photo: Andre Granillo (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
In a FREE article, The Cardinal Nation’s Top 50 prospect countdown for 2026 reaches no. 35 with an International League All-Star reliever who made his St. Louis debut in 2025. Can Andre Granillo add a second putout pitch to his plus slider to cement an MLB job?
Position: Relief Pitcher
Age: 25 years old
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6’3, 250 pounds
Acquired: Selected in the 14th round of the 2021 First-Year Player Draft, 421st overall
Hometown: Hemet, CA
College: Cal Riverside
Opened 2025: Memphis Redbirds (Triple-A)
Primary team in 2025: Memphis Redbirds (Triple-A)
Finished 2025: Memphis Redbirds (Triple-A)
Prior Top 50 rankings – 2025 #39, 2024 #26, 2023 #30
Click on the above photo to be taken to Granillo’s player page at The Cardinal Nation, with additional biography and history information.
2025 highlights
| Tm | IP | G | GS | ERA | WHIP | K/9 | BB/9 | K/BB | FIP | xFIP | BABIP |
| Mem | 42 | 29 | 0 | 1.29 | 0.83 | 12.4 | 3.0 | 4.1 | 2.42 | 3.15 | 0.221 |
| StL | 21 | 14 | 0 | 4.71 | 1.38 | 7.7 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 4.42 | 4.91 | 0.306 |
Link to Granillo’s career stats
Kyle Reis’ scouting report
Kyle’s ranking – no. 47
As with the other prospects on this list who have already made their major league debuts, there’s nothing about Andre Granillo that I’m going to be able to tell you that you don’t already know. Thus, I’m going to waste as little of your time as possible here.
Slider, “good”. Everything else, “meh”.
I hope you enjoyed!!!
Ok, ok, ok, I’ll go a little harder than that, but only because you’ve stuck around for 15 other write-ups at this point and you deserve it.
The catalyst of Granillo’s major league debut came on the back of his slider. It’s a nasty pitch with nasty break, and it’s probably a top 15 pitch in the organization. This is also the beauty and the frustration of pro baseball; a player can get away with being a one-pitch pitcher until about the time that they make the majors, then things usually get weird.
Both his fastball and his changeup are interesting pitches, but each has their issues. With the heater, Granillo doesn’t throw it consistently hard enough to keep major league hitters off it or the slider, and it isn’t so lively that it can make up for its 94.6 mph average velocity. Granillo is going to need to get to either more movement or more velocity, and both would be nice.
I really like Granillo’s fading and potentially fierce changeup, but he really struggles to command it. It could be a devastating offering to lefties and a pitch that could really help to keep hitters off his fastball, but he currently does not trust the feel of it enough. Hopefully that comes for him, because he needs the pitch.
All in all, these are the same things that we’ve been saying about Granillo for a couple of years now and there has been very little progression in any aspect of these concerns.
More than likely, Andre Granillo is this list’s version of Cardinals “legend” Kodi Whitley, but only time will tell.
Brian Walton’s environmental impact report
Brian’s ranking – no. 21
As you can see, Kyle and I have differing views on where Granillo fits among the system’s top prospects. I cannot argue with his assessment that the right-hander needs a second reliable pitch to ensure his MLB success.
But I also cannot ignore Granillo’s significant accomplishments at Triple-A (while using the MLB baseball) during 2025. In my view, career-best results at the highest level of the minors do indicate a positive career progression, especially considering where he was at the end of 2024.
When our two votes are averaged, Granillo returns to the same #26-40 range in our Top 50 where he has resided for the last four years. So maybe it IS more of the same…
Background
In his three-year college career at Cal-Riverside, Granillo worked out of the bullpen, but his 5.98 ERA did not stand out. However, his 12.0 per nine strikeout rate drew notice for the right reason. He lowered his walk rate from 5.2 BB/9 as a freshman to 3.5 BB/9 in his junior year of 2021.
A key to Granillo’s selection was his success in multiple summer prospect showcase leagues. In 2020, he logged a 2.29 ERA and 15.6 K/9 in the Northwoods League, and the next summer, he posted a 2.45 ERA with 13.9 K/9 in the Cape Cod League.
After signing in 2021, he spent his initial professional summer in Low-A, pitching effectively out of Palm Beach’s pen. Among first-year Cardinals pitchers, Granillo had the fourth best ERA (1.50) and a strong strikeout rate (11.5 per nine innings). Of concern was his walk rate (4.5 per nine), second highest among organizational rookies.
In 2022, Granillo got off to a fast start in his return to Palm Beach with a 2.87 ERA and batting average against of .185.
Just before Memorial Day, the Cardinals promoted Granillo to High-A Peoria. In the Midwest League, on the way to striking out 51 in 34 2/3 innings, Granillo improved each month. He compiled a 3.63 ERA overall with the Chiefs and earned five saves but failed to convert four other opportunities.
In September, as the Midwest League schedule ended, the Cardinals promoted Granillo to Double-A Springfield.
Across the three levels in 2022, Granillo was the system’s strikeout king at 14.1 per nine innings, up from 11.5 in 2021. He also had the system-leading total of 31 games finished. He tied for fourth with eight saves while reaching Double-A, a very good showing in his first full professional season.
As expected, Granillo returned to Springfield to open 2023, but he took an early nosedive. Through his first six outings, Granillo struggled to a 14.63 ERA. After the rough patch, he soon reversed his fortunes, with a 1.75 ERA in May and June.
Upon his promotion to Memphis on August 20, Granillo had a 4.42 ERA with Springfield. In 54 innings, he gave up 27 earned runs and 25 walks, struck out 72, and his team and Texas League-high 14 saves (in 18 opportunities) were twice as many as any other teammate.
With an 11.8 per nine inning strikeout rate, he was The Cardinal Nation’s clear choice as 2023 Springfield Reliever of the Year.
His Memphis debut was just nine games to close the regular season and he was scored upon in seven of them on the way to a 6.08 ERA. Though Granillo fanned 17 in 13 1/3 innings, he walked 13 while holding International League batters to a collective .196 average.
For the 2023 season, Granillo finished first in the Cardinals system with 53 appearances, 37 games finished and 14 saves. His 30.1% strikeout rate was third among organization pitchers.
Concern with his walk rate continued, however. His 10.8% mark at Springfield was high but represented his career best. It doubled in his Memphis debut.
Granillo followed with a good showing in the Arizona Fall League. Encouraging elements include a 3-for-3 mark in saves, a Cardinals-best 1.80 ERA and a 14:3 strikeout to walk count. A .310 batting average against was less positive.
Following the 2023 season, Granillo’s slider was ranked as the best in the organization by Baseball America.
His progress stalled during 2024, however.
All seemed well when Granillo was selected to join his first spring training camp with St. Louis as a non-roster invitee. But as minor league camp ended, Granillo received a surprise. He did not make the Memphis roster to open the season as expected.
To his credit, Granillo made the best of what must have been a disappointing return to Double-A. He pitched well in 14 games, with a 4-0 record and four saves in six opportunities. His ERA was 1.47 to go with a strikeout rate of 11.3 per nine innings. However, not all was rosy. Granillo walked 4.9 per nine, his BABIP was a very low .184 and his FIP was 3.44.
On May 21, Granillo returned to Triple-A. With Memphis, he contributed a 4-2 record, five holds and a lone save. Granillo logged a 4.84 ERA/4.85 FIP in 46 2/3 innings over 34 appearances. He fanned 11.0 per nine innings and international League hitters batted just .192 against his offerings.
However, Granillo’s walk rate was 6.0 per nine. His problem was especially notable against left-handed batters. Between both stops in 2024, he issued 26 free passes in 24 innings for an unheard of rate of 9.8 per nine against lefties.
It is of small consolation in that left-handers hit just .239 against him, because due to all the walks, his WHIP against them was 2.00. That is right, he averaged two batters on base per inning when facing lefties.
As a result of his uneven 2024, Granillo was not protected by the Cardinals from the December Rule 5 draft and he was not taken. Seven months later, he made his MLB debut.
2025 recap
After another non-roster invitation to big league camp, Granillo returned to Memphis. By May, he was The Cardinal Nation’s Pitcher of the Month.
The right-hander led the system in May WHIP (0.65), strikeout rate (14.1 per nine) and strikeout to walk ratio (8:1). Granillo was third in ERA (1.17) and batting average against (.130) and fourth in walk rate (1.8 per nine), with the latter a tremendous improvement over his pre-2025 results.
On June 12, Granillo was added to the 40-man roster and promoted to St. Louis. At that point, he had a 1.82 ERA/2.27 FIP/2.62 xFIP with Memphis. Opposing batters were limited to a collective .159 against his offerings in 29 2/3 innings. His walk rate was 2.4 per nine with a 14 per nine K rate.
For the remainder of the season, Granillo had a regular seat on the I-55 Shuttle, joining St. Louis four times, only to be optioned out each time, averaging just under two weeks per stay. He finished 2025 with Memphis.
Predictably, Granillo continued to pitch well when in Triple-A but the rookie’s results in the majors were not as impressive.
For the season with Memphis, Granillo was 5-0 with a 1.29 ERA, four holds, two saves in two opportunities, and 58 strikeouts (12.4 per nine) against just 14 walks (3.0 per nine) in 42 innings over 29 games. He held International League batters to a collective .144 batting average.
Notably, he cleaned up his prior problems against left-handed batters. That included lowering his walk rate to 1.9 per nine and a batting average against of .209 for a WHIP of 0.97. That is less than half of his 2.00 WHIP in the same situations in 2024.
Granillo was recognized as an International League All-Star, a major honor considering he was chosen from among 20 Triple-A squads. Not surprisingly, he was also TCN’s Memphis Relief Pitcher of the Year.
Granillo was not the first pitcher to not dazzle in his first partial year in the majors. On the other hand, he was far from the worst option out of St. Louis’ pen. From among the less experienced relievers, his 4.71 ERA was higher than that of Matt Svanson, Kyle Leahy and Riley O’Brien, but lower than Gordon Graceffo, Ryan Fernandez and Chris Roycroft, along with several others who have since left the organization.
2026 outlook
It will be interesting to see how the Cardinals staff their 2026 bullpen. They could go with their younger arms exclusively, but given the inexperience of the rotation, they may sign several relatively inexpensive veterans for needed depth.
Granillo has not yet earned his way into the top tier of trusted relievers, so even with a strong spring camp, he could return to Memphis to start the season.
If he continues to improve, his stints with St. Louis will continue to lengthen until he ultimately sticks.
Future outlook
Future Value: 35
Role: Up/down depth/middle relief
Risk: Low
With two minor league option years remaining, Granillo provides the Cardinals a lot of roster flexibility. Of course, he will have to continue to earn his 40-man roster spot.
The above outlook as a quad-A reliever reflects his placement within the overall site rankings. My personal view is that if he can build upon his 2025 progress at Triple-A, I think Granillo can eventually carve out a role in the big-league pen.
MLB debut: 2025
Minor league options remaining: 2
Our 2025 Top 50 series continues
To see the entire list of top Cardinals prospects, grading scales and remaining article schedule, click here. This includes the Top 50 countdown and 10 in-depth, follow-up articles breaking down the list.
50 Days, 50 Nights, 50 St. Louis Cardinals Prospects for 2026
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St. Louis Cardinals 2025-2026 Winter Ball Report – November 30
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Brian Walton can be reached via email at brian@thecardinalnation.com. Follow Brian and The Cardinal Nation on X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky.
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