The Cardinal Nation’s May 2022 Pitcher of the Month – Gordon Graceffo

photo: Gordon Graceffo (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)

It is again time to select The Cardinal Nation’s Pitcher of the Month. This article covers play during May across the four full-season affiliates. The two short-season rookie level clubs will not be considered since they have not yet begun play.

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 factors here.

Guidelines

To qualify, a pitcher must have thrown at least 10 innings during May. To make the list of finalists, an ERA below 3.00 was required.  The group broke out into five pitchers with ERAs between 1.00 and 1.99 and three between 2.00 and 2.99.

Counting Stats

Of the eight finalists, three are starters and five are relievers, covering all four full season levels of the minor leagues, though Springfield is only represented via a late-month promotion. The two Single-A levels tied for the most representatives with three each.

Four finalists posted an April ERA under 1.50, so it’s not a surprise that the Pitcher of the Month came from that group.

In the following table, finalist names are listed in ascending ERA order. Leaders are bolded.

Pitcher Team W L ERA G GS SV SVO IP H R ER HR BB K
Trent Baker Palm Beach 2 2 1.29 5 5 0 0 28 19 8 4 1 14 35
Nathanael Heredia Peoria 0 0 1.32 8 0 0 0 13.2 6 3 2 0 8 21
Jose Moreno Palm Beach 0 1 1.35 7 1 1 1 20 16 4 3 0 13 26
Gordon Graceffo Peoria/Springfield 2 2 1.45 5 5 0 0 31 23 6 5 0 3 30
John Beller Peoria 1 0 1.98 6 1 1 1 13.2 6 3 3 2 3 24
Tommy Parsons Memphis 2 0 2.03 8 0 0 0 13.1 8 3 3 2 2 7
Inohan Paniagua Palm Beach 1 2 2.67 5 5 0 0 27 31 12 8 2 11 25
Brandon Waddell Memphis 2 0 2.91 11 0 1 1 12.1 10 4 4 0 7 17

From this table, a list of four candidates rise above the rest – Trent Baker, Nathanael Heredia, Jose Moreno, and Gordon Graceffo. Baker has the lowest ERA but he also surrendered the most runs with four earned and four unearned. He has the most walks as well, but that goes with the most strikeouts.

Trent Baker

Heredia had the fewest hits and runs allowed but also the fewest innings of the four. That comes with the territory of being a reliever. Fellow reliever Moreno had a strong month, but his 2-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio isn’t the most impressive. Though he threw more innings than Heredia, the Peoria reliever has been more dominant.

Nathanael Heredia

Graceffo has the highest ERA of the four, but he also pitched the most innings, averaging over six innings per start. His five earned runs are one more than Baker’s but his six total runs allowed are two fewer. Additionally, he walked just three batters, which is fewer free passes than Heredia handed out in less than half the innings.

Further down the table, John Beller impressed out of Peoria’s bullpen with 24 strikeouts and only three walks. He did allow a pair of home runs, though, which is tied for the most among finalists. Beller has now earned a spot in Peoria’s rotation. Also allowing a pair of home runs was Tommy Parsons, who had the lowest ERA among Memphis’ arms and handed out the fewest walks.

Tommy Parsons

Rate Stats

In the following table, finalist names are listed in ascending batting average against (Avg.) order. Leaders are bolded.

Pitcher Team BAA HBP WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 K9 K/BB
John Beller Peoria .125 1 0.66 4.0 1.3 2.0 15.8 8.0
Nathanael Heredia Peoria .133 1 1.02 4.0 0.0 5.3 13.8 2.6
Tommy Parsons Memphis .174 0 0.75 5.4 1.4 1.4 4.7 3.5
Trent Baker Palm Beach .190 0 1.18 6.1 0.3 4.5 11.3 2.5
Gordon Graceffo Peoria/Springfield .207 2 0.84 6.7 0.0 0.9 8.7 10.0
Jose Moreno Palm Beach .229 0 1.45 7.2 0.0 5.9 11.7 2.0
Brandon Waddell Memphis .250 0 1.46 8.0 0.0 5.1 12.4 2.4
Inohan Paniagua Palm Beach .295 4 1.56 10.3 0.7 3.7 8.3 2.3

Beller’s impressive month really stands out in this table. He led all finalists in WHIP, batting average against, and strikeouts per nine innings, while tying for the lead in hits per nine and finishing second in strikeout to walk ratio. This is enough to vault him into serious consideration for the Pitcher of the Month award, but not enough for him to win.

John Beller

Heredia’s strikeout rate of 13.8 is just short of Beller’s, but Heredia walked a few too many hitters, which raised his WHIP above 1.00.

Palm Beach starter Inohan Paniagua had the highest batting average against by a wide margin as it approached .300, which, when combined with his 3.7 walks per nine innings, gave him the highest WHIP at over 1.50. He still finished with a solid 2.67 ERA out of the Palm Beach rotation.

Inohan Paniagua

Graceffo also shines on this table, tying for the lead in home runs per nine innings with none and finishing top in walk rate and K/BB. He was one of only three finalists with a WHIP under 1.00, the other two being Beller and Parsons.

Despite leading all finalists in ERA, Baker was middle of the road in most of the rate stats. This was enough for him to not take the honors for the month as he was edged by Graceffo.

TCN’s May Pitcher of the Month – Gordon Graceffo

Graceffo’s impeccable control led the way for him again as he walked fewer than one batter per nine innings in May, though his walk rate actually more than doubled from 0.4 in April to 0.9 in May.

I’ll admit that I was hesitant to award the honors to Graceffo again after so many impressive performances from other pitchers, but he made it impossible for someone to take the crown from him. Trent Baker benefited from a pitcher-friendly Florida State League and actually allowed more runs than Graceffo.

Graceffo was more dominant overall with many fewer walks, fewer runs allowed, and a much better strikeout-to-walk ratio in more innings and longer starts on average.

Gordon Graceffo

Heredia and Beller each had strong months but Graceffo had a lower ERA than Beller in more than twice the innings. Heredia also walked more than twice as many batters than Graceffo in less than half the innings.

If there’s one area in which Graceffo lagged behind, it’s strikeouts, but his rate of 8.7 per nine innings wasn’t terrible and he excelled in every other area. Though he was fourth in ERA among finalists, it was only .16 points behind the leader, Baker. A pair of relievers also had slightly better ERAs than Graceffo, but the significantly higher innings total works in Graceffo’s favor as it’s much harder to keep a sub-1.50 ERA out of the rotation.

Graceffo’s ERA actually rose from last month, from 0.83 to 1.45, but he made an extra start and threw nearly 10 more innings. It was another impressive month in what has been an impressive professional career for Graceffo, and it earned him a promotion to Double-A, where he tossed a gem in his first outing, lasting seven innings and surrendering two runs.

The Cardinal Nation’s 12th-ranked prospect has torn his way through the minors and established himself as one of the hottest prospects in the Cardinals system. If he keeps up this level of success, he may see Memphis by the end of the year, though it’s still too early to tell.

What’s Next

I’ll be back on Thursday with our Player of the Month. The St. Louis Cardinals should follow soon with their picks for the best minor league pitcher and the top hitter in May.

June 2 Update

In the original article, I failed to include Ryan Loutos, whose strong performances earned him a promotion from  High-A Peoria to Double-A Springfield.

Ryan Loutos

In May, the reliever threw 12 innings and allowed just one run for an ERA of 0.75. He struck out 10.5 batters per nine innings and walked just three in a dominant performance last month.

Though his numbers were not enough to overcome our winner, Gordon Graceffo, they were certainly impressive enough to be highlighted.


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