{"id":779304,"date":"2026-08-15T11:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T11:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/779304\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T11:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T11:09:14","slug":"cardinals-young-starter-has-a-unique-talent-that-could-help-aid-struggling-catcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/779304\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinals&#8217; young starter has a unique talent that could help aid struggling catcher"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5n\">The St. Louis Cardinals have one of MLB\u2019s most obscure talents in starting pitcher Michael McGreevy. Be it his poor analytical data matched against <a href=\"https:\/\/redbirdrants.com\/cardinals-promotion-of-joshua-baez-gives-fans-powerful-look-into-club-s-future\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">in-game performance<\/a>, the veteran poise he possesses at such a young age, or the old-school style he pitches with, he\u2019s an odd one for sure\u2013and he just got a little weirder.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5q\">Recently, on an episode of the Just Baseball Media podcast, host Peter Appel had Paul Hembekides on as a guest.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5t\">Hembekides covers baseball for ESPN and works with the Pat McAfee show. He\u2019s one of the modern game&#8217;s best analysts and provides fans with very entertaining content, jam-packed with numbers, personality, and interesting information.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5w\">This time around, Hembekides spoke about McGreevy and his strange talent.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"63\">\u201cMichael McGreevy has a superpower,\u201d Appel said with a sly grin, as he teed up Hembekides. \u201cWhat is that superpower, Hembo?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"66\">\u201cNo one in baseball, at any level, does anything better than Michael McGreevy controls the running game,\u201d Hembekides responded with a shocked look on his face.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"69\">He couldn\u2019t even stomach the numbers that he was about to relay.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6c\">\u201cMichael McGreevy is a perfect illustration of someone who can accumulate extraordinary value in non-traditional ways. One of you guys on this show, at one point, noted just how hard it was to run on Michael McGreevy. So I made a mental note of it. \u2026<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6f\">\u201cWhen I finally got around to looking it up, I just could not believe these numbers. It\u2019s incredible. In 44 big league games, he\u2019s allowed three steals on six attempts. In 104 minor league games, he allowed 12 steals in 26 attempts. And in 49 college games, he allowed four steals on nine attempts! Peter, he\u2019s thrown 197 games since High School. He\u2019s allowed 19 stolen bases in 41 attempts! I\u2019ve never heard of, or seen anything like that, at least from a right-handed pitcher.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6i\">McGreevy\u2019s abnormal career continues to snowball. For better or for worse, he\u2019s continuously one of baseball\u2019s most abstract young studs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">Although, besides a fun anecdote, Hembekides\u2019 discovery could have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justbaseball.com\/mlb\/jj-wetherholt-success-affects-stl-cardinals-future\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">just unlocked<\/a> exactly what the Cardinals need to fix one of their biggest holes.<\/p>\n<p>Could the Cardinals use Michael McGreevy\u2019s interesting talents to aid Ivan Herrera?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6r\">Ivan Herrera caught game one against the Chicago Cubs tonight. The Cubs attempted to steal second base multiple times. Herrera remains victimless in the caught-stealing category.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6u\">Stolen bases have been a mystery all year long for the young backstop. At this rate, someone might need to call The Hardy Boys.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6x\">Maybe the solution has nothing to do with Herrera at the moment, and everything to do with McGreevy. The Odyssey to throw out a runner for Herrera is on track to end on an island\u2013not back at home.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-16\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"70\">McGreevy might have a chance to change the implications with his lockdown on the run game.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"73\">The only way the Cardinals can assure the best possible results for their young project is to put him in a position to succeed. <a href=\"https:\/\/redbirdrants.com\/st-louis-announcer-john-rooney-just-added-another-chapter-to-the-cardinals-cubs-rivalry\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The verdict<\/a>? For a majority of his defensive appearances, Herrera should only catch games that McGreevy starts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-18\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"76\">McGreevy\u2019s innate ability to limit stolen bases should help deaden the overly aggressive tactics opposing teams have deployed against Herrera.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-19\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"79\">Outside of that, McGreevy\u2019s newly discovered talent is simply another chapter in his autobiography of hidden gimmicks. He throws an absurd amount of pitches, does it like he\u2019s ten years older than he is, and for some reason, it leaves the opposition glued to first base.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow redbirdrants.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=redbirdrants.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The St. Louis Cardinals have one of MLB\u2019s most obscure talents in starting pitcher Michael McGreevy. Be it&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2403],"tags":[5,160,4,673,67,4311,4310],"class_list":["post-779304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-louis-cardinals","tag-baseball","tag-cardinals","tag-mlb","tag-st-louis","tag-st-louis-cardinals","tag-stlouis","tag-stlouiscardinals"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117099218117904088","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}