When the Cardinals saw their 2023 season slip away as they fell in the National League Central standings and it became clear that the club would approach Major League Baseball’s trade deadline as sellers, what they looked to acquire was clear.
“Pitching, pitching, pitching,†Cardinals president of baseball operation John Mozeliak said last July as the Aug. 1 deadline approached.
Here's a look at the 2024 Dispatch Dozen, the Post-Dispatch's ranking of the top 12 Cardinals prospects.
St. Louis struck deals with the Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays, bringing in four new pitching prospects who had experience at the upper minor league levels.
One of the four added arms from deals, left-hander Drew Rom, reached the majors after he was dealt from Baltimore. Two, former Blue Jays prospects Sem Robberse and Adam Kloffenstein, received promotions to Class AAA and ended their seasons with Memphis. The fourth, righty Tekoah Roby, who was viewed as the highest-rated pitching prospect acquired by the Cardinals at the deadline, remained in Class AA and pitched in the Arizona Fall League after rehabbing from a shoulder injury.
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The new crop of pitching prospects added to a farm system that had righties Tink Hence, Gordon Graceffo and Michael McGreevy — all of whom were drafted by St. Louis — pitch at the upper minor league levels last season.
“You look at our Double-A and Triple-A pitching competition, it’s as strong as ever that I can recall,†Cardinals farm director Gary LaRocque said during a recent interview in Jupiter, Florida.
The pitching depth, headlined by Hence and Roby, makes up part of a Cardinals farm system that enters the 2024 season ranked 20th, per Baseball America — and one that may look to rebound in its efforts to contribute at the major league level.
Even after the Cardinals reshaped their rotation with three free-agent starter signings and added to their bullpen, how ready might the minor league arms be to contribute big league innings if needed in 2024?
“Some more than others, but I think it’s a really good group,†Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said during a pregame media session in Jupiter. “It’s been an impressive group when you sit and you watch their bullpens and then you start to watch lives and then insert them into a game.
“Compared to previous years, I feel like we do have more depth and some live arms that you can see contributing at some point this year. From that standpoint, it’s been exciting.â€
When it comes to homegrown pitchers that contribute at the major league level, Cardinals draftees and signees since 2012 have provided 1,300 more innings than the next-closest club, per Baseball America. But as a need for pitching arose in the majors last season, the Cardinals’ options with those holding 40-man roster spots and ones not on the 40-man but nearing the majors were either unavailable due to injury or had innings left in their development.
Connor Thomas, a lefty who claimed a 40-man roster spot with a strong Arizona Fall League performance in 2022, missed nearly two months at Class AAA Memphis because of injury and did not reach the majors last season. Righty Guillermo Zuniga logged two innings in the majors and missed time because of a forearm injury ,while Wilking Rodriguez, a Rule 5 draft pick a year ago, did not pitch in the majors because of a shoulder issue and multiple setbacks.
Fallout from the injuries “put a lot of pressure on us,†Mozeliak said last July.
From the new pitching talent acquired last season, Robberse, 22, and Kloffenstein, 23, are new to the 40-man roster. Both righties earned those spots in November ahead of the Rule 5 draft, moving each a step closer to the majors after they both threw more than 120 innings last season.
McGreevy and Graceffo, both 23 years old and 2021 Cardinals picks, came into spring training as non-roster invitees for the second straight year. Both ended last season with Class AAA despite taking different paths. McGreevy opened the 2023 season in Double-A, but an injury created an opening in Memphis’ rotation late last April. The former first-round pick went 11-6 with a 4.49 ERA in 24 Triple-A starts. He struggled to generate swing-and-miss, but his 153 innings between the two levels were the second-most in MiLB.
Coming off Cardinals minor league pitcher of the year honors from 2022, Graceffo missed nearly two months of Memphis’ season because of shoulder inflammation. The former fifth-round pick ended the year with 86 innings but had a rise in his walk rate and a dip in his strikeout rate compared with his breakout 2022.
“I think you have to remind yourself some of these guys are still pretty young,†Mozeliak said recently from the patio outside of the Cardinals clubhouse in Jupiter. “But I feel overall, just thinking about two guys that were in last year’s camp when you look at McGreevy and Graceffo, I think they’ve made really positive strides in where they are this year versus where they were last year. I think that learning curve or ability to sort of experience camp last year was very valuable for where they are today.â€
Robberse and Kloffenstein were optioned to Memphis before mid-March, while McGreevy and Graceffo both were reassigned to minor league camp March 14. The four are likely to fill spots in a Triple-A rotation to open the year — that being an area Mozeliak noted the Cardinals could pull from when needed.
An area the Cardinals are “confident†can contribute.
“It’s a good group of guys. Some years are better than other years,†Cardinals senior minor league pitching coordinator Tim Leveque said from the backfields of the Cardinals complex. “But I mean, at the same time, I feel pretty confident about the group that we have that hopefully they’ll be able to help our team.â€
This article is part of the St. Louis Cardinals season preview section, which will be in print Sunday, March 24.
The Cardinals ran through field drills and batting practice at spring training on Feb. 20, 2024. Video by Allie Schallert, aschallert@post-dispatch.com
