Cardinals Prospects: Gordon Graceffo, JJ Wetherholt, Ian Bedell putting in offseason work

The offseason is a time for preparation for players across the baseball landscape. Minor-league players and prospects are no exception.

In order to gain a leg up on their teammates, minor leaguers will often be found putting in extra work during the winter. This is to give them an upper hand come spring training.

Three such Cardinal prospects have been putting in work at reputable companies trying to up their games. Gordon Graceffo, the organization's 11th-ranked prospect, JJ Wetherholt, the club's #7 overall pick in the 2024 draft and its top prospect, and Ian Bedell, the club's 18th-ranked prospect, have worked with outside companies to up their games.

Graceffo, 24, was seen doing bullpen work at Tread Athletics, a pitching company known for adding velocity to pitches and helping players sharpen their craft. Video wasn't posted of Graceffo throwing, but Ben Brewster, Tread's co-founder, posted an image of players who were scheduled to get bullpen work in on Friday, January 3rd. Graceffo's name can be found on the list amongst 121 other players across various levels of baseball.

The right-handed pitcher threw 130 innings last year at Triple-A Memphis with a 4.85 ERA and 107 strikeouts. Despite touching 99 MPH with his fastball, Graceffo doesn't have overpowering stuff. His best pitch, his slider, sits around 86 MPH with decent induced-vertical break. In order for him to become a legitimate starting pitcher or reliever in the majors, he needs to find one plus pitch to rely on.

Graceffo made his debut last year making two appearances in June and July. Gordon was called up to be a long reliever on June 29th against the Cincinnati Reds. He threw 4.1 innings of relief, and he allowed just one run with four strikeouts. He started the second leg of a doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals on July 10th and threw 3.1 innings with two strikeouts and three earned runs.

Graceffo's work at Tread could be focused on boosting either his fastball or slider to make one or the other more dominant. With opportunities being given to young players next year and Graceffo near the top of the minor-league pitching depth chart, he should take advantage of every opportunity given to him.

Cardinals' Prospects: JJ Wetherholt and Ian Bedell are putting in offseason work as well

JJ Wetherholt's stock is already as high as it can be, and him putting in work at Marucci only further boosts it that much more. Marucci, now the official bat of Major League Baseball, is known for working with hitters primarily. Wetherholt was able to put some work in the cages while at Marucci.

In only 29 games and 105 at-bats at Low-A Palm Beach, Wetherholt was able to slash .295/.405/.400 with two home runs, 20 runs batted in, and more walks (16) than strikeouts (15). He also stole two bases. Seeing Wetherholt, the organization's top prospect, work diligently in the offseason bodes well for the future of the Cardinals.

Ian Bedell, the club's 18th-ranked prospect, has been at Cressey Sports Performance in Jupiter, Florida this winter. I was able to speak with Bedell recently, and he said he's looking to add more velocity to his gyro slider and getting his cutter to the negative side of horizontal more often as a result of his work at Cressey.