McGreevy clears first test of spring against gauntlet of veteran Cardinals hitters

With the first full squad workout in the books for the Cardinals, position battles across the diamond will begin to take shape.

But even before spring gets out of the starting gates, one of the more intriguing up-and-coming names vying for an opportunity is a pitcher who is, at least on paper, arguably blocked from the chance to earn one on his own merit.

Michael McGreevy is ostensibly the sixth man on a starting pitching depth chart that will only require five at any given time. With Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, Miles Mikolas, Andre Pallante and Steven Matz penciled into the Cardinals’ five rotation spots, McGreevy is conceivably the odd man out to begin the year in a world where everybody stays healthy.

That fact isn’t keeping the Cardinals from getting a legitimate look at McGreevy this spring, and rightfully so. Because it’s been a while since we lived in a world where all five projected Cardinals starters make it through the spring with their health intact.

From Sonny Gray last spring to Adam Wainwright in 2023, back to Miles Mikolas or Carlos Martinez in previous years—pick a year in recent memory and you’ll recall that at least one anticipated Cardinal starter was down for the count at some point in the spring.

It’s not an ideal track record, but it’s been a relatively consistent one across recent Cardinals seasons—so Michael McGreevy’s spring preparation could be quite relevant to the state of the season-opening pitching rotation.

After he finished a smattering of big-league opportunities with a sub-2.00 ERA last season, McGreevy enters the spring aiming to make an impression—ready if the on-paper impediments to a rotation spot should fall away.

On Monday, McGreevy was slotted into a live pitching practice session behind Matthew Liberatore and Erick Fedde. Cardinals brass didn’t toggle down the difficult level, either, presenting the 24-year-old former first rounder with Nolan Arenado, Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan and Willson Contreras as the opposition during his first live batting practice of the year.

McGreevy engaged in some quality battles with some of those mainstay hitters in the St. Louis lineup, surrendering solid fly ball contact to Arenado but capping a lengthy bout with Contreras on a called strike three after the newly-installed Cardinal first baseman fought off several tough pitches.

McGreevy also got Nootbaar swinging at one point during the session, but failed to snare a chopper back up the middle by Donovan—it probably would have gone down as a seeing-eye single barring a fortuitous defensive shift.

There’s not always much to glean from these simulated opportunities early in camp, but McGreevy seemed to hold his own on Monday.

More important was the degree to which Cardinals brass watched intently as McGreevy honed his craft against several notable figures from the Cardinals lineup—the first test of a spring that still may shake out as McGreevy’s springboard into a rotation spot despite where his name falls in the pecking order at this point in the calendar.