Cardinals' Michael McGreevy flirts with history despite alarming velocity plunge

Although 2026 is a season that many have predicted to be a rough one for the St. Louis Cardinals, the youngest team in baseball has already delivered plenty of excitement through its first two games. After overcoming a six-run deficit against the Tampa Bay Rays on Opening Day, the Cardinals followed it up with an extra-innings thriller capped off by a walk-off hit from rookie JJ Wetherholt.

The Cardinals bullpen struggled for the second time in as many games, which may have somewhat overshadowed Michael McGreevy's brilliant start, as he threw six innings of no-hit baseball, allowing two walks and striking out five batters. Cardinals manager Oli Marmol disappointingly, but wisely, pulled McGreevy after the sixth inning, ending his bid for a no-hitter.

As many fans are aware, the Cardinals' last no-hitter came all the way back on Sept. 3, 2001, when rookie Bud Smith hurled a hitless gem against the San Diego Padres. It took 134 pitches for Smith to accomplish the feat, and in the modern game that sees starting pitchers getting pulled earlier and earlier, there was no way that the Cardinals were going to risk McGreevy's health by leaving him in the game.

McGreevy, the Cardinals' first-round pick in 2021, was a quintessential John Mozeliak-era choice: a college arm who pitches to contact and induces boatloads of ground balls. That profile gives McGreevy a thin margin for error in an era where the shift has been banned, and although the results of his first start were excellent and deserve recognition, one number stuck out as a potential red flag.

McGreevy stymied the Rays despite worrisome velocity.

Already a soft-tosser, McGreevy averaged only 90.7 mph on his fastball — a nearly unthinkable number during a time where flamethrowing reigns supreme. It was a 2.3 mph drop from his average four-seam fastball velocity in 2025. McGreevy is a rarity nowadays as a pitch-to-contact player, and that could play to his advantage for a bit with hitters not used to that type of pitching. However, there's a reason that velocity is king in the major leagues, and if McGreevy can barely crack 90 mph with his fastball, it's just a matter of time before he gets punished for it.

Still, we can't take away from what McGreevy accomplished in his first time toeing the mound this season, even against a Rays lineup that won't strike much fear in other teams' hearts. Opposing average exit velocity was a respectably low 86.9 mph, and he had more drop on his pitches than he did in 2025. If McGreevy can spurn the odds and continue pitching effectively, the Cardinals could have a long-term answer in their rotation.