St. Louis Cardinals: Giovanny Gallegos gets promoted to the MLB

The second part of the St. Louis Cardinals return for Luke Voit will be joining the team following the end of the Memphis Redbirds playoff run.

Lucky for Memphis, their playoff run ended as being Triple A champions. It was during that celebration that Stubby Clapp gave Giovanny Gallegos the good news. He is the newest member of the St. Louis Cardinals. This will not be his first stint in the MLB.

The other half of the trade was Chasen Shreve who has a sub three ERA in 15 games since his departure from New York. Now, both parts of this trade will have the chance to help out the St. Louis bullpen.

Gallegos is the Cardinals 22nd ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline. The knock on him is that he is 27 years old already. However, for a struggling bullpen, he could be just what the doctor ordered.

In the Triple A championship game against the Durham Bulls, Gallegos allowed a hit over a scoreless inning. Overall with Memphis in the regular season, he posted an ERA under one in 16 innings.

How Can Gallegos Help?

MLB Pipeline says that Gallegos has a ceiling of a seventh inning reliever. He will not jump right into his ceiling, but his combination of fastball and curveball will serve him well at the next level. Both are graded at plus pitches.

With the recent injury to Bud Norris, the St. Louis Cardinals need someone they can trust with the ball. If Gallegos can perform as he did with Memphis, he can become a reliable arm down the stretch.

One thing to watch out for is how often, and in what situations, Gallegos uses his changeup. It is a pitch that he should maybe flash every now and then, but in reality it’s a below average pitch. It grades out at 45, and that will not fly in the majors. Actually, it will fly. But not in a good way, it will fly over the fence.

Luckily, Gallegos will do just fine with his two pitch mix. His fastball can get up to 96 MPH in a relief role, which can play very nicely. After getting a chance to see him when he was pitching for Scranton/Wilkes/Barre prior to the trade, I can confidently say that his curve is his best pitch.

This is a promotion that I believe will work very well for the St. Louis Cardinals. After being crowned champion of Triple A, and reaching the MLB level once again, it is a good year for Giovanny Gallegos.