Inside The Cardinals

Cardinals Promote Top Pitching Prospect Before Wednesday's Reds Doubleheader

The young St. Louis hurler is returning to the show
Nate Hagerty|
Jul 10, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Gordon Graceffo (67) pitches against Kansas City Royals designated hitter Salvador Perez (13) during the fourth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Jul 10, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Gordon Graceffo (67) pitches against Kansas City Royals designated hitter Salvador Perez (13) during the fourth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

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St. Louis CardinalsCincinnati Reds

The St. Louis Cardinals hope to utilize the newest member of their pitching staff to help defeat the National League Central rival Cincinnati Reds in Wednesday's doubleheader.

Following Tuesday night's weather cancellation of game two versus the Reds, the Cardinals are scheduled for back-to-back matchups at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, during which St. Louis must overcome right-handed pitcher Brady Singer and former Minnesota Twins first-round draft pick Chase Petty, who's making his Major League Baseball debut.

With the Reds relying on Petty to start Wednesday night's game, St. Louis will likely turn to one of its top pitching prospects out of the bullpen to gain an advantage over the division rival.

"The (Cardinals) are adding RHP Gordon Graceffo as the 27th man for today’s doubleheader, but he will only be eligible for Game 2," MLB.com's John Denton reported Wednesday morning. "Graceffo was also added for the doubleheader vs. the (Red Sox) in Boston earlier this season."

Graceffo suffered a nightmarish outing against the Red Sox on Apr. 6th -- sacrificing six earned runs on eight hits including one home run, two strikeouts and one walk in three innings pitched for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals' No. 16 top prospect was selected by St. Louis in the fifth round of the 2021 draft but has spent most of his time pitching in the franchise's farm system -- logging just 10 2/3 innings pitched across three appearances in the big leagues since debuting in Jun. 2024.

The 25-year-old has posted a 26-19 record with a 4.04 ERA, 380-to-137 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .250 batting average against and a 1.31 WHIP throughout his five-year minor league career -- Graceffo's three previous seasons spent with Triple-A Memphis.

Considering how poorly Graceffo performed against Boston earlier this month, it'll be interesting to see how well he performs against the lackluster Reds offense, which ranks 21st in OPS (.693), 26th in batting average (.231) and 16th in runs scored (699) this season.

More MLB: Ex-Cardinals All-Star 'Can't Wait' For MLB Return After Nightmarish Injury

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Nate Hagerty
NATE HAGERTY

Nate Hagerty joined “Inside The Cardinals” as a content creator to spread knowledge about his favorite childhood team. A hometown native of Boston, Hagerty chose at an early age of six years old to follow the St. Louis Cardinals. The miraculous season of 04’ for the Red Sox did not deter Hagerty from rooting against his hometown team, nor did it in 2013 against the Red Birds. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Inside The Cardinals, please reach out to Scott Neville: nevilles@merrimack.edu 

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