Ray fulfilling life-long dream as pro baseball career takes off

QUINCY — The group of 11-year-olds became curious why Johnny Ray answered his cell phone in the middle of a pitcher’s fielding practice drill. They wanted to know the reason he instantaneously felt overjoyed.

They were equally excited when they learned what was transpiring.

Ray, a right-handed pitcher, recently completed his redshirt sophomore season at Texas Christian University. He was in Fort Worth, Texas, working at the Horned Frogs baseball camp, when he received a call from his agent on the third day of the MLB amateur draft.

The Chicago White Sox selected Ray, the 2017 Quincy Notre Dame graduate, in the 12th round with the 365th pick overall.

“It was pure joy in that moment,” the 22-year-old Ray said.

The kids could tell.

“They kept asking, ‘What’s going on?’” Ray said. “I told them I just got drafted by the Chicago White Sox. They were all like, ‘That’s so cool.’ One of the kids even said, ‘Hey, that’s my favorite team.’ It was really cool. And then my phone started blowing up.”

The most poignant moment was still to come.

Ray’s family spent draft week with him in Fort Worth. When the news broke, they headed immediately to the TCU intramural fields where the camp was taking place, and Ray and his father, Jack, celebrated with a big embrace.

“We were both just smiling,” Ray said. “He just told me how much he loves me, how proud he is of me. I’ve kind of had a unique journey to get to this point. A couple of injuries along the way, multiple schools, things like that. 

“I felt like I battled through a lot of adversity to get to this point, and he knows that. He kind of told me this is your hard work paying off.”

It made that hug unforgettable.

“It was pretty emotional with a life-long dream being accomplished,” Ray said. 

It truly has been a life-long goal. He has a list of goals he wrote in seventh grade hanging on the wall in the bedroom of his family’s Quincy home.

The first was to get straight A’s in high school.

“That didn’t happen,” Ray said with a chuckle.

The next was to play NCAA Division I baseball, then go on to play in the major leagues.

“The last one was to work as hard as I can and never look back and have any regret that I could have worked harder,” Ray said. “Some of those goals, like being a big league player, haven’t been accomplished yet.

“I feel like I have the ability to do it. It’s a matter of honing in and being more consistent throughout the minor leagues. Once I get more consistent with my stuff, I feel the sky’s the limit.”

Finding that consistency has begun.

The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Ray now is in Birmingham, Ala., at the White Sox’s facility for the Class AA Birmingham Barons. The draft picks are going through a franchise boot camp, so to speak.

“Just kind of get acclimated to how they do things, have us throw a couple bullpens, get to know us, do a lot of testing, stuff like that,” Ray said.

He will be there until July 29 before being assigned to the Rookie League affiliate in Arizona. He will find out later if he will be part of the fall instructional league.

The opportunity to pitch, regain his consistency and prove he belongs is critical.

After redshirting at Illinois State University in 2018 and undergoing Tommy John surgery, Ray spent the 2019 season at John A. Logan Community College before signing with TCU. As a sophomore with the Horned Frogs in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, he had a 2.53 earned run average in 21⅓ innings, striking out 21 batters and holding batters to a .181 average. 

The 2021 season was more topsy-turvy. Ray went 3-3 with a 6.50 ERA, striking out 45 batters in 44⅓ innings, but he also walked 28. He went eight innings, striking out eight and allowing three runs in a 10-3 victory over Kansas on April 24. 

However, his final three efforts were a struggle. Ray pitched only 2⅓ innings against Texas on May 9, allowing four runs and five hits. In his final two appearances against Louisiana-Monroe and Kansas State, he allowed a combined five runs and five hits without recording an out.

It left him in limbo.

“With how the season ended, I wasn’t sure I was going to get a shot,” Ray said. “I went to the draft combine, and I pitched well there. I think I got enough looks in before the draft to get a team that likes me to take me. I’m feeling very blessed.”

It was at the combine, held June 20-28 at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, N.C., where Ray made a connection with Mike Shirley, the White Sox’s director of amateur scouting.

“The conversation went great,” Ray said. “I could tell from that conversation they were very interested in me.”

Several teams called the TCU coaching staff and Ray’s agent during the draft process. The White Sox remained his strongest suitor throughout. It started with his ability to be humble, mature and honest in a 1-on-1 conversation.

That’s the man Jack Ray wanted his son to be.

“He was always giving me the best advice,” Ray said. “It’s the values and the character things — it’s how I was raised — that helped me get through college baseball and get to this point.”