Sonny Gray only has 132 major league innings to his name, but has certainly proved himself to be a fantasy ace in his limited time.  With a career ERA of 2.32 and a WHIP 1.098 Gray is certainly no joke on the mound.  In his first season Gray finished with an ERA of 2.67 and an FIP of 2.70 showing that his ERA truly was a reflection of how dominant he had been that year and was not luck.  Gray even has a respectable strikeout rate of 8.3 for his career.  It has dropped two points this year from last year which is a tad concerning but Gray actually has pitched better this year with the reduced strikeout rate.  The one area where Gray could improve would be his strikeout to walk ratio.  This season Gray owns a strikeout to walk ratio of 2.39 which is over a full point drop form what he posted last season.  While the increased walk rate may be worrisome in the long run he is allowing fewer hits than last season which has allowed him to limit the damage, leading to one of the best ERA’s in baseball.  While not a pure strikeout pitcher Gray does get his fairshare of wiffs.  Last season he fanned 67 batters in 64 innigns of work.  That percentage has dropped this season with only 55 strikeouts in 67 innings for a 7.3K/9 ratio.  That should improve as the season wears on, but even if it doesn't that is still plenty of value in fantasy.  An overall well rounded pitcher, Gray has all the making of a future ace.

Besides the obvious talent that Gray has, he also has the benefit of pitching in a very friendly ball park at The O.co Coliseum in Oakland.  The Coliseum is 330ft down both lines, 367 to the power alleys, and 400ft to center.  The biggest benefit to playing in Oakland though is the vast amount of foul territory.  Oakland has by far the most foul territory room in baseball, which really helps out pitchers, as balls that are 10 to 15 rows deep at other ball parks get caught for outs in Oakland.  

Besides being a fantastic pitcher with a power fastball and a great curveball Gray also has an explosive offense behind him.  Not only will gray be able to rack up the wins with the lineup that hits for him.  On the rare occasion that he struggles his offense will often times to be able to bail him out so he doesn’t take a loss.  This is an important thing in fantasy as there are many great pitchers who get too few wins and too many loses simply because of the team he pitches for.  Gray is the complete package and will have the numbers to prove it once the season completes.  When you factor in the ballpark in which Gray pitches and how good of a pitcher he is you have the making of a fantasy ace for many years to come.