	21	38	0	131	7	0	2	614	1.365	9.9	1.3	2.4	8.4	3.45
2019	25		3 Teams	3 Lgs	AA-A+-AAA	ARI	4	2	.667	4.57	4.98	24	4	3	0	0	0	65.0	76	36	33	7	24	0	51	1	0	1	290	1.538	10.5	1.0	3.3	7.1	2.13
2019	25	-1.7	Reno	PCL	AAA	ARI	0	1	.000	9.39	9.39	7	1	1	0	0	0	15.1	26	16	16	4	12	0	12	0	0	1	82	2.478	15.3	2.3	7.0	7.0	1.00
2019	25	0.7	Jackson	SOUL	AA	ARI	2	0	1.000	2.93	3.52	10	3	2	0	0	0	30.2	30	12	10	3	11	0	23	1	0	0	131	1.337	8.8	0.9	3.2	6.8	2.09
2019	25	1.8	Visalia	CALL	A+	ARI	2	1	.667	3.32	3.79	7	0	0	0	0	0	19.0	20	8	7	0	1	0	16	0	0	0	77	1.105	9.5	0.0	0.5	7.6	16.00
2021	27		2 Teams	2 Lgs	AA-A+	NYM	2	5	.286	4.00	4.83	11	9	1	0	0	0	54.0	45	29	24	5	16	0	62	7	0	3	223	1.130	7.5	0.8	2.7	10.3	3.88
2021	27		2 Teams	2 Lgs	Ind-Fal		4	4	.500	3.12	3.63	12	9	0	0	0	0	52.0	42	21	18	4	17	0	54	2	0	3	216	1.135	7.3	0.7	2.9	9.3	3.18
2021	27	2.3	Binghamton	AANE	AA	NYM	1	4	.200	4.55	5.12	7	5	1	0	0	0	31.2	31	18	16	3	6	0	37	5	0	2	132	1.168	8.8	0.9	1.7	10.5	6.17
2021	27	3.7	Brooklyn	HAE	A+	NYM	1	1	.500	3.22	4.43	4	4	0	0	0	0	22.1	14	11	8	2	10	0	25	2	0	1	91	1.075	5.6	0.8	4.0	10.1	2.50
2021	27	3.7	Salt River	AZFL	Fal		1	2	.333	3.00	3.50	6	3	0	0	0	0	18.0	15	7	6	1	6	0	17	0	0	0	76	1.167	7.5	0.5	3.0	8.5	2.83
2021	27	0.5	Chicago	AA	Ind		3	2	.600	3.18	3.71	6	6	0	0	0	0	34.0	27	14	12	3	11	0	37	2	0	3	140	1.118	7.1	0.8	2.9	9.8	3.36
2022	28	1.0	Syracuse	IL	AAA	NYM	5	6	.455	6.38	6.64	26	24	0	0	0	0	104.1	131	77	74	12	43	1	88	7	0	5	479	1.668	11.3	1.0	3.7	7.6	2.05
Year	Age	AgeDif	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	W	L	W-L%	ERA	RA9	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W
Minors (6 seasons)					Minors		34	28	.548	4.44	5.07	121	90	6	2	1	0	527.1	541	297	260	58	148	1	474	32	0	15	2252	1.307	9.2	1.0	2.5	8.1	3.20

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/7/2024.

Videos:

You Tube: Connor Grey on AZFL, No-Hit Bid and More.

Three shutout innings for @Connor7Grey as he made a relief appearance in the @MLBazFallLeague. 💪 pic.twitter.com/n35NE7T1dm

— Mets Farm Report (@MetsFarmReport) November 4, 2021

.@Connor7Grey fans the first batter he sees out of the bullpen. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/CgvkzIsmFx

— Mets Farm Report (@MetsFarmReport) October 20, 2021

.@Connor7Grey fanned five batters over 5.2 innings in his @RumblePoniesBB start yesterday. pic.twitter.com/BoYZVBItzr

— Mets Farm Report (@MetsFarmReport) August 25, 2021

.@Connor7Grey’s @RumblePoniesBB line from yesterday:

6.0 IP | 2 H | 1 ER | 5 K pic.twitter.com/DXwDFfCwkJ

— Mets Farm Report (@MetsFarmReport) August 11, 2021

.@Connor7Grey taking a no-hitter into the ninth inning for the @BKCyclones was definitely one of the more epic moments of 2021! 💪 #FarmReportRewind pic.twitter.com/hkxzjtKKaG

— Mets Farm Report (@MetsFarmReport) January 22, 2022

.@Connor7Grey looked good in his @BKCyclones debut. 👏

5.0 IP | 2 ER | 6 K pic.twitter.com/jPB8oVkxtk

— Mets Farm Report (@MetsFarmReport) June 27, 2021

The Mets have signed right-hander Connor Grey to a minor league deal.

Had a 3.18 ERA and 9.8 K/9 in six starts for the independent league Chicago Dogs this season.

pic.twitter.com/MCvCv1wOsX

— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) June 17, 2021