Earlier this week the Red Sox announced their starting pitchers for the first week of Grapefruit League play, but one notable name wasn’t included.

Asked Friday morning, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said there’s nothing to worry about with new right-hander Sonny Gray.

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“Sonny is in the veteran program,” Cora said, eliciting laughter from the assembled reporters in Fort Myers. “For him, yeah, he likes pitching on the big field but he doesn’t mind throwing on the back fields, so it’s a work in progress, his schedule, but he’ll get his reps and he’ll be ready.”

Entering his 14th MLB season, the 36-year-old Gray is among the most experienced players on the Red Sox roster. He is coming off a solid 2025 season in St. Louis where he posted a 4.28 ERA with 201 strikeouts in 180 2/3 innings, and this year he is expected to join Garrett Crochet, Ranger Suarez and Brayan Bello the Red Sox rotation.

As for the fifth spot, Cora offered his perspective on what he’s looking for out of the remaining candidates, like Johan Oviedo, Kutter Crawford, Patrick Sandoval, Connelly Early and Payton Tolle.

“I think in the beginning just go out there and compete and then we’ll decide what we want to do, where we go,” Cora said. “Roster construction is always important, that’s the key, especially early in the season, understanding in this case the vast majority of the guys that are competing have options. Not everyone can be in the big leagues, we’re not going to a six-man rotation, I can tell you that right now.

“We just have to be patient and what we decide is for the benefit of the team early on,” he continued. “There’s going to be guys pitching in Triple-A who are going to be hungry and ready for whenever we call their name to come to the big leagues.”

Whether on the big league field or out back, Cora expects the Red Sox starters to each go about two innings during their first outing and build up from there.