Cardinals Rookie Pitcher Turns Heads With Another Solid Outing

"Like the starters before him in the series, McGreevy sped through his first look at the Rockies’ lineup. Veteran starter Miles Mikolas offered a scouting report on the Rockies earlier in the series when he described how eager the Rockies’ hitters were and how a contact-inviting pitcher could bend that to his benefit without experiencing too much damage," Goold wrote. "McGreevy did that.

"He struck out two in his first tour of the Rockies’ lineup, and got balls in play from the other seven. McGreevy faced the minimum through three innings with a dash of help from his catcher and the Rockies. In the second, the Cardinals challenged a possible pickoff at first base only to have the call stand after a length review. On the next pitch, Rockies outfielder Jordan Beck broke for second and was caught stealing by Pages. All around that play were others by the Cardinals’ defense for McGreevy."

The Fedde trade is what gave McGreevy this opportunity to thrive at the big league level. If the Cardinals had held onto Fedde, McGreevy would have continued to be a spot starter with no clear role in St. Louis.

Now, the rookie has been a solid innings eater for the Cardinals with the ability to turn in six or seven shutout innings if his stuff is at its best. His start against the Rockies was far from his best outing of the season, but it showed who he is as a pitcher as best as possible.

The righty generated a lot of ground balls and soft contact. He was beat a few times and surrendered a handful of runs, but the outing was a success overall. McGreevy gave St. Louis a chance to win, which is all a team can ask of the starting pitcher. The Cardinals let him down on the backend and lost the game 6-5.