This Cardinals minor league reliever would help fix the bullpen troubles

Throughout the month of April, the St. Louis Cardinals and manager Oliver Marmol were searching for a bullpen configuration that would help replicate the success the relievers had from 2024. The combination of Chris Roycroft, Ryan Fernandez, and Riley O'Brien for low-leverage outings wasn't working, and late-inning reliever JoJo Romero was unable to find his touch.

On May 1st and May 2nd, the Cardinals made a flurry of moves, including promoting rookie Gordon Graceffo and placing swingman Steven Matz into the bullpen primarily. These two, along with a strong month from Ryan Helsley and Kyle Leahy, helped propel the Cardinals to an MLB-best 19-8 record in the month of May.

During that month, Cardinal relievers had the eighth-best ERA (3.36), third-best FIP (3.15), and the seventh-best WHIP (1.26) in all of baseball. Ryan Helsley recorded an MLB-high nine saves in the month of May, too.

The success of the bullpen was a major reason why the Cardinals were able to place themselves firmly in the discussion for a National League Central division title coming out of May.

Things have been quite different for the relief corps since the calendar turned to June, and Marmol hasn't been able to find the right concoction of relievers late in games.

The Cardinals' bullpen has the third-worst WHIP (1.66), fifth-worst ERA (4.60), and the ninth-worst FIP (3.97) this month. The club, coincidentally, has also won only one of its four games this month.

These stats are prior to the bullpen's 2.2 shutout innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 6th.

Since May 2nd, the Cardinals have made some transactions regarding the bullpen, but the main moving pieces have been Roddery Munoz, who has a 9.53 ERA and has allowed two home runs in only 5.2 innings, and Matt Svanson, who is faring better than Munoz with a 3.09 ERA across 11.2 major-league innings this year.

It's time the club tries a different reliever to see if the chemistry and production late in games can be altered. I'm not talking about bringing Chris Roycroft — who has a 9.58 ERA in Triple-A — back up. I'm not even asking for Riley O'Brien — who has struck out 14.90 batters per nine innings at Memphis — to stay up. Instead, I'm talking about promoting a new face to the majors, someone we haven't seen before.

Prospect Andre Granillo could provide much-needed support for the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen during the month of June.

Andre Granillo was drafted in the fourteenth round of the 2021 MLB Draft by the Cardinals out of the University of California, Riverside. Granillo is in his fifth season in the minors, and he has a career 3.76 ERA during that time.

Granillo has turned it up to another level this year, though.

In 2025 with Triple-A Memphis, Andre Granillo has thrown 28.2 innings across 17 appearances. He has a lovely 1.88 ERA and a 0.872 WHIP. The best part of his game? He is striking out 14.1 batters per nine innings while walking only 7.1% of the batters he faces. His 32.7% K-BB% is one of the best in the minors right now. That's absurd, and it's exactly what the Cardinals' bullpen needs right now.

The only issue is that Andre Granillo isn't on the 40-man roster at the moment, and the Cardinals have historically strayed away from cutting 40-man players. If the organization were to promote him to the majors, a corresponding move would have to be made.

Theoretically, that decision should be easy; Roddery Munoz should be removed from the 40-man roster one way or another to make space for Andre Granillo. Munoz has been bad at both the majors and Triple-A.

Granillo's 14.1 K/9 ratio is third-best in the organization among pitchers who have thrown at least 20 innings, and it's the highest of any pitcher at Memphis who has thrown at least 20 innings.

The Cardinals' bullpen is searching for strikeouts during this dry spell. Andre Granillo is their answer, and he's in their system. All it takes is a 40-man roster move and a promotion to the majors for the 25-year-old righty.