He pondered retirement. A day later, he made the team. Now, he hit his 1st slam

MINNEAPOLIS -- Less than two weeks ago, as he was turning 30 with 122 Major League plate appearances to his name, Tristan Gray and his wife Madelyn had a frank conversation. It was time to start talking contingencies if Gray was faced with another year in the Minor Leagues.

After nine years of pro ball, retirement was at least somewhere in the picture for Gray. It’s safe to say that possibility has been put off for at least a while.

The next day, Gray was informed he’d made his first Opening Day roster. On Friday, the utility man got to experience the kind of hero moment he’d waited all those years for. He hit his first career grand slam, capping a seven-run seventh inning and securing a 10-4 win for the Twins over the Rays in their home opener.

“You try to fight off the tough thoughts, the doubt, all of that,” Gray said. “It just grows and grows. Especially when you don’t get the opportunity or when you get a little opportunity and it doesn’t work. You just, honestly, have to just compartmentalize, and throw that to the side and think about the opportunity that’s in front of you. And thankfully today I get to sit on this one for a little bit.”

Gray was one of the last players to make the Twins’ Opening Day roster in Spring Training, beating out Ryan Kreidler and Orlando Arcia for a utility infielder and backup shortstop job. He made the most of his first start last week in Baltimore, but the expectation was that he would play sparingly. However, when starting shortstop Brooks Lee became ill Thursday, Gray got a start. He got another Friday and made the most of it.

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“Sick. That was sick,” said Byron Buxton, who was hit by a pitch to start the winning rally. “His first Opening Day was this year. To have that moment, there is nothing like it. A little better conditions would’ve been way better, but it was awesome. I wasn’t out there for it, but I was able to see it. He’s worked hard for it. To be able to work that hard and finally get an opportunity and make the most of that, it’s incredible, for sure. This game is hard.”

Prior to the slam, Gray walked and hit a sacrifice fly, though he was frustrated by a flyout with the bases loaded in the sixth. He didn’t have to stew on it long. Following a 57-minute pregame delay due to a power outage, and as rain encroached on Target Field, Gray enjoyed the kind of moment some players never experience.

“It was really just a relief,” he said. “I was a little upset about the second time, not getting the job done. So just staying with it and trusting that all of our preparation was going to come through. Thankfully it did.”

Gray was drafted out of Rice in 2017 by the Pirates, who traded him to the Rays organization in 2018. He finally got a cup of coffee with Tampa Bay in 2023 but became a free agent the following offseason, signing with the Marlins, where he got seven more games. The A’s claimed him off waivers, and he got eight games there. Then the Pirates claimed him off waivers. He signed with the White Sox in ’25 before being traded back to Tampa Bay. He was traded twice this winter, first to the Red Sox and then to the Twins.

In four games, Gray has eight RBIs already this year, two shy of his Major League career total entering the season.

“He looks phenomenal right now at the plate,” said starter Bailey Ober, “putting some great swings on balls and obviously he came up huge with that grand slam. It’s been really awesome to watch and great teammate. It’s really cool.”

As he spoke with reporters in the clubhouse after the game, Gray was looking forward to a much more joyful conversation with Madelyn, who is at home in Houston about to give birth to the couple’s second child. She had already texted him at that point, but they hadn’t spoken yet.

"Honestly, at the end of spring,” he said, “it was just a talk with my wife of just game plan on what we were going to do, and those thoughts definitely creeped in. Thankfully, the next day I got told I made the team, so it's pretty crazy how that works out."