Gordon

Graceffo

In his second career big-league game and first career big-league start, Graceffo allowed two runs, with the first coming on a solo homer to MJ Melendez. Graceffo kept the ball in the zone, with all four of his baserunners allowed coming on hits, but allowed runners to score in each of his last two frames. Since his start came in the second game of a doubleheader, there’s no guarantee Graceffo, whose first appearance came out of the bullpen, will draw another start in the coming days.

It’ll be Graceffo’s first big-league start. He made his major league debut two weeks ago, allowing one run over 4 1/3 innings in a game against the Reds. This will just be a spot start, but he’s definitely a candidate to spend more time in the Cardinals rotation in the second half.

Graceffo, who is in the majors for the first time at age 24, will likely see innings behind Andre Pallante tonight, but whether he sticks around afterwards could depend on just how many innings that becomes. He comes into this having won his last four Triple-A starts and not giving up a run in the last two. Overall, he had a 3.84 ERA and a 70/29 K/BB in 75 innings.

Graceffo will provide the Cardinals with some length out of the bullpen heading into Friday’s game against the Reds behind starter Andre Pallante. The 24-year-old righty has compiled a solid 3.84 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and 70/29 K/BB ratio across 75 innings (14 starts) this season for Triple-A Memphis. There isn’t a ton of appeal here for fantasy managers, but he’s a notable pitching prospect, and could find his way into a more prominent role if he excels in long relief.

No real surprises here among the latest batch of cuts from Cardinals camp, with Roby representing the highest profile name. The 22-year-old righty has more diverse opinions from scouts and evaluations than most prospects, but there’s no denying that he’s likely to reach the majors at some point during the 2024 campaign.

Graceffo tried to barehand the comebacker that produced the lone hit and drew a visit from the trainer afterwards, but he was able to continue. Graceffo’s lack of development last year was one of the things that led to the Cardinals adding three starters in free agency. He’ll go to Triple-A initially, but if he performs well, he’ll have a shot at being the first starter called up by the team.

It seems like a miracle that he allowed just two runs, considering that 11 of the 14 balls in play against him were hit hard and he walked four. Graceffo was widely regarded as a top-100 prospect entering 2023, but he missed six weeks in May and June with shoulder inflammation and his stuff has taken a step back. Overall, he has a 4.59 ERA and a 77/43 K/BB ratio in 82 1/3 innings for Memphis.

Graceffo hasn’t pitched since April 28 due to right shoulder inflammation, but he’s ready to get back in game action. Ranked as the Cardinals’ No. 4 prospect by MLB Pipeline, the 23-year-old had a 4.91 ERA and 20/10 K/BB ratio in 22 innings across five starts in Triple-A prior to going down. He could be an option for the Cardinals’ rotation at some point this summer if he can prove his health and effectiveness in his return to action.

Graceffo and McGreevy are the most prominent inclusions in the latest batch of Cardinals’ cut, which trim their camp roster down to just 51 players.

Statcast says Graceffo averaged a modest 93.9 mph with his fastball, but it appears that’s because some of his fastballs was misclassified as changeups. He topped out at 98.3 mph, and it looks like his average sinker was more like 95.5 mph. An underrated pitching prospect, Graceffo would be a threat to crack a few rotations this spring, though he won’t get that chance with the Cardinals.