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JUPITER, Fla. — There’s a moment early in Smyrna High’s 2007 adaptation of “High School Musical: On Stage!� where a star of the play and the star of the play’s basketball team is caught using his mobile phone in class.

The scene involves a gong, a bucket and a mention of a “football court,� and there to see it all unfold from the audience was Vanderbilt baseball coach Tim Corbin and his family. They came to the central Tennessee high school on a Friday night to see Sonny Gray, one of Corbin’s prized recruits — and future Friday night star on a different stage — as Troy Bolton, the charismatic protagonist straight out of Disney. At one point, Corbin looked at his phone, scrolled and replaced it in his pocket.

It then buzzed with a new message.

“Dog,� the note began with an affectionate nickname, “pay attention.�

Gray had sent it.

From the stage.

“He caught me,� Corbin said recently, describing Gray’s sense of humor. “He’s totally aware of what’s going on around him. ... He had no business being the star and singer of a high school musical, but it was just another example of this guy thought he could, so he could. I’ve never seen him lose that confidence in who he is.�

The Cardinals are banking on it — big time.

They have just the role in mind for Sonny Gray.

ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ want him in the lead.

For the first time in more than 20 years, the Cardinals went outside the organization to acquire the pitcher they’ll put atop the rotation from his start. Not since Darryl Kile via trade in 2000 or Andy Benes as a free agent before 1996 have the Cardinals imported their No. 1. Gray had more conversations with other teams, but the Cardinals’ aggressive pursuit and their proximity to his home in Tennessee edged offers from Arizona and Cincinnati. The right-hander could become the Cardinals’ first $100 million free-agent pitcher if he accepts the option at the end of the three-year, $75 million contract signed around Thanksgiving.

A hamstring injury in spring training delayed his scheduled opening night, the Tinseltown premiere of the new ace at Dodger Stadium. The Cardinals are counting on the show’s long run.

Gray, 34, is coming off a second-place finish for the American League Cy Young Award, throws arguably the most effective pitch in baseball, can carry a tune, collects baseball cards with his sons, captivates an audience with his bullpen sessions and — he said this past week — is certain, no doubt, he’s now at his best.

“Spinning my slider better than I ever have, spinning the baseball better than I ever have and understanding the new era of pitching. It clicked with me,� Gray said. “Physically, mentally — I feel like I understand pitching and how to get guys out more than I ever have before. And not only understanding it but being able to do it. I feel like I’m truly better than I’ve ever been, I really do.�

Drafted 18th overall in 2011 out of Corbin’s Vanderbilt powerhouse, Gray spent the first decade of his career with four different teams yet only reached free agency for the first time this past winter. Along the way, he got his first Cy Young votes at 25 with Oakland, learned firsthand how CC Sabathia led a Yankees rotation and started learning the modern art of pitchcraft in Cincinnati. It was there that Gray began learning the locations where his pitches were most effective, what shapes made his breaking ball a strikeout pitch and how to upgrade his slider into the devilish sweeper he throws now, and then it was on to Minnesota, where the pitch and his feel for pitching came alive.

Gray’s sweeper had a .097 average against. Only Blake Snell’s curveball (.079) and Devin Williams’ change-up (.097) were thrown at least 500 times and held hitters to a lower average in 2023. No pitch limited slugging like Sonny’s sweeper. Three pitchers in the majors threw a pitch more than 200 times that had a slugging percentage against of .118 or lower, according to Baseball Savant.

Gray’s sweeper, with its .118 against, was the only one thrown more than 300 times.

“Not many guys can spin it like Sonny,� Twins starter Joe Ryan said.

It was in 2023 at Minnesota where Gray returned to 30 starts, to 180 innings and to the All-Star Game while also clearly becoming what the Cardinals sought: a rotation’s leader. With three 27-year-old starters, including Ryan and Pablo Lopez, on the staff, Gray assured the stretch time and other meetings allowed them to attend each other’s bullpens. He suggested to Lopez they watch games together when not pitching and discuss, pitch by pitch, what they would do in that same spot. Gray said he thrives on talking pitching, teaching pitching. To hear the Twins starters describe Gray’s influence this spring brings echoes of Chris Carpenter’s “team within a team� rotation with the Cardinals.

A few times, after Lopez’s start, Gray would point to a moment he “could have been more aggressive.�

“He wants you to go out there and be a bulldog,� said Lopez, one of the American League’s rising aces. “He wants you to be the man out there. I was able to learn a lot from Sonny about not giving in. You hear a lot, ‘I’m not going to give in. I’m going to throw my best pitch in any count.’ There are times a younger guy or someone without his confidence would be like, gosh, and give in. Not Sonny. He knows what makes him Sonny Gray and never changes that.

“Sonny is not the biggest of dudes,� Lopez continued about his 5-foot-10 former teammate. “But the way he projects himself on the mound, you have no idea. You would imagine you’re going up against a giant.�

“Guys are drawn to him,� Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He is fearless.�

There are still pitchers on Minnesota’s staff who narrate their bullpens after watching Gray do it. Many pitchers visualize what they want to do in those practice sessions. Gray vocalizes it. His first bullpen for the Cardinals had a gravitational pull — by the end almost everyone present for that informal workout had gathered to watch it. It was the first public example of the presence the Cardinals believe Gray will bring. Others have been more private.

He purchased a pair of matching hats embroidered with “Hermanos� (“brother� in Spanish) for himself and catcher Willson Contreras. Gray visited outfielder Jordan Walker’s house this spring and saw a “Harry Potter� movie on. A few mornings later, Walker found a wand left on his chair in the clubhouse — a gift from Gray. (“It’s sick,� said Walker.)

The hamstring injury March 4 interrupted his spring. Quality time on the field with new teammates, in the bullpen with catchers, became quantity time alone with trainers. His return late in camp to the mound once again drew a crowd.

And not just because a newcomer ace is a novelty around there.

“We knew we wanted Sonny,� manager Oliver Marmol said. “You don’t want to miss if you are going to do that, and the baton is not going to be passed to the next one. You have to go get the right guy that you know is going to have influence, not by their performance but by the way they work. Everybody: Look at that, follow that, that works. I think it shapes the culture of work by bringing him in.�

Corbin had another phrase for that, one he heard from Smyrna’s football coach.

“Everyone attends the Church of Sonny Gray here,� the Vanderbilt coach said. “I think the leadership thing to him carried value as he got older. He understood what it would do for him long beyond Vanderbilt. He certainly is a guy who rises with the element of competition. He’s going to protect your program when your program needs it. He’s a very good backbone.�

Corbin saw that recruiting him as a two-time state champion quarterback for Smyrna, saw that in Omaha, Nebraska, as the ace of the first Vanderbilt team to reach the College World Series. He didn’t need to be reminded that night in the school auditorium. Gray tends to hold the attention.

The stage is set.

Gray knows his lines.

Bring on the spotlight.

“I look forward to putting my footprint all over this organization,� Gray said on the eve of spring training. “But in the right way. And also with other people right there with me. The history here is one thing that drew us here. I wanted to come back and play for a historic franchise that’s got the tradition that you can leave a mark on. I’m not going to be doing it by myself.�

This article is part of the St. Louis Cardinals season preview section, which was in print on Sunday, March 24.