ST. LOUIS – Of the many stellar qualities that Michael McGreevy has displayed over the final stages of the 2024 and ’25 seasons – composure in big spots, a heavy sinker that induces ground balls at a high rate and a crafty six-pitch mix – the ones the Cardinals have grown to love the most is the 25-year-old right-hander’s willingness to adapt and be coachable.
Making changes to how he attacks hitters certainly helped McGreevy keep the Reds off balance on Tuesday in arguably the best start of his young MLB career.
“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,” manager Oliver 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 (7-3) outdueled Reds left-hander Andrew Abbott for the second time in 18 days by mixing his six pitches beautifully. After arguing to stay in the game, he struck out the side in the seventh inning and six for the game. Tuesday’s performance was the first seven-inning shutout in his 18 career MLB starts, bettering his six innings of scoreless work against the Cubs on Aug. 8.
After not striking out a Reds batter when he faced them in Cincinnati on Aug. 30, McGreevy credited his willingness to be adaptable to his success on Tuesday against a Cincinnati squad hoping to stay in the playoff race. He noted that assistant GM for player development and performance, Rob Cerfolio and pitching director Matt Pierpont – newcomers to the Cards’ organization in 2025, impressed upon him early in the season the need to be adaptable at the big league level.
“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, who didn’t meet many of the staff newcomers until April because he spent Spring Training in Cards camp. “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.”
Abbott came into Tuesday having limited the Cardinals to three earned runs in 16 innings over three starts this season. However, the Cardinals scored three runs on Tuesday before the crafty lefty made it through three innings of work. Nolan Arenado, who returned on Monday after missing 40 games with a strained right shoulder, drove in a run in a second straight game with a sacrifice fly. Then, shortstop Thomas Saggese – the replacement for the injured Masyn Winn (torn meniscus in his right knee) — went low in the zone and crushed a 3-2 pitch for his second homer of the season and his first long ball since April 6 in Boston.
Saggese, a fellow Southern California native like McGreevy, has played defense behind the 6-foot-4 right-hander for the past two years and he’s always been impressed with how McGreevy remains in command of any situation he’s in. When McGreevy made his MLB debut on July 31, 2024, and limited a powerful Rangers lineup to one earned run over seven innings, Saggese was one of the first players in Triple-A to ask him every detail about playing in the big leagues.
“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 said he learned from an early age that to survive as a pitcher, you have to be willing to make changes to stay ahead of hitters.
“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.”
