ӣ����Ƶ

Working as a starter during his rise up the minors, Cardinals right-hander Gordon Graceffo ended this past season with more than just his largest workload in the majors to build upon this winter.

He also carries over a “great learning experience” from taking on a role new to him, a role he’ll look to compete for again come next spring.

“I feel like it’s given me a different perspective on the game a little bit,” Graceffo said of the switch to working primarily as a reliever this year. “I just think it’s cool to see how the game unfolds and look at the different situations and how the team approaches different situations and look at it from that side. Because as a starter, you’re just focused on your day and going about your routine and taking your day and dominating that.

“But I think as a reliever, preparing my body to be able to pitch every single day was something new to me. I felt like I’ve gotten more used to that as the season has gone on, and I’ll be able to do that in the offseason.”

Graceffo, who was named Cardinals minor league pitcher of the year in 2022 following a breakout performance in his first full minor league season, worked exclusively as a reliever in the majors this year. The consistent usage from the Cardinals bullpen sets up the righty to work in relief come 2026.

“I think so,” Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said in late September when asked if Graceffo would remain a reliever.

Graceffo, 25, ended the 2025 season with a 6.28 ERA in 43 innings across 26 relief outings. He tallied 40 strikeouts and walked 6.7% of the batters he faced. Graceffo earned his first career save in his lone opportunity on May 6, when he was thrust into a ninth-inning spot vs. the Pirates while the Cardinals’ regular late-inning arms were unavailable because of usage.

The right-hander’s transition from starter to reliever came also in early May after he opened the minor league season in Class AAA Memphis’ rotation. He bounced between the majors and minors as a relief piece through the first half of the season but spent all of August and September in the majors after the Cardinals’ trade deadline selloff left innings up for grabs.

In late September, Graceffo described the final stretch of the season as an opportunity to “audition” for a role in 2026 as well as a chance to send him into the offseason with a strong foundation to build from.

“I feel like the last couple years, I haven’t really finished how I wanted to, and I feel like in (2022), I did a good job at finishing strong, and it kind of just propelled me to have a good offseason,” said Graceffo, who began this past September with two runs allowed in 6 2/3 innings before a five-run outing at Wrigley Field during the season’s final weekend spiked his ERA by more than run.

“I feel like if I can finish strong this year, I’ll just feel that much better about going into next year and going into the offseason and eventually going into spring training and feeling confident about earning a spot on the team,” he added.

Having switched from the starting role held across three full minor league seasons, the 25-year-old said he spoke with teammates around him who have worked in relief for tips to tailor an offseason program new to him.

“It’s taking what you like and working that into your routine,” said Graceffo, who noted conversations with Kyle Leahy, Riley O’Brien and JoJo Romero as insightful for building a regimen.

The adjustment to pitching on shorter rest, which he did twice on no rest and six times on one day of rest in the majors this year, gives Graceffo a baseline for how to prepare his body over the winter and what his weightlifting regimen may look like.

“The lifts in the bullpen are different because you have to be ready to pitch every day,” Graceffo said. “I think approaching the lifting a little bit differently this offseason will be a big help too.”

Graceffo said he may have a “little bit different” approach to how he treats his bullpen sessions. He felt bullpens required an adjustment, considering relievers have shorter bullpen sessions compared to starters, who have scheduled and more lengthy bullpen sessions leading up to their next outing. He said he may treat bullpens in the same manner he did in the regular season, by targeting specific pitches he wants to refine.

One day, it may be execution with his fastball, which averaged 95.7 mph and was hit for a .310 batting average, per Statcast. Other days, it may be an emphasis on his breaking balls like his slider, which averaged 89.2 mph and had a 29% whiff rate, or his curveball, which had the highest whiff rate (31.3%) of his four pitches and kept hitters to a .170 batting average and a .319 slugging percentage, per Statcast.

There may also be new sounds to his offseason training as he continues adapting to the bullpen environment, where he hopes to again answer the call in 2026.

“Maybe I’ll get the bullpen phone,” Graceffo said, “some kind of sound to imitate the bullpen phone for my bullpens to get the adrenaline pumping.”