Breakout Cardinals and prospects from the 2022 season

Gordon Graceffo

Another meteoric riser within the Cardinals system in 2022, Gordon Graceffo made a name for himself by becoming a top-100 prospect and could even make an impact on the major league club in the 2023 season.

In his first full season in professoinal baseball, Graceffo had a 2.97 ERA and 139 SO across 139.1 innings of work in High-A and Double-A ball. At just 22-years-old, Graceffo now has one of the highest ceilings among Cardinals pitchers in their system.

Having just 165.1 innings of work so far in his career, it is unlikely that the Cardinals would fast-track Graceffo unless he has another major step forward as he did in 2022. His fastball sits between 93-95 MPH but can get up to 99 when he puts extra on it. He relies on a good slider as his secondary pitch and works in a curveball and change-up as well. He currently projects as a mid-rotation starter, but the Cardinals appear to be even higher on him. Check out what John Mozeliak had to say about Graceffo in a recent interview with Frank Cusumano.

"He's already shown he can take on those innings. He's already shown success at the Double-A level. As you know, once you get to the Double-A level, you're a step away from the big leagues...stuff wise and the ability to throw strikes, attack the strike zone, I mean he's really a special pitcher another guy that was asked for a lot. "

John Mozeliak

It's clear the club now has very high expectations from their pitching prospect, and it's only a matter of time before he fills one of the rotation spots in St. Louis.