Michael McGreevy, a 25-year-old right-handed pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, delivered a standout performance on Tuesday night by pitching seven shutout innings against the Cincinnati Reds. The Cardinals won the game 3-0.
Manager Oliver Marmol highlighted McGreevy’s adaptability as a key strength: “What I’m liking that I am seeing is his ability to have a postgame review and then having the courage to take what he is told and apply it immediately and not being scared that it may not work,” Marmol said before McGreevy limited the Reds to three hits over seven scoreless innings in a 3-0 Cardinals win Tuesday night. “That’s a really cool trait to have as a young player.
“[Previously], in Triple-A, he was 86 percent slider/sweeper mix to righties and 78 percent in the big leagues. Then, he goes into his last outing [Sept. 10 at Seattle] and he mixes curveballs, cutters, and four-seamers to righties, which is something that he previously didn’t do. He took that [suggestion] and applied it. Some people have the personality of, ‘What if that doesn’t work?’ He has the personality of, ‘What if it does?’”
McGreevy improved his record to 7-3 after outdueling Reds left-hander Andrew Abbott for the second time in less than three weeks. In this start, McGreevy struck out six batters—including all three outs in the seventh inning—marking his first career seven-inning shutout across 18 MLB starts.
Reflecting on his approach after not striking out any Reds hitters during their previous matchup on August 30, McGreevy credited his willingness to adapt as central to his success. He noted advice from assistant GM Rob Cerfolio and pitching director Matt Pierpont early in the season: “I couldn’t even put a face to Cerfolio or Pierpont yet, but they were like, ‘Try this’ and, ‘Use your time [at Triple-A Memphis] to get better,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah sure, I’m down for that,’” said McGreevy. “They were like, ‘You haven’t even met us yet!’ But I’m always open to ideas and being coachable. They have my best interests in mind to help me become a better pitcher, so anything that comes my way, I’m looking to add to what I already do.”
On offense for St. Louis, Nolan Arenado drove in a run with a sacrifice fly after returning from an injury layoff of 40 games due to a strained right shoulder. Thomas Saggese hit his second home run of the season while filling in at shortstop for Masyn Winn who is sidelined with a torn meniscus.
Saggese praised McGreevy’s composure since joining MLB: “I asked him about it, and he was like, ‘Yeah, I wasn’t even nervous,’” Saggese recalled incredulously. “I was like, ‘Dude, I don’t know how you weren’t nervous,’ and that was always crazy to me. But he just handles everything really well and really competes. I’ve always been impressed by that.”
McGreevy credited his father for teaching him about being coachable from an early age: “It definitely came from my dad [Steve] in Little League, telling me, ‘You’ve got to be coachable,’” he said. “I’m blessed enough to say that every coach I’ve had since then said the same thing about being coachable.”
