Every year, or at least every year since 2012, we’ve taken some time after the season was over to look at the past 162 games through the lens of the players that played them (and the management that was in charge of them). Last year, the Exit Interview series spent less time digging into splits and finding numerical oddities and more time reflecting on the player and their season. It was a style that seemed to work so we’re going to bring it back again this year. The legendary cardinalsgifs is back to bring us excellent series art, so it’s all downhill after you see that!
Player: Michael McGreevy
Stats: 3-0, 4 G, 23.0 IP, 16 H, 1 HR, 2 BB, 18 K, 1.96 ERA, 2.56 FIP, 0.783 WHIP, 0.9 bWAR
Statcast: 4.6% barrel, 30.8% sweet spot, 108.1 max exit velocity, .223 wOBA, .291 xwOBA, 20.9 K%, 2.3 BB%
Grade: B
Since he was drafted, I’ve always seen McGreevy as another Dakota Hudson type, which was not a compliment. He’s never had much luck striking out batters (though his command is better than Hudson ever figured out) and seemed like, at best, a #5 big league starter. A 4.50 ERA in Memphis seemed to point toward a Quad-A player that was mainly just organizational depth. A slow start in Memphis this season seemed to be the end of any real thoughts about a McGreevy impact.
Yet he added a cutter this past winter and when he finally got it the kinks worked out in it, things took off. After May, his highest ERA for a month was 3.38 and all the rest were under three. He started striking out close to a batter per inning. The improvement got him to St. Louis and he made a handful of starts, all strong but none better than the one he threw on the last day of the season, going eight one-run innings against the Giants. While there are stronger prospects in the system, I don’t think anyone impacted their future for the better more than McGreevy did this season.
What’s in store for 2025: McGreevy will come into spring vying for a spot in a rotation that suddenly has some flexibility. If he can show that last year wasn’t a fluke, the club won’t have any problem bumping Steven Matz to make room for him as the fifth man and, should Matz, Miles Mikolas, or even Erick Fedde get moved, his spot is almost assured. It would be very surprising if he’s not on the roster come Opening Day.
