The upcoming group of starting pitchers for the St. Louis Cardinals has already shown promising signs for the future.
With Sonny Gray likely to be a major trade target this offseason and Miles Mikolas expected to depart in free agency, the Cardinals appear poised to give young pitchers like Michael McGreevy and Matthew Liberatore extensive opportunities in the rotation next spring. Additionally, top prospects Quinn Matthews and Tekoah Roby could also be in the mix for starting roles.
Of the younger names above, McGreevy brings the most potent combination of big-league success thus far and room to grow. The 25-year-old pitched to a 4.42 ERA in 95 2/3 innings, but if not for a couple of blow-up starts, those numbers could have been better than league average.
McGreevy has lofty expectations for himself this winter
McGreevy isn’t content with the progress he’s made so far — and that might be the most promising sign yet for Cardinals fans.
In a recent conversation with Daniel Guerrero of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the right-hander shared that his offseason goal is simple: to improve in nearly every area of his game.
“Just strengthening everything that I have,” McGreevy told Guerrero. “It’s a mix of everything, like, ‘Hey, let’s get stronger.’ Just try to add a little bit more (velocity).
“Just trying to make our pitches sharper and just build the body to weather a full big-league season. I’ve shown I could weather a whole professional baseball season, but these innings up here are more high-leverage.”
There was a lot to like about what McGreevy did, as his 8-4 record and 1.25 WHIP suggest he has a long-term future in a big-league rotation. His low strikeout rate, however, indicates that he’ll need to improve his arsenal to generate more swings and misses moving forward.
Still, the Cardinals had to like what they saw in McGreevy’s first extended taste of big-league ball, and his elite 48% ground ball rate should serve him well even if he’ll never be a strikeout king.
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