How impressive '24 debut motivated McGreevy's offseason

JUPITER, Fla. -- Spliced throughout an offseason in which he worked to add 15 pounds of muscle and change his body composition were big league memories that came flooding back to Michael McGreevy at the oddest of times.

In bed one night and about to doze off, McGreevy had a flashback to how his heart raced in his MLB debut on July 31 last season, when Rangers superstar Corey Seager took him deep only to see it caught on Busch Stadium¡¯s warning track. Later, while hanging with buddies in his native Southern California and being asked a favorite memory, McGreevy recalled a time when star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt came to the mound to check on him and offered up some encouraging advice. ¡°That¡¯s Paul Goldschmidt!¡± he told the group, still somewhat in awe.

Then, there was San Francisco, a memory that was so picture perfect and syrupy sweet that it could have come straight off a Disney movie set. McGreevy knows that whether he makes the Cardinals¡¯ Opening Day roster in 2025, he and his family will always have the joys of Sept. 29 in San Francisco, when he limited the Giants to five hits and one earned run over eight innings to cap his breakout season.

¡°This is funny ¡­ me and my dad were sitting around the house doing nothing one day, and my dad just says, ¡®Wasn¡¯t San Francisco so great?'¡± a smiling McGreevy said. ¡°I was like, ¡®Awww man, that day was so great.¡¯ I had memories like that all offseason, and you call on those moments to help you. Even this year, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll go back and rewatch that day for the mental reps of knowing what was good for me and what I was doing right that day. Plus, those kinds of moments just carry you.¡±

McGreevy, a first-round pick by the Cardinals in the 2021 MLB Draft, is hopeful of authoring more moments in 2025 as a potential member of the Cardinals¡¯ starting staff. The 24-year-old right-hander went 3-0 over four appearances (three starts) late in the 2024 season, outings that dramatically altered his perception in a Cardinals organization that was eager to find out what they had in him.

¡°He showed well and exactly as advertised by pounding the strike zone and living on the ground,¡± Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of McGreevy. ¡°He looks good [this Spring Training]. He put on some weight and had a really good offseason, and I¡¯m excited to see what¡¯s coming out of that arm.¡±

The success McGreevy had at the big league level -- besting the Rangers in his first start, nabbing a win in relief against the Pirates, surviving a somewhat choppy start at Coors Field and nearly blanking the Giants -- functioned like jet fuel coursing through McGreevy¡¯s body throughout the offseason. It helped him get more serious about his nutrition, it drove him through workouts and it occupied much of his mental focus.

¡°I tried to trim as much body fat as I could and I gained at least 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason, which is going to be good for me,¡± McGreevy said. ¡°At the end of the day, I¡¯ve got to pitch well. I could be 5 percent body fat and still suck or be 30 percent body fat and win. It¡¯s all just little things to try and give you an edge, but at the end of the day, it¡¯s still just baseball.¡±

It's that kind of level-headed approach from McGreevy that led catcher Pedro Pag¨¦s -- a former batterymate at Triple-A Memphis and again with the Cardinals -- to thinking the pitcher wouldn¡¯t be rattled by the magnitude of reaching the big leagues. McGreevy never takes himself too seriously, Pag¨¦s said, and he knew that mindset would serve the young pitcher well with the highs and lows of baseball.

McGreevy said one factor that aided his success last season was knowing that he didn¡¯t have to try to do more or make perfect pitches just because he had been promoted to the big leagues. Being a ground-ball pitcher -- and one who got grounders 64.6 percent of the time in his four Major League outings -- is usually as effective as getting whiffs.

¡°Before my debut, I remember thinking, ¡®Oh, I have to be so good, don¡¯t miss and know these guys don¡¯t chase,¡¯¡± he said. ¡°In reality, that¡¯s not true. If you trust your stuff and throw it in the zone, guys will get themselves out because hitting is the hardest thing to do in the world.

¡°I just had to trust my stuff because I knew that it had gotten me this far. I didn¡¯t try to do too much, and that¡¯s why those last few weeks went so well. Now, I just want to carry that into this season.¡±