Michael

McGreevy

Both McGreevy and Joey Cantillo allowed a pair of homers in their start Tuesday, but both pitchers were able to make them solo shots to keep the damage to a low roar. He struck out just two hitters, but he also issued just a single free pass while allowing only two other hits in the contest. You can do worse. McGreevy will be back on the bump with a friendly on-paper matchup against the Marlins over the weekend.

The Nationals ran out a left-handed heavy lineup against the right-handed McGreevy and he gave them fits with his changeup and curveball out of the zone. He didn’t miss many bats, but forced some ugly swings and mixed all seven of his pitches to keep the Nationals off-balanced all afternoon. He’ll have another favorable matchup up next when he faces the Guardians back home in St. Louis.

Coming off a dominant no-hit outing against the Rays, McGreevy breezed through the first three innings but allowed a two-run homer to Dillon Dingler in the fourth. Justin Bruihl came on for McGreevy with a man on first and two out in the fifth and allowed the inherited runner to score. McGreevy probably isn’t going to get past team-streamer status this year, but he’s allowed just two walks through his first two turns and is generating enough called strikes with a deep arsenal to be effective so far.

Junior Caminero ended the no-hit bid immediately after Riley O’Brien replaced McGreevy to start the seventh. Still, it was a 4-0 game going into the bottom of the ninth, when Matt Svanson and Ryne Stanek combined to give up four runs and cost McGreevy the win. McGreevy’s velocity was down all spring and actually down a little further today — his 90.7 mph average with his sinker was 2.3 shy of his 2025 mark — but he obviously made it work. He got 21 called strikes for a decent 28% CSW and only five of his 14 balls in play were hit hard. Those five well-struck actually produced two 390-foot flies and had xBAs of .940, .870, .750, .540 and .360, but all were handled by the Cardinals defense. We’re still not very optimistic about McGreevy offering mixed-league value, especially without that extra two mph on his heater.

McGreevy scattered just three hits on the afternoon and didn’t allow a base on balls. The only blemish on his day came on a solo home run off the bat of Taylor Trammell in the second inning. McGreevy got eight whiffs on 62 pitches on the day, posting a CSW of 21 percent. He finishes the spring a perfect 4-0 with a 2.45 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and a 16/2 K/BB ratio across 18 1/3 innings. He looks ready for the regular season.

There was some hope that Fitts, who came over from the Red Sox in a trade this offseason, would immediately get a shot in the rotation, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. The 26-year-old posted a 5.79 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, and a 9/3 K/BB ratio over 9 1/3 innings and will be in the Triple-A rotation. That means that both of Michael McGreevy and Kyle Leahy have won a spot in the Cardinals’ rotation.

The run was a solo shot by Jorge Polanco. McGreevy’s velocity was well down as he utilized seven distinct kinds of pitches and had a 19 percent whiff rate. He profiles as a usable streamer in deeper leagues to start the season, but there’s no massive strikeout upside or anything here.

McGreevy’s velocity is still down about two mph from last year, but he gave up only four singles and walked none today. The likely No. 3 starter for the Cardinals, he has a 3.24 ERA through three starts.

McGreevy’s 24 fastballs and sinkers today produced nine called strikes and no contact. His 14 sliders and sweepers, on the other hand, were put into play seven times, resulting in all three hits he surrendered. McGreevy has given up two runs in 4 1/3 innings to date.

McGreevy retired six of seven batters after a leadoff homer from Jakob Marsee. His velocity was down about two mph from last year in his first tuneup, which probably doesn’t mean much of anything. McGreevy will almost assuredly open up with a spot in the St. Louis rotation this year.