May 4—While the Cardinals were finding still another way to lose horribly Wednesday night — this time with Giovanny Gallegos’ ninth-inning implosion — the organization’s player development gears kept grinding.

The Triple-A Memphis Redbirds, now 20-9, dispatched the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 6-5. First baseman Luken (Home Run) Baker went yard for the 11th time and Michael McGreevy delivered a quality start (two runs allowed in 6 2/3 innings).

As the 2023 Cardinals season becomes more hopeless by the day, the farm activity becomes of greater interest. The Cardinals will need better pitching to become less terrible this season and we expect the team to explore all internal options.

But what about the longterm direction of the franchise? Can the Cardinals avoid the sort of multi-year downturn that their National League Central rivals have endured?

The team’s success or failure will hinge on pitching development, since Cardinals are highly unlikely to ever win the bidding on top free agents and their spending on mid-level guys has yielded consistently disappointing results. (See Matz, Steven) So let’s check in on the most advanced pitching prospects. Here are two assessments of Gordon Graceffo: R.J. Anderson, CBSSports. com: “Graceffo at his best is a physical right-hander (he’s listed at 6-foot-4, 210 pounds) who has an unusual delivery, during which he steps back with each foot to begin his operation, then quickly turns into his leg kick. His arsenal has four pitches: a 94 mph fastball and a sweeping slider, as well as a pair of lesser-used offerings in his curveball and changeup. The slider is considered by most to be his best pitch, though his cambio has been his top bat-misser this season, generating a 46% whiff rate to date.”

Gerard Gilberto, MILB. com: “He came out of the gate strong, allowing six total runs over his first three starts, one of which was hitless, but he matched that total in his most recent outing against Durham. He enters the week with a 4.91 ERA and 20 punchouts over 22 innings. Graceffo now consistently reaches the upper 90s with his fastball, which he tunnels well with an upper-80s slider. He also has a sinking changeup and a less-often-used curveball. He has mostly maintained the excellent command from his amateur days, although he’s a much different pitcher than the one the Cardinals drafted.”

Here are two assessments of lefty Matthew Liberatore: Anderson: “There were rumblings in the spring that Liberatore had improved his arsenal in a notable way. We can now confirm that’s the case. His fastball is coming in nearly a tick hotter, at 94.5 mph, and features nearly an inch more induced vertical break. He’s throwing it inside the zone far more often, and to better results; his contact rate was down by eight percentage points. Liberatore’s signature curveball, meanwhile, is showing more velocity, break, and spin. Those pitches are the keys to his game, and he knows it: he’s using the two far more often than he did last season.”

Geoff Pontes, Baseball America: “The lefthander capped off a superb April with six scoreless innings on Saturday. Liberatore’s fastball sat 94 mph, and he used four-seam and two-seam variations of it. His primary secondary was again his highspin curveball, which generated seven swings and misses. Liberatore is showing the ability to generate whiffs and go deep into games while using a deep arsenal of offerings he can land for strikes. As soon as an opportunity opens up in the Cardinals rotation, Liberatore should be the next man up.”

And here is a look at McGreevy: Anderson: “McGreevy is another physical righty (6-foot-4, 215 pounds). He relies heavily on a low-90s sinker and a slider, with the former generating an average launch angle of 2 degrees in his Triple-A debut. He doesn’t miss many bats, and it’s fair to wonder if he’ll end up resembling Dakota Hudson more than the Cardinals would like . . . Double-A is the page-69 test for prospects. If you like what you’re seeing there, you’ll probably like them at the majors. McGreevy, then, will presumably get the call later this year or early next. We do think he’s behind the other two in line, which will delay his arrival. Additionally, the Cardinals may want him to work on his arsenal a touch more before launching him to the majors, even if he’s clearly too much for minor leaguers to handle.”

TALKIN’ BASEBALL Here is what folks have been writing about Our National Pastime: Janice Scurio, Baseball Prospectus: “At this point in history, it may be more shocking to hear that Shoei Ohtani stretching his multifaceted talents into other ventures: He’s opening a doggie day care, taking up ceramics, or perhaps studying to be a chess grandmaster. If he hasn’t done any of these things already, he’s reached another milestone. As of Wednesday, he joins Babe Ruth as players to record 500 strikeouts as a pitcher, and 100 homers as a hitter. In a battle of perceived disappointments, the Angels ended victorious over the Cardinals 6-4, with the two-way star’s contributions proving the difference. Ohtani wasted no time and matched his career-high 13 strikeouts in just five innings. Showcased was a platonic Ohtani start: missing plenty of bats via nine whiffs on the sweeper and eight on the four-seamer, for 19 whiffs total. He ended the outing with a 41% CSW (called strikes plus whiffs), well above and beyond the norm of a pitcher known for a high strikeout upside. Ohtani’s former World Baseball Classic teammate Lars Nootbar fell victim to the sweeper, smirking as the 85 MPH pitch dropped low in the zone, out of the reach of Nootbar’s bat. This historical outing wasn’t entirely perfect: Ohtani did yield the Cardinals four extra-base hits, and threw two wild pitches, and relinquished a total of four earned runs. It’s a reminder that Ohtani is human; he’s a very cool human that can do many wonderful things, whether it’s pitching, hitting, making history (again) or opening with pawn to d4.”

David Schoenfield, ESPN. com: “The Pirates lead the majors in quality starts with 18 in their first 29 games. The Blue Jays are second with 15 and no other team has more than 13. This is in sharp contrast to 2022, when the Pirates had just 38 quality starts all season (28th in the majors). In 2021, they were last with just 25 quality starts . . . Can the rotation really keep this going? They’re just 18th in strikeout rate and have been stranding runners left and right (fifth-best left on base percentage). Vince Velasquez has a 3.06 ERA after not being under 4.85 since 2016. Rich Hill is 43. Johan Oviedo has to prove his early performance is for real. I’ll buy (Mitch) Keller and Roansy Contreras, but let’s see about those other three.”

Matt Snyder, CBSSports. com: “Last season, (Bryce) Harper played through a torn UCL in his elbow and also missed several weeks in the middle due to a fractured thumb. In his 99 games played, the 2021 NL MVP hit .286/.364/.514 (147 OPS+) with 28 doubles, 18 homers, 65 RBI and 63 runs. In the Phillies’ 17 playoff games, Harper slashed .349/.414/.746 with seven doubles, six home runs, 13 RBI and 12 runs. The rough night on Tuesday shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. The lefty-swinging Harper was facing a really tough left-hander on the mound in Urías and it was his first game back. He didn’t even go on a minor-league rehab assignment, as most players do, so it’s likely he’ll take some time before getting up to speed.”

Ben Clemens, FanGraphs: “Has it crossed Harper’s mind that the Phillies need him back in the fold? Almost certainly. A lineup that projected to be stuffed to the gills with defensively-limited sluggers has turned into anything but. Rhys Hoskins is out for the year. Darick Hall, the obvious Hoskins replacement, won’t be back for months. The Phillies had a top-10 offense last year even with Harper missing plenty of time and added Turner, and yet they seem badly in need of extra offense, unless it turns out that Brandon Marsh is Yordan Alvarez with defense now, which is at least possible but colossally unlikely. As is so often the case with injuries, we’ll never know exactly how Harper’s rehab and recovery affect him. He might come back this year and post an MVP season even if his elbow is bothering him; no one would argue the heights he’s capable of reaching when he’s going well. He could feel completely unbothered by the elbow and yet put up a disappointing year; he followed up his outrageous 2015 season (42 homers, 197 wRC+) with a clunker in 2016, with both of his ulnar collateral ligaments in perfect working order. Baseball is a game of streaks that are often indistinguishable from randomness, and that randomness doesn’t stop affecting you when you get injured.”