LeMoyneDolphins.com recently caught up with former Le Moyne All-American pitcher and current member of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization Josiah Gray following the Dodgers' run to winning the World Series.

Take us through the initial restart of baseball activities in early July
I went from Arizona to LA for Summer Camp, which was a three-week Summer Camp and basically everyone was there, 40-man roster guys, non-roster guys, and we were all just getting ready for the season ahead. Everyone on the 40-man was getting ready for the regular season and all of the extra guys were getting ready for what was going to be put together at the Alternate Training Site (ATS). They ran it pretty smoothly. It was basically games every day, guys getting their work in depending on what they had to do for the day and kind of like a shotgun start to the season to get ready and just do what you can do.

What was life like for you once the regular season started?
Once July 23rd hit and the regular season started, they sent everyone who didn't make the active roster back to the alternate site at USC (University of Southern California) and basically at USC we were doing the same things we were doing at Summer Camp. Mostly a lot of live BP (batting practice), scrimmages, if we had enough guys that give day. Basically it was like a glorified Spring Training with a lot of mix of guys, so we had 2020 draft guys there, quad-A guys who were reserve guys pending on what happened with the big league team, guys who were itching for their debuts and some guys even who were acquired in trades, so it was a lot of mix of guys and a culmination of everyone's talents and a two-month period for everyone to just get better and get their work in.

What were your living and field arrangements during your time at the Alternate Training Site?
The initial plan was that we were going to live in the dorms at USC, but once they figured that students weren't going to come back, the Dodgers decided they were just going to put us in a hotel in downtown LA. So we were there and then, along with that decision by USC not to have students come back to campus, the organization decided not to switch (the ATS) to Rancho (Cucamonga, home of the Dodgers' Advanced-A franchise) and just stay here for the two months because we have the fields, we have the facilities, so we just stayed at USC for the two months and everything was ran pretty smoothly.

What were some of the things that you were tasked with working on/developing during your time at the ATS?
The main things they basically told me to focus on were my off-speed command and usage and movement. All the stuff circled around off-speed because they know how my fastball plays and they know how my slider, in particular, plays, so they wanted me to focus on my curveball and my changeup. That was sort of the task, go out there and dominate guys, but also continue to work on those pitches because if I get called up, those are pitches that are going to be good for me up there at the big-league level. Those were my tasks for two months and I think we really hit those on the head. There was kind of like a moment in time when I remember something just clicked and things started to just manifest themselves overnight for me, which was a really good feeling to have happen over there.
 
Was the organization keeping you stretched out or were you working in shorter stints?
I was on a program that whether I get called up or not, I was still going to get a decent amount of innings in, so I was built up to seven innings in a live BP. It was kind of tough to throw seven innings in a live BP, but in most outings, I was going anywhere from five to six and then I think I had one or two at seven. Then once it was all said and done with the alternate site, I was back down to two innings in a live BP, kind of just knowing that if they needed me, it would be in a short relief role, with probably not a start in there. I was getting built up (at the ATS) and I think I threw a total of 60-70 innings, which is really good dealing with the circumstances we all had to deal with.

What were your emotions/feelings on being added to the Dodgers postseason pool?
I was really excited! I got the call that I was invited about two days before our work at the alternate site ended and my plan, personally, was that I was going to go out to instructs (at the Dodgers facility in Glendale, Arizona) and get some more innings in, try to get probably 30 more innings in, just to continue that inning count and that was my initial outlook. I didn't know what was going to happen with the postseason pool, but once I got the call, I was really excited. It was kind of like the same call you get when you're invited to Spring Training as a non-roster invite. Just to be around and kind of see what the organization thinks of you is definitely a really good feeling, so getting that call and being able to join those guys once we ended over there at USC was a really good feeling and you know to see those guys again was pretty awesome as well.
 
What was life like for you during the postseason?
It changed basically with every series because we joined the pool during our series against the A's (Oakland Athletics), which was our second-to-last series of the regular season. They put us in another hotel in LA and basically it was just the team was there and I think some families were there and for those two series. We weren't allowed to do anything else but go to the ballpark and back, so for us non-roster guys, we were just going to the ballpark earlier than the active guys, getting our work in, getting our weight room stuff done, for about two or three hours I think we had timeslots, and then we would go home and that would be our days. We had the option to go to the ballpark (for games) sometimes depending on what the circumstances were. Most times I would just be watching the games at the hotel and that was the situation for the end of the regular season and that changed once the postseason started.

During the postseason, what were you doing for the games?
We would go to the games. Basically I started going to the games from the Braves series (National League Championship Series, held in Arlington, Texas) on. They had a suite for us, which was perfect, kind of like in our own bubble, as was agreed upon between the player's union and the owners. After the games, we could go into the clubhouse. Obviously, when we won the Braves series, that was really huge, so they let us go in the clubhouse and we got to celebrate a little bit with some of the guys. Obviously not the traditional celebration popping champagne and going crazy. Guys were still excited and happy to get over that hump, so we got to be a part of that. Then, obviously for the World Series, things were a little different with the positive COVID test that we had, so we weren't able to celebrate as much, but guys still got to enjoy it, we still got to enjoy it out there on the field. For some guys, like Clayton (Kershaw), or Walker (Buehler) or whoever you may have it, those guys have been grinding for that for years and for a young guy like myself just to be kind of around that, it definitely shapes you to want to be a bigger part of that for years to come.

What did you learn from being around the major league guys like Kershaw and Buehler?
Being around those guys was pretty cool. It's not like we talked as much as I'd have liked, but just seeing them work and how they went about their business and their process to getting prepared for their next outings was definitely something to watch. For next year and years to come, those are going to be probably the guys I lean on a lot in terms of just how they go about their work and how they scout teams, how they recover and what they think about the day before they pitch in the dugout watching whoever is pitching that day and sort of those things. Those are the things I'm really looking forward watching, but even getting to see them from afar this year was definitely an experience and it definitely makes me eager to continue to watch them and hopefully have them help me in my career.