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These four pitchers have been on the radar for the last 2-3 years now. What can we expect from them in 2025?
I assume it’s time we will see all of them at Busch at some point in this season. And I don’t mean as a September call up either.
r/Esteemed Rat
Yes I think all four will get time on the big league roster this year. McGreevy and Graceffo and have already played in STL and may get a chance to be on the opening day roster. Hence and Matthews still need to prove more at AAA but injuries and trades of the vets should give all four an opportunity later in the year.
I left out another one.
It’s time for Matthew Liberatore to sh~t or get off the pot in 2025.
At least as far as I am concerned.
r/Esteemed Rat
Mathews has really just been in the system 1 year. In general, expect most prospects to grow for 3-4 seasons (even the really good ones). Hence has 4 seasons, but he came out of HS. Graceffo and McGreevey have 3 seasons (plus both pitched a few games after being drafted).
I’m expecting Graceffo to pitch a lot of ‘25 in the St Louis bullpen, but I’m not as sure about that now with all the add-on pitchers the team has been collecting.
I expect McGreevey to be a starter in the rotation all season. Unless they put Matz in over him, but I think that’s stupid.
I expect Hence to pitch in AAA, have some injuries, and stay there most of the season with a September call-up.
I’m hoping Mathews spends most of the season at AAA. At least through the trade deadline. I’d hate for the team to give into the hype and call him up too early (a la Walker and Scott).
Yes, all four should be given some MLB time in 2025. And I would like to see Libby given a regular rotation slot and stick with him. To date the club will start him now and then, and pitch him in relief between starts. They don’t seem to think he can be an everyday starter, but I am not sure he has gotten a long enough stretch of starts to show that. I believe his relief stats are better, but he hasn’t been given a lot of time to get in a starter’s groove. Leave him in the rotation for awhile, like 3 months or more and see what he can do.
I’d say we quit babying these young arms and stick them out there and let them have at it. Baptism by fire is what Herzog called it.
Acting like they have to have 12 years experience in the minor leagues and then they should try and take it easy on their arms until they are 34 years old isn’t the way to go.
Get out there and pitch boys. And I mean right now!!!
r/Esteemed Rat
p.s. I’ll be having Catfish Fiddlers on Friday. I’ll be having 3-4 inches of snow tomorrow (Tuesday).
I expect McGreevy would be a good #5 option this year and would be very annoyed when if he doesn’t get a consistent opportunity at least. We need to get young players that will be around with the team for the next few years opportunities and not dead ends like Matz and Mikolas.
Graceffo is not someone I expect to break into the rotation ever. For the bullpen, he can maybe be along reliever or low leverage middle innings. Graceffo has a tendency to be very rattled and I don’t think he is made for late innings so I am unsure how much value he will bring to the club long term.
Mathews I fully expect to be ready for the rotation by mid May or June. I don’t know if he will actually be in the rotation though until the deaeline timeframe when hopefully two of Matz, Fedde, and Mikolas are gone. I’m really excited about Mathews and think he could be pitching as a #2 with 200 inning workloads.
Hence is a wild card with really good potential, but obviously he will never be a workhorse and will likely be really good in 4-5 inning stints. The biggest question isn’t talent for him, but his health. I think they Cards will let him spend most of the year starting in AAA and maybe call him up in August timeframe for a bullpen role to limit his total year innings.
McGreevy – Major League ready.
Mathews – Could be major league ready by mid summer.
Hence – Needs to stay healthy and produce at AAA before a call up.
Graceffo – Bullpen pitcher at best.JMHO.
So far from what I have seen of both McGreevy and Graceffo is very good.
When are we going to see more of these guys?
And so far here in 2025 how are Hence and Mathews doing in the minors?
Rats, Hence is on the minors 60 day and yet to pitch this year. He is eligible to come back in a month. Mathews pitched horribly to start, but it was obvious with his movements something was off. Now he is on the IL with a shoulder injury, but no update from the team on him.
Graceffo I would say is just okay. He is really hit or miss and as others have pointed out, you can tell when he steps on the mound, you know whether he has it that day or not as it is just something obvious with him. I think Graceffo struggles to stick with the MLB club long term.
McGreevy looks like a sure fire #3 starter to me at this point. Mentally he has it and is a great competitor. Mathews has the same winners mentality while also just being a really quirky guy, which is a lefty thing I guess. Mathews stuff is better overall though and he has top of the rotation potential. Hence when actually pitching is great, albeit in many fewer innings and I’m unsure he will ever quality for an ERA title in his career.
You didn’t mention them, but the other 2 top pitching prospects are Cooper Hjerpe and Tekoah Roby. Hjerpe is out for the year with Tommy John, but when pitching is interesting as he is a weird slot deceptive lefty who hitters really struggle to square up (Hjerpe had multiple 4+ inning no hit appearances in the minors). Roby is healthy now and pitching fairly well in AA. Roby’s health concerns in the past had me think he was more suited for a back of the bullpen role as he has a killer curveball (70 grade) and all his other pitches are average or plus, but it is worth keeping him in the rotation as long as possible to see if he does stick health wise.
Overall, health is the major killer at this point. Plenty of good potential and hopefully with the quantity, at least 1 ends up as a #2 starter.
We know Matz, Fedde, and Mikolas are gone next year. Looks like Lib is picking up one of those slots. So Pallante, Gray, Lib, and ? We need to let McGreevy and Graceffo pitch. Or any other healthy arms on the farm. Quinn and Hence injured is disappointing to say the least. We obviously need more than 5 healthy arms. I can’t imagine us being able to fill out the whole rotation internally.
Leahy is a potential candidate for the 26 rotation as well as he has more of a starters arsenal. I think at this point we have the following for sure.
Gray
Liberatore
McGreevy
PallanteThat leaves Leahy, Mathews, Hence, Roby fighting for a spot, but completely agree the team needs more depth. I could see that being addressed based off trades though this deadline to get some more majors ready pitchers.
It seems all McGreevy does is get hitters out, yet he cannot find a spot on the team. We are in a quandary as you would much rather McGreevy start over Mikolas or Fedde, but you need the two vets to have value in case we have an opportunity to move them at the deadline.
We just have to be happy knowing those guys are there until after the deadline. Until than the expiring contracts are going to play.
This may be the minority opinion but I think McGreevey should be in the bigs and pitching period! No need to waste one more throw from him in Memphis! We are desperate for anyone who can pitch in the bullpen and he can! If he throws a few less pitches being up that is only a good thing! There is not a single person on this forum who doesn’t agree he is one of this Org top 10 pitchers! Let’s find a role for him at the big league level!
I feel your pain SteveO. But they are “prioritizing his developement as a starter”. Which I think is the right thing to do. They should have just had better relievers for their ml bullpen. But Mo was too busy trading Arenado.
KCB I just don’t understand the logic! Tbey were supposedly doing the same thing with Liberatore, developing him as a starter but he still pitch a lot out of the pen! If that kid hurts his arm in Memphis I will probably have to be admitted to a mental ward!
Well I guess they don’t prioritize Graceffo’s developement. They used him like a reliever. Let’s see if they leave him up here.
The problem with a young pitcher like McGreevey is that sometimes they get ‘figured out’ by the opposing teams. Then they start getting banged around over and over again. I’m okay with just letting the organization handle a kid like this in the way they think is best.
Regarding Liberatore…I thought they should have let him stay in the bullpen. Now it’s starting to look like he could be a rotation piece for years to come.
Yeah, McGreevey’s done good, but his total workload in the Big Leagues is all of a little shy of 29 IP’ed. If he triples that this season, he still won’t have worked 90 innings in the Big Leagues.
I agree with you Mud. Don’t compromise a young pitchers development for short term need at the major league level. Really, any player. Not just pitchers. But Mo’s done it over and over.
For those tracking these things, #STLCards pitching prospect Michael McGreevy's next start with Triple-A Memphis will be on Friday night at Charlotte (CWS).
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) May 6, 2025
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