ST. LOUIS, Mo., November 27, 2023 ¨C The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have signed right-handed pitcher Sonny Gray to a three-year (2024-26) contract that also includes a club option for 2027.

Gray, 34, the 2023 American League Cy Young Award runner-up to Gerrit Cole, was 8-8 with a 2.79 ERA (2^nd in A.L.) and 183 strikeouts over 184.0 innings pitched and 32 starts for the A.L. Central Champion Minnesota Twins. His 2.83 Fielding Independent Pitching was tops in Major League Baseball.

¡°¡°We are pleased to welcome Sonny to the St. Louis Cardinals organization,¡± said Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak. ¡°Like our recent free-agent additions, Sonny is a pitcher that can be counted on to provide innings depth, veteran major league experience, and most importantly ¨C he had a strong desire to pitch for the St. Louis Cardinals. This is an exciting day for the Cardinals organization.¡±

Gray¡¯s acquisition, as well as the recent signings of free agents Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson, gives the Cardinals four of the majors¡¯ top-25 pitchers in innings pitched from 2023: Miles Mikolas (201.1, 4^th), Gibson (192.0, T12^th), Gray (184.0, 22^nd) and Lynn (185.2, 23^rd). In addition, Lynn (1889.0), Gibson (1696.0) and Gray (1571.0) are all ranked in the top-20 among active pitchers in career innings pitched.

A Tennessee native, Gray allowed only eight home runs over 184.0 innings pitched in 2023 for a Major League-best 0.39 home runs/9 IP ratio, the lowest mark by any starting pitcher in a single season with 180 or more innings pitched since his career began in 2013. That mark would rank as the second-lowest by any St. Louis Cardinals pitcher in the Wild Card Era (since 1995) behind only Chris Carpenter (0.33 in 2009).

Over his 11 Major League seasons from 2013-23 with the Athletics (2013-17), Yankees (2017-18), Reds (2019-21) and Twins (2022-23), Gray has compiled a 98-85 career record with a 3.47 ERA over 270 career starts and 279 overall appearances.

Originally selected in the 1st round (18^th overall) of the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft out of Vanderbilt University, Gray ranks in the top-20 among active Major League pitchers in ERA (3.47, 7^th), opponent batting average (.230, 7^th), strikeouts (1521, 20^th), innings pitched (1571.0, 18^th), winning percentage (.536, 20^th) and WHIP (1.20, 10^th).

Gray set a Major League record with 48 consecutive starts allowing six hits or less by a ¡°non-opener¡± from August 25, 2018-May 5, 2021. From 2018-23, Gray held his opposition to two runs or less in 90 starts, fifth-most among MLB pitchers over that period behind only Gerrit Cole (112), Blake Snell (108), Max Scherzer (102) and Charlie Morton (93). During the 2019 season, Gray also posted a career-high with 23.0 consecutive scoreless innings.

Gray has been selected to three All-Star teams, twice for the American League (2015, 2023), and once for the National League (2019). The 5¡¯10¡±, 195-pound Gray has made six postseason starts, compiling a 1-3 record with a 3.26 ERA. His first career postseason victory came in this year¡¯s A.L. Wild Card Series, as he helped the Twins clinch their first postseason series win since 2002 in a series sweep over Toronto.

In addition to this year¡¯s runner-up finish, Gray also had top-10 Cy Young Award finishes in 2015 (placing 3^rd in the American League behind Dallas Keuchel and David Price) and in 2019 (7^th place in the National League).