Today In Appreciation …
He’s a fine example of why it’s a good idea to be careful about making sweeping judgments on starting pitchers based on his individual record of wins and losses.
McGreevy is 4-7 this season, and the Cardinals are 9-10 in his starts. And both figures are ridiculous. Fortunately smart people realize McGreevy’s performance deserves a more thoughtful evaluation. So I shall try.
— In 19 starts McGreevy has a 2.92 ERA that ranks 10th among 28 NL starters that have worked 100+ innings.
— McGreevy’s 13 quality starts are fourth in the NL behind Sandy Alcantara, Christopher Sanchez and Moshinobu Yamamoto.
— Only two MLB pitchers have 13 or more starts of working at least six innings and giving up no more than two earned runs: Sanchez with 14 and McGreevy 13.
— Among NL starters with at least 15 starts this season, McGreevy’s quality-start percentage (68%) ranks sixth in the NL.
— McGreevy ranks seventh among NL starting pitchers with a clean rate of 1.10 walks and hits per inning.
— Since the start of 2016, and not including the 2020 Covid year, McGreevy’s current 2.92 ERA would rank third best among Cardinal starters that accrued at least 100 innings in a season. Jack Flaherty had a 2.75 ERA in 2019. And in his first year as a Cardinal, the finest version of Miles Mikolas forged a 2.83 ERA. McGreevy would be next if his earned-run average holds up over the final nine-plus weeks of the season.
— McGreevy is a victim of poor run support in 2026. The Cards have averaged only 3.4 runs in his starts. And that puny average shrinks to 3.3 runs scored for McGreevy when he’s in the game. Both of those figures rank 57th and 59th, respectively, among NL pitchers that have made at least 12 starts in 2026.
This right-handed craftsman doesn’t possess wipeout velocity or a high strikeout total. But McGreevy gets a lot of ground balls, is stingy in dishing out walks, and has an effective spin that lures hitters into chasing pitches out of the zone.
Though McGreevy averages a modest 91.7 mph on his four-seam fastball, his sinking fastball does the dirty work. Statcast gives McGreevy a fastball run value of 95 – which means McGreevy’s fastball assortment has more quality than 95 percent of MLB pitchers.
McGreevy utilizes a deep six-pitch mix (four-seam, sinker, changeup, slider, cutter, and curve), but his most impressive characteristic is a heavy downward action on both his sinker and four-seam.
Those pitches flatten out the opposing hitter’s ideal attack angle, and McGreevy wisely leans on his infield defense to counter a home-run rate that’s a little on the high side.
McGreevy’s average of 5.92 strikeouts per nine innings is the lowest in the National League among starters that have pitched 100+ innings.
That makes McGreevy vulnerable.
A few other areas make him vulnerable as well including the 92.6 percent contact rate against him on his strike-zone pitches.
And his 83.5 percent strand rate is a vulnerability.
McGreevy needs some good fortune along the way – which is evident on the low .255 batting average against him on balls in play.
That said, much of that is attributable to a 46 percent ground ball rate that is successfully absorbed by his playmaking infielders.
This season McGreevy has induced 151 ground balls, the seventh highest total by an NL starter. And the .179 batting average against him on those grounders is the sixth lowest against an NL starter.
There’s a delicate balance here for getting impressive results with this style of pitching, but McGreevy the contact master is comfortable working on that thin line.
Here’s his secret weapon for consistently overcoming those vulnerabilities: location.
McGreevy’s Location+ metric is the best among NL starting pitchers. With the widespread fever for velocity in baseball, it’s good to know that a pitcher can excel by consistently spotting his pitches where he wants them to go.
It’s an underrated pitching tool that will never get the attention that goes to dudes who throw 100-plus miles per hour.
McGreevy also has the third lowest walk rate among NL starters – 2.0 per nine innings – so that keeps him out of flirting-with-danger situations. And the bonus is better efficiency. “Mac” averages 5.8 innings per start which puts him among the top 15 NL starting pitchers.
It is a pleasure to watch McGreevy do his thing. Hey, pitching still matters.
At Statcast McGreevy has a Pitching Value rating that puts him above 80 percent of the pitchers receiving paychecks from major-league ballclubs in 2026.
Please take note of that title: It isn’t Throwing run value. It’s “Pitching” run value.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach. Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his media career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. In his career as a beatwriter and columnist, Bernie covered Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Joe Gibbs, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Dick Vermeil on a daily basis.
Bernie has covered and written about many great St. Louis sports team athletes including Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner, Brett Hull, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, Jim Edmonds, Marshall Faulk, Scott Rolen, Mark McGwire, Orlando Pace, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Al MacInnis, Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko, Chris Pronger, Keith Tkachuk, Dan Dierdorf, Jackie Smith and Aeneas Williams. Bernie covered every baseball Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues, Saint Louis U, and Mizzou football and basketball. Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STL Sports Central, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows. And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.