2022 Minor League Season

[phins]

Graceffo promoted to Springfield.

0.99 ERA and 56K through 45.2 IP in Peoria. Excited to see him.

The breakthrough minor leaguer to this point for the Cardinals. There are prospect folks who think he is the best pitching prospect in the system already.

I liked him when we grabbed him (more than some drafted ahead of him), but the Cardinals have tweaked his pitch mix and unlocked some more control and he has taken off.

[phins]

Sucks that Winn had to give up pitching but seems like two-way players are going to just be insanely rare.

I honestly just do not know how a SS could try and do both at the professional level. There is too much arm maintenance required of a pitcher that would be difficult to do as a SS.

For me, the plan was always to let him be a position player first, then if he doesn't hit enough (remains to be seen) you move back to the mound at age 22 or 23. That is something that can be done fairly easily, whereas going from pitcher to position player is much more difficult.

With his frame, arm action, stuff mix, he's probably a reliever as a pitcher. You can move that back and get value of him quickly if position player doesn't work out, but it would really stunt his growth to try and do both.

The only *real* two-way players in recent memory were 1B/DH types at the plate who would be able to do their arm maintenance as a pitcher. (McKay and Ohtani)

[heyzeus]

The only *real* two-way players in recent memory were 1B/DH types at the plate who would be able to do their arm maintenance as a pitcher. (McKay and Ohtani)

This is Brooks Kieschnick erasure.

[cardsfantx]

Graceffo promoted to Springfield.

0.99 ERA and 56K through 45.2 IP in Peoria. Excited to see him.

The breakthrough minor leaguer to this point for the Cardinals. There are prospect folks who think he is the best pitching prospect in the system already.

I liked him when we grabbed him (more than some drafted ahead of him), but the Cardinals have tweaked his pitch mix and unlocked some more control and he has taken off.

I absolutely love phins insight so this is in NO WAY to knock him in any sort of way, but this is from when we drafted him last year/was just curious what anyone though of him when we drafted him/all I could find. I hear he's regularly hitting triple digits; did we really tweak that much to add 7-9 MPH or was the scouting on him just off?

Gordon Graceffo RHP from Villanova.

Total makeup guy. Command/control pitcher who has really performed.

91-93 type, who is really in the mold of Andrew Pallante.

They're really taking a lot of meh, college producers, in the general vicinity of where they're expected.

Very straight-forward boring draft with the upside of Baez as sort of the lynchpin.

[Big Amoco Sign]

From BP...

Gordon Graceffo, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals (High-A Peoria)
A good showing post-draft last summer made Graceffo an arm to keep an eye on this season, as another Cardinals’ mid-round college selection who could eventually provide some quality innings as a back-end starter. After my recent live look, his apparent the ceiling is much higher than that. He’s in the midst of a breakout season dominating High-A, and has the look of one of the top pitchers in the organization.

Physically, Graceffo has a large frame and is a sneaky good athlete. The windup is unique, with an exaggerated step back towards second base, but he repeats the delivery well and has plus command. The fastball velocity has taken a jump since his Villanova days, and now easily sits mid-nineties with sink. He holds the speed well: during my look he was still touching 96 mph during his last inning of work. The change is a weapon: sitting mid-80s, it is a true swing and miss offering that fades away from hitters. The breaking ball was used sparingly, but it showed potential utility as he dabbled with two different shapes late in the outing. The harder first offering was the better of the pair as it generated some weak swings when he put it back foot on a couple of left-handed hitters. The other was slowed down to give it a more traditional 12-6 curve look.

A former college arm having success in High-A is not surprising, I’ll be interested to see how Graceffo fares against the advanced bats of the Texas League after a likely mid-season promotion. Continued success in Springfield will cement his place as one of the top young starters in the minor leagues. —Nathan Graham

[phins]

[Gordon Graceffo RHP from Villanova.

Total makeup guy. Command/control pitcher who has really performed.

91-93 type, who is really in the mold of Andrew Pallante.

They're really taking a lot of meh, college producers, in the general vicinity of where they're expected.

Very straight-forward boring draft with the upside of Baez as sort of the lynchpin.

[/quote]

*No worries on me thinking anything is a shot. If you follow prospects at all, you have to be prepared to have some takes that are silly. I vividly remember one about a certain left-handed pitcher we traded to the Indians. Loved that kid out of HS.*

Yup, you can see I didn't predict stardom for him. Though I did like him more than a few ahead of him, if memory serves we took Zane Mills just ahead of him (who is also doing well).

After I dug more into him after drafting him you saw the athleticism and repeatability of his arm action. I didn't predict 100 mph though.

If I could, I'd be "part-owner phins" rather than just plain old phins.

PS- Pallante was a compliment! Andrew Pallante was a home run draft pick where we got him!

[phins]

Also, holy cannoli are the Cardinals good at this development stuff. It really is how they are always good.

[Big Amoco Sign]

[Big Amoco Sign]

[go birds]

i admit i was a harsh critic of flores when he took over as scouting director or whatever his title is, but there's no doubt there's quite a bit of talent in the system considering draft position over the past several years.

maybe it's just the front office that needs to be replaced.