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However, the circumstances surrounding a Gordon Graceffo live BP on a back field at the Cardinals training complex in 2024 seemed predictive at the time. Graceffo looked like he had the makings of a right-handed reliever waiting to get unleashed.

The fact that the Cardinals have now pulled that lever and moved Graceffo to the bullpen is encouraging. It鈥檚 not the type of bold move that it would be if they inserted Michael McGreevy into the starting rotation, but the Cardinals were clear from spring training that they weren鈥檛 comfortable enough with their starting pitching depth to push that button with McGreevy.

The Graceffo moves remains encouraging, nonetheless.

Back to February 2024 in Jupiter ...

Graceffo, a former fifth-round draft pick and one of the club鈥檚 top minor-league pitching prospects coming off his first taste of Triple-A the previous season (2023), faced hitters while behind a screen placed directly behind home plate.

Graceffo鈥檚 fastball/slider combination looked unfair at times. So much so that veteran reliever and offseason addition Keynan Middleton, who watched the session from a set of metal bleachers behind the fence backstop, commented to Marmol that Graceffo could 鈥減itch off that鈥� in reference to the two-pitch mix.

That spring training anecdote simply serves as an example that people saw the potential of Graceffo as a relief weapon, some saw it almost immediately.

The Cardinals saw it too and tacitly acknowledged it, but they preferred not to dip a toe in those waters last year. Instead, Matthew Liberatore shifted to the bullpen and helped bolster what proved the strength of last year鈥檚 ballclub.

Yes, Graceffo made his major-league debut in relief last season, but he pitched out of the bullpen out of necessity because of the club鈥檚 dire need to cover innings. Graceffo pitched 4 1/3 innings in relief in his first outing. The next time he pitched in the majors, he started. He kept starting the rest of that season in the minors.

This offseason at the MLB Winter Meetings, Mozeliak expressed a tepid willingness to explore the relief path for Graceffo.

鈥淗e鈥檚 going to be on our big-league club in some role,鈥� Mozeliak said in December. 鈥淭hat doesn鈥檛 mean he鈥檒l break with us in spring training, necessarily, but Gordon Graceffo is going to be seen in 51黑料 at some point next year as long as he鈥檚 healthy and continues to do what he鈥檚 doing.鈥�

This spring in Jupiter, Marmol made a distinction between McGreevy and Greceffo. McGreevy needed to remain a starter regardless of where he began the season, and Graceffo didn鈥檛 fall into the same 鈥渂ucket鈥� for Marmol.

While Graceffo continued to start at Triple-A at the beginning of this season, there remained a sense that he was in line for a bullpen spot.

That sense even extended to Graceffo himself.

鈥淚 definitely thought I had a shot of making the team in the pen in spring training,鈥� Graceffo said after his first career save on Tuesday night. 鈥淚t didn鈥檛 end up happening, and it is what it is. I鈥檓 happy to be here now, and I鈥檓 happy to be in that role. I鈥檒l do anything the team asks me to. I鈥檓 ready to go, and I鈥檓 ready to compete.鈥�

This season, Graceffo pitched three innings out of the bullpen in Boston and five innings out of the bullpen in Cincinnati, but both outings came in doubleheaders. The Cardinals were desperate to cover innings.

The idea of using Graceffo in shorter outings, a true bullpen audition, had already been percolating among Cardinals decision makers for some time. They just didn鈥檛 make that call until this week.

Monday, the Cardinals recovered Graceffo and he entered that night鈥檚 game and pitched the sixth inning with the Cardinals trailing the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2. Graceffo got the win, and pitched just one inning in order to preserve his availability for the following day.

Tuesday night, Graceffo tossed a scoreless ninth and didn鈥檛 allow a baserunner in route to his first save in a 2-1 win over the Pirates. While his fastball velocity reached 99 mph in Cincinnati, he topped out at 97 mph and 96 mph in the first his back-to-back outings of his career.

Earlier this season, Graceffo got roughed up badly in this first outing against the Red Sox. He allowed seven runs (six earned) on eight hits in three innings.

However, in three outings since, he鈥檚 posted a 1.29 ERA with five strikeouts, two hits and no walks in seven innings. Graceffo has used a three-pitch arsenal, including a four-seam fastball, a slider and a curveball this season.

鈥淲e knew this would be the quickest way for him to impact the big-league club, in shorter stints 鈥� one to two innings at a time 鈥� out of the bullpen,鈥� Marmol said of the considerations with Graceffo going back to spring training. We had a good feeling that his stuff would tick up and he would have some swing-and-miss stuff up here if we were to do that.

鈥淪o yeah, we went back and forth. Obviously, we started him in Memphis, but we knew that it could lead to this at some point. We鈥檙e here, and it鈥檚 looking pretty good.鈥�

The Cardinals have came around to where it looked like things were headed with Graceffo a year ago, now the learning experience starts for both Graceffo and the club.