Sonny Douglas Gray was born on November 7, 1989, in Smyrna, Tennessee. He attended Vanderbilt University, where he played for the Commodores. The Chicago Cubs selected him in the 27th round of the 2008 MLB draft, but the Oakland Athletics chose him in the first round of the 2011 draft. Gray made his major league debut on July 10, 2013. He joined the Minnesota Twins on March 13, 2022, when the Cincinnati Reds traded him and Francis Peguero to the Twins for Chase Petty. During his time with the Twins, Gray won the Calvin R. Griffith MVP Award and the Joseph W. Haynes Pitcher of the Year Award in 2023. He was named an MLB All-Star in 2015, 2019, and 2023, and finished as the American League Cy Young Award runner-up in 2023. The St. Louis Cardinals signed Gray as a free agent on November 27, 2023.