CJ Gray. Tyler Buckwell photo.

 

 

CJ Gray. Tyler Buckwell photo.

By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

KANNAPOLIS — The baseball scouts will tell you that you don’t need a radar gun to tell if a high school youngster is throwing 90 mph.

There’s an audible whoosh in the air, a snap, crackle and pop like a breakfast cereal.

CJ Gray, a 17-year-old rising senior at A.L. Brown, is causing whooshes and crackles with an elite and electric right arm. He’s making eyes widen and jaws drop. He’s making scouts type feverish reports. His cap is flying in all directions, like Willie Mays turned loose  on a pitcher’s mound, but his aim is true.

Gray whipped fastballs consistently at 95, with a few as brisk as 97 mph, for the South Charlotte Panthers, as he surged into the top 10 this summer as far as North Carolina baseball prospects in the Class of 2025.

Gray’s spring/summer coach Empsy Thompson, who has been around forever and has seen it all on baseball diamonds, swears his latest Wonder will throw 100 before too long.

“There’s about the same chance of CJ not throwing 100, as there is of me growing to be 7 feet tall,” said Thompson, who stands roughly a foot and half short of 7 feet. “As a pitcher he’s got a chance to be one of the best there’s ever been from Kannapolis. Besides the fastball, he’s got a good curveball and a really good changeup. And he’s more than a pitcher. He can hit. He can field. He can run. He’s one of the special ones, and I’m not going to put a limit on him. On a baseball field, there’s not much he can’t do.”

The flame-throwing teenager’s official name is Charles Gray Jr., although he’s answered to CJ for as long as he can remember. He has competed in big-time environments and stadiums in summer ball, as he and his South Charlotte Panthers teammates will take on anyone in the world in their age group.

“CJ plays shortstop for A.L. Brown, but with the Panthers we made a run this summer when we played CJ at second base or center field,” Thompson said. “At second base, he was as good as anyone we’ve ever had there. His arm is going to play anywhere you want to put him.”

Gray has been verbally committed to N.C. State’s baseball program for two years, but he and his family will have decisions to make in the year ahead.

Baseball or football in college, as he’s also A.L. Brown’s starting quarterback and he has D-I offers.

Strictly a pitcher or two-way player in college?

College or pro, as he’s likely to be picked in the MLB draft next summer.

All of those are great choices to have.

“I’m very blessed right now,” Gray said. “I’m grateful for every opportunity that I get.”

Gray’s story starts with the right gene pool. He inherited not just athletic genes, but solid personality traits and a relentless work ethic.

“CJ comes from two of the best people that I know,” Thompson said.

Charles Gray Sr. was quite an athlete back in the 1990s, starring in football for the Jordan-Matthews Jets in Siler City. He was 6-foot-3, 245 pounds and played both ways. A full ride to Wake Forest fell through at the last minute, so Charles Sr. veered off the fast track to success and began a winding journey.

He enrolled at Fork Union Military Academy to bump up his grades, but that marching and saluting before breakfast didn’t suit him, and it looked like he might be done.

Fortunately, the late Greg Richardson knew about Gray. Richardson coordinated the defense for Livingstone College’s football team and he made a phone call that gave Gray a second chance.

Playing for Livingstone when the ACC had been oh-so-close was tough for Gray to deal with at first, but winning cures almost everything and the Blue Bears were winning big in the late 1990s under head coach Rudy Abrams. Gray played tight end for two conference championship teams, mostly blocking for powerful running back Wilmont Perry.

Gray graduated from Livingstone in 1999 with a degree in sociology. He’d planned for years to become a coach and got his first chance at Salisbury High. He learned plenty from coach Joe Pinyan.

Then, in the summer of 2004, Gray got married.

Gray says he knew without a doubt that Donitta Michelle Gillespie was the right girl  because she was coming to watch him coach the Salisbury jayvee team on Thursday nights.  She was an athlete, too. She’d played volleyball and competed in track and field for Salisbury High.

Gray’s coaching journey continued at Livingstone and Vance High in Charlotte (now Julius Chambers). For six years, he was at Mallard Creek where he coached the offensive line for two 4AA state champions.

His first head-coaching chance came at Hopewell High in Huntersville.

The Grays settled in Kannapolis. Young CJ showed some athletic ability right away.

“I think I was 10 when I first played organized football,” CJ said. “But baseball was a different story. I was playing baseball when I was 2 or 3, not long after I learned to walk.”

Thompson remembers studying Gray for the first time about four years ago.

“He wasn’t smooth, but you could tell something was there  — you could tell he was an athlete,” Thompson said. “Then about a year later, we had a South Charlotte Panthers tryout at North Stanly High, and you could see it was starting to happen. He goes out there and runs a 6.6 in the 60.”

N.C. State baseball loved Gray’s arm strength even when he was much smaller than he is now and offered him back in 2022. He committed after a visit.

“The funny thing about that is I was a diehard Carolina fan growing up,” Gray said. “Hated the Wolfpack, but then I went up there to visit, and I had a great experience. I hear from a lot of schools and I’ve talked to schools, but nothing has made me change my mind about NC State.”

Gray admits he still cheers for the Tar Heels — unless they’re playing N.C. State.

Gray, who cites Thompson and his father as the two biggest influences on his athletic career, has undergone a physical transformation during the past two years.

“I was 5-foot-8, 135 pounds, as a freshman, but now I’m 6-foot-2, 205 pounds,” Gray said. “A lot of that was just a natural physical progression for me, but part of it is the weight room. I’ve spent a lot of time in there.”

Added Thompson, “CJ is a grown man now. But his feet are still longer than you’d expect for his body size, so I expect he’ll grow quite a bit more.”

CJ has experienced success at his father’s game — on the football field. As a junior quarterback, playing for first-year head coach Justin Hardin, he threw for 1,751 yards and 19 touchdowns in 11 games. He added 357 rushing yards and seven TDs.

“Well, it’s Kannapolis,” CJ said. “So when I’m out getting something to eat and someone recognizes me they don’t ask me about baseball, they ask me how the football team is going to do.”

He has offers from three Division I schools for football — Eastern Kentucky, Charlotte and Liberty.

But he’s so much more physical now than he was a year ago that he’s likely to see an increase in the volume of offers. While no one doubts he can excel in Division I baseball, there are area coaches who believe he also can excel in football in college.

“My senior football season is going to be a very big deal for me,” Gray said.

Still, Gray understands those whooshes created by his right arm are likely to be his ticket. At least at this point, he’s perceived as being more special in baseball than football, although that perception may be altered a few months from now.

“Football recruiting has been pretty slow, but baseball always was easy,” Gray said. “In baseball, as my velocity has been creeping up, I’ve heard from a lot more schools — LSU, Florida, UNC, South Carolina, Virginia Tech.”

In the classroom, Gray does fine. Academics are going to be an asset for him going forward, not an obstacle.

“I get some B’s in math, that’s the toughest subject for me,” Gray said. “But mostly A’s.”

Personality-wise, Thompson says Gray is almost a perfect match for himself at that age. He’s an introvert.

“Most people probably think CJ walks around like a rock star, quarterback of the football team. baseball star, but that’s a long way from the truth,” Thompson. “He’s this really mellow, nice, reserved kid. If you saw him at lunch, you might think he’s the president of the chess club.”

Becoming more of a vocal leader is something Wonder coaches will be looking for from Gray as his senior year unfolds. He’s not a rah-rah type by nature. It’s not something that comes routinely to him, but Thompson believes he will be able to do it.

“Everyone respects CJ,” Thompson said. “They like him, they look up to him, and they’ll follow where he leads.”