photo: Ricardo Velez (PJ Maigi/Springfield Cardinals)
An unconventional choice, Springfield right-handed relief pitcher Ricardo Velez put together the top overall pitching performance in the St. Louis Cardinals system in June, in our view. Compare the eight finalists and make your own call!
It is time to select The Cardinal Nation’s June 2025 Pitcher of the Month. This article covers pitchers across all levels of the St. Louis Cardinals minor league system during the period.
As a reminder, this is NOT the “Pitcher of the Month Among Top Prospects”. Every player in the system has an equal chance, with only their performance during the month used to differentiate the best of the best. Age and level, which are key prospect considerations, are not primary factors here.
Guidelines
To qualify, a pitcher must have thrown at least 10 innings during June. Exactly 10 pitchers at each of the four full season levels made the first cut plus five in the Florida Complex League and eight in the Dominican Summer League. To reach the list of eight finalists, an ERA at 2.50 or below was required. The group consists of four starters and four relievers.
Three levels lead the pack with two finalists each – Triple-A Memphis, Double-A Springfield and the FCL. High-A Peoria and Low-A Palm Beach had one finalist each. The DSL had no pitchers that met the ERA criteria.
Three finalists did not allow a run (earned or unearned) all month and two others posted an ERA below 1.00. There is a major gap between this five and the bottom three, with the latter sporting June ERAs from 2.13 to 2.45.
Counting stats
In the following table, the finalists are listed in ascending ERA order.
| Pitcher >10 IP | Tm | W | L | ERA | G | GS | SV | SVO | IP | H | R | ER | HR | HB | BB | SO | WHIP | BAA |
| Michael McGreevy | Mem | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10.1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 0.77 | 0.206 |
| Ricardo Velez | Spr | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10.2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 0.66 | 0.143 |
| Austin Love | Spr | 3 | 0 | 0.00 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 0.53 | 0.029 |
| Gordon Graceffo | Mem | 0 | 1 | 0.63 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 14.1 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 16 | 1.26 | 0.224 |
| Mason Burns | PB | 0 | 0 | 0.90 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 0.70 | 0.091 |
| Jason Savacool | Peo/PB | 2 | 0 | 2.13 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 21.1 | 16 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 21 | 1.31 | 0.176 |
| Yadiel Batista | FCL | 1 | 1 | 2.14 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 15 | 1.00 | 0.208 |
| Bernard Mack | FCL | 0 | 1 | 2.45 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 14.2 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 20 | 1.23 | 0.167 |
The three with June ERAs of 0.00 are starter Michael McGreevy of Memphis and relievers Ricardo Velez and Austin Love of first half division champion Springfield.
Given McGreevy’s status as the number six starter for St. Louis and his clear MLB readiness, the right-hander would be an easy choice for Pitcher of the Month. However, he barely qualified by making just two June minor league starts totaling 10 1/3 innings between his frequent spot starts for the Cardinals.
At first blush when comparing the Springfield relief duo, Love’s crazy low .029 batting average against (one hit in 41 batters faced) and resulting finalist-low 0.53 WHIP are strong points in his favor.
Though two unearned runs each occurred on their logs, Memphis reliever Gordon Graceffo (0.63 ERA) and Palm Beach’s Mason Burns (0.90) give up just one earned run all month.
Jason Savacool has handled his in-month promotion to Peoria well, with a 2.35 ERA through his three starts as a Chief and a 2.13 ERA overall for June.
Rookie ball starters Yadiel Batista (2.14 ERA) and Bernard Mack (2.45) are performing well in a challenging environment. In fact, Mack had a 0.00 ERA before giving up four earned runs on the final day of the month.
Four of the eight finalists allowed fewer than one baserunner per inning via walks and hits (WHIP). They are Love, Velez, McGreevy and Burns.
Additional stats
Here are additional statistics from the finalists in the same ascending ERA sequence.
| Pitcher > 10 IP | Tm | NP | P/IP | QS | GF | HLD | WP | GO/AO | SO/9 | BB/9 | K/BB | BABIP |
| Michael McGreevy | Mem | 164 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.8 | 8.7 | 0.9 | 10.0 | 0.292 |
| Ricardo Velez | Spr | 127 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0.8 | 8.4 | 1.7 | 5.0 | 0.200 |
| Austin Love | Spr | 171 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0.5 | 7.9 | 4.0 | 2.0 | 0.040 |
| Gordon Graceffo | Mem | 223 | 16 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2.3 | 10.1 | 4.4 | 2.3 | 0.333 |
| Mason Burns | PB | 153 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0.6 | 12.6 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 0.105 |
| Jason Savacool | Peo/PB | 336 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ~1.5 | 8.9 | 5.1 | 1.8 | ~.283 |
| Yadiel Batista | FCL | 251 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 | 6.4 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 0.232 |
| Bernard Mack | FCL | 213 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0.9 | 12.3 | 6.1 | 2.0 | 0.276 |
In the selection process for their own Pitchers of the Month, the Cardinals organization seems to place great emphasis on strikeout to walk ratio.
In that measure during June, McGreevy stands tall at 10-to-1. In fact, the only other pitcher in the entire system with at least 10 innings pitched who also had a K/BB ratio of more than 5.0 is Springfield reliever Luis Gastelum at 11.5. However, the latter is a non-finalist after five earned runs charged on June 29 inflated his ERA for the month to 4.38.
Interestingly, that third-ranked pitcher with the 5-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio is Velez.
As one can see in the data, Love is fly-ball prone but somehow posted an amazingly fortunate BABIP of .040. He also walked four batters per nine innings, which coupled with a relatively low strikeout rate (7.9), makes for a pedestrian 2.0 K/BB ratio.
Graceffo’s 2.29-to-1 ground ball to fly ball rate is very strong, in fact it is second-best in the entire system in June (non-finalist Hunter Kublick at 2.33). This undoubtedly helped the former starter’s good month. His last major challenge seems to be a walk rate that remains too high at 4.4 per nine.
That is also the challenge facing Mack and Savacool, with June walk rates of 6.1 and 5.1 per nine innings, respectively.
Only three of the eight finalists struck out more than one batter per inning. Mason Burns was tops at 12.6 K/9 with Mack close behind at 12.3 and Graceffo next at 10.1.
McGreevy was stingiest with walks at 0.9 per nine. Next was Velez at 1.7.
Joining Love with an exceptionally low and unsustainable BABIPs (batting average on balls in play) was Burns at .105.
When considering all results, the relative unknown Velez is our choice as The Cardinal Nation’s June Pitcher of the Month, though McGreevy and Love were strong contenders.
Velez led the way in ERA (tied) and was second (to McGreevy) in WHIP, walk rate and strikeout to walk ratio. He was third in batting average against and fourth in ground ball rate.
About the winner
At the age of 26, Velez is not a top prospect, and in fact, he is relatively new to the organization. The native of Puerto Rico originally signed with the Twins organization in 2021 but was released from their Double-A roster early in March.
Prior to joining the Cardinals as a free agent on April 15, the right-hander posted a 3.64 ERA with an 11.5 K/9 rate and a 3.6 BB/9 mark in 83 career appearances, all in relief. Velez is a veteran of winter ball, having recently pitched for Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Series.
Velez originally joined Peoria’s roster but after tossing 6 1/3 scoreless innings (one unearned run), he was promoted to Springfield just two weeks later.
At Double-A, he has a 1.53 ERA in 29 2/3 long relief innings over 13 appearances. Velez walked eight and struck out 23.
How last month’s winners fared
Our choice as May Pitcher of the Month, right-handed reliever Andre Granillo, received a 40-man roster spot and made his St. Louis debut during June. With the Cardinals, he allowed just one run over 6 1/3 innings. The 25-year-old will be back, having joined the I-55 Shuttle between Triple-A and the majors.
Back with Memphis, Granillo allowed two runs in four innings with six strikeouts before and after his promotion.
The Cardinals organization’s May selection, Tekoah Roby, made one final start for Springfield in June (1.50 ERA) before earning a spot in Memphis’ rotation. He struggled in his first two Triple-A starts (10.45 ERA) before tossing 11 innings of one-run ball (0.82) in his most recent two.
Companion article
Earlier, Memphis outfielder Nathan Church was named the top hitter in the system for the month per The Cardinal Nation. Check out the 24-year-old’s results and those of our other nine finalists here:
The Cardinal Nation June 2025 Player of the Month – Nathan Church
What is next?
The Cardinals organization should also name their own selections for June Player and Pitcher of the Month in the upcoming days.
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