Player review: Robbie Ray

A review in which I discuss spelling for most of it.

2024 stats: 7 GS, 30.2 IP, 4.70 ERA, 3.78 xERA, 12.62 K/9, 4.70 BB/9, 1.76 HR/9

What I learned about Robbie Ray this year is that he spells the end of his name with an –i-e rather than with a -y, which is what I assumed. Robb-y makes more sense to me — as Bobby does more so than Bobbie — but apparently it doesn’t make more sense to the rest of the world. I started searching for, all the Robbys I know and all of them were actually not Robbys at all, but Robbies. I will list three here: Robbie Coltrane, an actor; Margot Robbie, an actor; Robbie Robertson, guitarist and songwriter of the band The Band…

Then I read about a wide receiver named Robby Anderson who two years ago while playing for the Carolina Panthers announced that he’d be changing the spelling of his name from ‘y’ to ‘ie’, saying that it looked better written down.

Is this true? Robby or Robbie — is there an aesthetic difference? A numerical one, yes. Robby is made up of one less character than Robbie, and as someone who is a Steven rather than a Stephen, that one character difference matters. Think of all the time I’ve saved writing down one less letter. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say I hadn’t thought about the visual qualities as well. The Latinate ‘v’ is much stronger and symmetrically sharper than the clumsy and lumpy Greek ‘ph’. I am grateful for the worn crease down my name’s middle that the ‘v’ provides — so yes, these things matter, and I completely understand the desire to be Robbie and not Robby.

What I don’t understand is what follows. After Robby Anderson became Robbie Anderson, he briefly wasn’t either Robby or Robbie, but changed his first name to Chosen, before eventually opting to return to Robbie and use the chosen Chosen to serve as his surname. Robbie Chosen was signed by the 49ers in 2024 and released by the 49ers in 2024, then was picked up by the Dolphins, who cut him from their practice squad in September. Presently, Chosen is unchosen.

The rhetorical What’s in a name? implies the answer. To Willie (obviously not Willy) Shakespeare, the answer is not much. And the spelling of a name? Ask Robby/Robbie/Chosen/Anderson/Chosen. A name change has no purchase with on-field results. This Robby / Robbie debacle is further proof that all language is translation, and all of it fails to communicate the essence of a thing.

Right now, the San Francisco Giants and us fans just have a name — and how it’s spelled — when it comes to Robbie Ray.

About a year ago, the Giants unloaded Mitch Haniger and Anthony Desclafani and got an on-the-mend, Cy Young winner in the offseason. A somewhat savvy move in the sense that it shed bad contract liabilities, and ostensibly paid low for a huge windfall of talent destined to boost a beleaguered rotation in the second half of the season.

At one point, with Ray fully healed, the Giants would/could/maybe have the best rotation in baseball. Snell, Webb, now Ray — if there were any hopes of San Francisco making a postseason push, it would be on the backs of these arms…

It didn’t work out that way. Robbie Ray did not produce much in terms of physical presence beyond ink on a page. And after just seven lopsided starts and 30.2 innings pitched, we still don’t have much to go on other than the spelling of his name.

Unsurprisingly Ray will continue to be a name slotted into the Giants’ rotation as he opted into the final two years and $50 million of his existing contract. No sweeter deal would’ve been found on the market given the fact that he’s thrown less than 40 innings total over the past two seasons and is three years and three teams removed from his dominant 2021 season in Toronto.

The Ray experience was like watching Jackson Pollock paint. Baseballs splattered and flung in the general direction of the plate — some as strokes of genius and others as childish and uncontrolled dribbling.

In his first start in over a year, and his first appearance as a Giant, Ray hit two batters, served up two wild pitches, walked two more, allowing one run in the first inning against the Dodgers. He then proceeded to strike out 8 of the next 14 batters he faced without surrendering a hit.

The triumphant return to the rubber didn’t last. In his next start against the lowly Oakland A’s, Ray walked three and gave up three homers over 4.1 innings. In Cincinnati, he gave up two long balls but struck out 9 over 5 innings. A grand slam after two walks and two HBPs chased Ray from the first inning of his fifth start against the Braves. The following start, he carved up…the White Sox, but still.

We talk about three true-outcome hitters, and Ray is a three true-outcomes pitcher. Each outing of Ray was defined by either walks, home runs, or strikeouts. His 12.62 K/9 and 1.76 HR/9 were the highest rates on the team (min. 30 IP), while his 4.40 BB/9 was the fifth from the top. Finding a balance amongst this chaos has always been Ray’s way. It really is similar to Pollock’s approach to a canvas: aggressive and maximalist, trusting that amongst all the wanton dollops of paint, there will be key, decisive strokes that tie the whole thing together. It’s not nuanced pitching, it’s playing the odds, a wager that in the six pitches he has to play with in each at-bat, the hitter is going to make a poor decision or two or three.

This kind of precipice pitching explains the ups-and-downs of Ray’s season numbers. He’s predictable in these outcomes, but these outcomes are notoriously volatile. Three walks followed by three strikeouts adds up to zero earned runs. A walk and a homer is double the run totals of a homer and a walk. A high-90’s four-seamer at the letters might be a perfect strikeout pitch. Drop it an inch, and it might be in the bleachers.

In every way imaginable, Ray is the opposite arm to Logan Webb. Variety is good when building a rotation, but it’s scary trying to see Ray through a whole season. It’s a lot of landmines to navigate. Blow-ups like the one in Atlanta are inevitable.

Given the recent news of Corbin Burnes signing with Arizona, Ray’s role at the top of the rotation has just been elevated. This is an exciting prospect in the sense that Ray can be, and has been, a very, very good pitcher. It’s also completely terrifying because he’s also been a pretty bad pitcher as well. Add the Tommy John surgery from 2023, the hamstring strain that ended his abbreviated 2024, normal wear-and-tear brought on by age… I mean I just learned how to spell the guy’s name for crying out loud, so what will come in 2025 feels opaque at best.