Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Interview: Gordon Graceffo talks 2025 expectations

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Interview: Gordon Graceffo talks 2025 expectations · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Cardinal Territory. I'm Katie Wu. That's Trevor Rosenthal,
0:09
Speaker 1: and that is Gordon Grisefo joining the program. It's spring training.
0:14
Speaker 1: Pitchers are here, catches are here, full squad is here.
0:17
Speaker 1: Games are about to start. So we thought, we know
0:20
Speaker 1: we'd bring some players on and Gordon was so kind
0:22
Speaker 1: to be our first player interview. How are you, Gordon,
0:25
Speaker 1: I'm good.
0:26
Speaker 2: It's a pleasure to be on. Thanks for having me.
0:28
Speaker 1: Love it, love it. This will be fun. I think
0:31
Speaker 1: the best thing about spring training is the overall vibe. Right,
0:35
Speaker 1: it's positive. It's a new season. Anything can happen. And
0:38
Speaker 1: this is so interesting in twenty twenty five because it
0:42
Speaker 1: seems like players like you have a pretty big window
0:47
Speaker 1: and how you can impact the team this year. What
0:50
Speaker 1: was it like for you to come to spring training
0:52
Speaker 1: and realize, hey, you know, I've you know, made my
0:54
Speaker 1: debut last year on the forty man, I have a
0:57
Speaker 1: legitimate chance to crack this roster.
1:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's awesome, I think, I mean the gold coming
1:02
Speaker 3: in sprint training every year, I feel like for me
1:05
Speaker 3: has been the same. It is just trying to make
1:07
Speaker 3: try to do everything you can to make the team,
1:10
Speaker 3: But yeah, this year, there's definitely a little bit more
1:12
Speaker 3: of an opening. I feel like it's the same for
1:14
Speaker 3: a lot of the young guys that have shown up
1:17
Speaker 3: and that it kind of have been up and down
1:18
Speaker 3: the past few years. So it's really cool to go
1:21
Speaker 3: out and kind of compete with those guys every day.
1:23
Speaker 3: But I mean they're also your friends, so it's just
1:25
Speaker 3: nice being around them, and it's nice to imagine like
1:28
Speaker 3: being on the team with them all at the same time.
1:30
Speaker 2: And I think I think we could be a really
1:32
Speaker 2: good squad.
1:34
Speaker 4: What do you have any guys that you are that
1:37
Speaker 4: you gravitate towards on the team, any close buddies, And also,
1:40
Speaker 4: I mean what about mentors. I saw a picture on
1:43
Speaker 4: your Instagram of you. I think it was maybe in
1:45
Speaker 4: your first camp in twenty two with Adam Wainwright. I mean,
1:49
Speaker 4: maybe you could talk a little bit about the guys
1:51
Speaker 4: that are in the clubhouse and the impact that they've
1:52
Speaker 4: had on you so far.
1:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think right now, I definitely tend to hang
1:58
Speaker 3: around Matt LIBERATORI a lot Thompson, Steve Mattz, John King, Polonte.
2:04
Speaker 3: I mean, just the guys that have kind of been
2:06
Speaker 3: around this team and up in the big leagues a
2:08
Speaker 3: decent amount over the past couple of years. I mean,
2:12
Speaker 3: they they know their way around the clubhouse, they know
2:14
Speaker 3: how to act. They they're really good guys to watch
2:17
Speaker 3: and kind of you gotta peek into like that Cardinal
2:21
Speaker 3: Way type of type of way to act. But yeah,
2:24
Speaker 3: my first camp, the first day we were I was
2:28
Speaker 3: putting a group with Jordan Montgomery and Wayno and that
2:32
Speaker 3: was awesome, Like that was so cool just to be
2:34
Speaker 3: like up and up and up close to see those
2:38
Speaker 3: guys and how they go about their day. But yeah,
2:41
Speaker 3: it was it was awesome. Wayno Wayno I talked. I
2:44
Speaker 3: got to talk to him a good bit in camp
2:47
Speaker 3: in twenty two and he actually ended up buying me
2:50
Speaker 3: a suit at the end of camp, which is really cool.
2:52
Speaker 2: That was a really cool opportunity. But uh, yeah, it's been.
2:57
Speaker 2: It's been. This is my third big league camp now,
2:59
Speaker 2: so it's been.
3:00
Speaker 3: It's been nice being around those guys and uh, now
3:02
Speaker 3: you kind of feel a little bit more.
3:04
Speaker 4: A little bit more used to everything, so you're you're
3:07
Speaker 4: a little bit more comfortable now in your being your
3:09
Speaker 4: third camp. Hey, and you got to remember, right, like
3:12
Speaker 4: the guy he got you the suit. Now when you're
3:14
Speaker 4: when you're a big time you got to pay it
3:16
Speaker 4: forward again. You got to keep the tradition going.
3:18
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I hope, I hope I'm in that position at
3:21
Speaker 2: some point. That'd be great.
3:22
Speaker 1: Like you said, Gordon, it's your third big league camp,
3:25
Speaker 1: But did this camp when you walked into the clubhouse
3:27
Speaker 1: feel a little different? I mean personally, I walked in
3:30
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh my gosh, I am old
3:33
Speaker 1: because there was a ton of younger players and that
3:35
Speaker 1: was their mission right to bring in some young guys
3:37
Speaker 1: and give some opportunity. But is it it's probably not
3:41
Speaker 1: too It's probably pretty familiar because a lot of these
3:44
Speaker 1: guys you ascended through the minor leagues with.
3:46
Speaker 2: Yeah.
3:47
Speaker 3: Absolutely, it's it's been cool seeing these guys grow and
3:50
Speaker 3: and uh and just being able to play with them
3:52
Speaker 3: in double A, triple A. So it's cool, Like everybody's
3:56
Speaker 3: really familiar with each other. I mean, there's really good camaraderie.
3:59
Speaker 3: I think that's one thing that a young clubhouse has,
4:01
Speaker 3: is really good camaraderie because none of the you don't
4:05
Speaker 3: really have that like huge personality of anybody not I
4:08
Speaker 3: mean a lot of the veterans that we've had in
4:10
Speaker 3: the past have been like those guys to take the
4:12
Speaker 3: young guys along, and now it's kind of the young
4:15
Speaker 3: guys turn to kind of like figure out and figure
4:17
Speaker 3: it out their own kind of way and and.
4:20
Speaker 2: Be able to kind of just be let loose and
4:24
Speaker 2: be thrown out there under the fire.
4:26
Speaker 4: You mentioned some of the guys that you're hanging out with,
4:29
Speaker 4: and there's a common theme, a common theme there there.
4:32
Speaker 4: There are a lot of starting pitchers, So what's your perspective.
4:38
Speaker 4: I know you've spent the most of your time in
4:39
Speaker 4: the minor leagues is a starting pitcher, and now it
4:42
Speaker 4: looks like you're getting some more opportunities in the bullpen.
4:45
Speaker 4: I know for me, the first season that I had
4:47
Speaker 4: an opportunity to break camp with the big league team,
4:49
Speaker 4: I went, I went into the manager's office. I was
4:51
Speaker 4: in a similar situation as you, and I said, Hey,
4:53
Speaker 4: I want to be a starter. I don't I don't
4:55
Speaker 4: want to be in the bullpen. And they said, well,
4:57
Speaker 4: if you want to start, you're gonna go to Triple A.
5:00
Speaker 4: But if you want to be in the big leagues,
5:01
Speaker 4: you can be in the bullpen. And I quickly said
5:03
Speaker 4: you know I'll be in the big league. How are
5:07
Speaker 4: you thinking about that? Would you have a preference one
5:09
Speaker 4: way or the other?
5:10
Speaker 3: I would say have a preference. I'm definitely more used
5:13
Speaker 3: to starting, so that's kind of like my groove, I think.
5:16
Speaker 3: But I mean, whatever gets me there. I just want
5:18
Speaker 3: to be there. I just want to be able to
5:19
Speaker 3: impact the team, help the team win, and just have
5:22
Speaker 3: that experience. And I think if I limit myself to
5:26
Speaker 3: one role and kind of limits the opportunity, but I
5:30
Speaker 3: will do I'll do anything. I think I would be
5:33
Speaker 3: perfect in any role that they that they would need me.
5:36
Speaker 3: And now I've gotten my feet wet coming out of
5:39
Speaker 3: the bullpen, so I feel like that role would suit
5:41
Speaker 3: me too.
5:43
Speaker 1: Gordon, we saw a thread on Twitter here, I'll pull
5:47
Speaker 1: it up for our YouTube fans. You went to tread
5:50
Speaker 1: over the off season and a big thing about your
5:52
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four campaign, twenty seven games for Memphis, twenty
5:55
Speaker 1: six starts, and of course two appearances in the big leagues.
5:59
Speaker 1: The thing that we talked about a lot last year
6:01
Speaker 1: was consistent below and the belt will fluctuate a lot,
6:04
Speaker 1: and it would it would impact routing. Looks like on
6:07
Speaker 1: this thread, from Drew Hall at shread. They went through
6:10
Speaker 1: your entire off season program and it's really interest I
6:14
Speaker 1: would encourage everyone to go check it out on Twitter.
6:16
Speaker 1: But I was wondering, what was that experience like for
6:18
Speaker 1: you and how did it help you?
6:20
Speaker 2: It was fantastic.
6:21
Speaker 3: I can't I can't thank Drew Hall and my other
6:24
Speaker 3: one of my other coaches there, Matt Martilly, enough for
6:27
Speaker 3: the work that we were able to get done this offseason.
6:30
Speaker 3: But I loved it. I think they helped me a lot.
6:34
Speaker 3: I think it definitely at the same like as it
6:38
Speaker 3: goes going anywhere, Like I really think the people make
6:41
Speaker 3: the place, and like those two guys there, and they
6:45
Speaker 3: instilled a great, great way to kind of get through
6:48
Speaker 3: things and and some some great like great analysis into
6:53
Speaker 3: what I was doing and why I was.
6:56
Speaker 2: Kind of making the mistakes I was and how to
6:58
Speaker 2: fix those mistakes.
7:00
Speaker 3: And the second I got there, kind of everything kind
7:02
Speaker 3: of just clicks and you kind of take it one
7:04
Speaker 3: day at a time. You trust the process, and I
7:06
Speaker 3: mean coming out at the end of it, I couldn't
7:08
Speaker 3: be happier.
7:09
Speaker 1: Did they tell you anything in particular or what did
7:11
Speaker 1: they show you early on that really opened your eyes
7:14
Speaker 1: and to oh, this is something I need to fix.
7:17
Speaker 3: Well, I went through a kind of an analysis into
7:20
Speaker 3: what I was doing at the beginning of last per
7:22
Speaker 3: training and kind of kept it in the back of
7:24
Speaker 3: my head and then knew what I wanted to work
7:26
Speaker 3: on when I showed up there after the season ended,
7:30
Speaker 3: and just kind of the way they broke it down
7:33
Speaker 3: and the different stuff they gave me to improve on it,
7:35
Speaker 3: you could tell that they have like a really good
7:36
Speaker 3: eye for this stuff and how they it's not just
7:40
Speaker 3: it's not really like a guessing game of like, oh,
7:42
Speaker 3: maybe it could be this, maybe it could be this.
7:44
Speaker 3: It was pretty definitive, like this is what you're messing up,
7:47
Speaker 3: and this is how we're going to fix it, and
7:49
Speaker 3: this is how you're going to come out.
7:50
Speaker 2: On the end of it.
7:51
Speaker 3: And they're right, And I really think that I'm gonna
7:55
Speaker 3: be able to hit the ground running this year.
7:58
Speaker 4: Well, don't give it too much credit, brother, Like you're
8:02
Speaker 4: you're a beast. Like I've I was doing some homework.
8:05
Speaker 4: I was doing research on you. You know, you're obviously you've
8:09
Speaker 4: got the frame six four two twenty uh, and then
8:12
Speaker 4: you start really breaking down mechanically, man, you move very well.
8:16
Speaker 4: I'm very impressed with your mechanics. I like the way
8:19
Speaker 4: you deliver the ball. One thing I noticed is maybe
8:23
Speaker 4: you've made some adjustments with your tempo and and how
8:25
Speaker 4: quickly or how patient you are moving down the mound.
8:28
Speaker 4: But I mean the ball just jumps, and you have
8:30
Speaker 4: a very nice three pitch mix, obviously building the foundation
8:34
Speaker 4: off of off your fastball. But I love the profile
8:38
Speaker 4: of of your of your arsenal. You know, Katie mentioned velocity,
8:44
Speaker 4: how much how important you know? Velocity has gained more
8:47
Speaker 4: and more attention over the years, and obviously facilities like
8:50
Speaker 4: tread come into you know, these velocity training programs. What
8:55
Speaker 4: do you think about velocity? How how important is it
8:57
Speaker 4: to you? Or how do you view your strength as
9:00
Speaker 4: a pitcher.
9:01
Speaker 3: You know, first of all, thank you. I appreciate that,
9:04
Speaker 3: and I think velocity is huge. I think the better
9:06
Speaker 3: my fastball is velocity wise, the better the rest of
9:09
Speaker 3: my stuff will be. I mean, if you have to
9:11
Speaker 3: gear up for ninety five plus, it's tough to adjust
9:14
Speaker 3: to a curveballer, slider or change up. And I mean
9:17
Speaker 3: if you have to gear up for ninety two, it's
9:19
Speaker 3: gonna be easier to adjust everything else, like, and I
9:22
Speaker 3: think the harder I'm throwing, the better my fastball is
9:26
Speaker 3: on the vertical break side. So I think one of
9:31
Speaker 3: the big things that we talked about in tred at
9:34
Speaker 3: Tread is if you're throwing ninety five plus and you
9:37
Speaker 3: can put it wherever you want, it doesn't really matter
9:39
Speaker 3: how the fastball is moving, like, just worry about getting
9:42
Speaker 3: that below, being consistent with it and being consistent with
9:44
Speaker 3: your location and your command like that. Those are the
9:47
Speaker 3: big Those are the biggest things that we really talked about,
9:49
Speaker 3: fastball wise. But yeah, I really think I've I've had
9:54
Speaker 3: I've struggled with some inconsistencies in the past, and I
9:57
Speaker 3: really think that came from my mechanics and just how
10:00
Speaker 3: I was moving being inconsistent, and like you mentioned my tempo.
10:04
Speaker 2: Last year, there was times.
10:07
Speaker 3: Where I would be too fast in my delivery and
10:10
Speaker 3: it would kind of my arm woul end up being late.
10:13
Speaker 3: And there was times where I would almost be too
10:15
Speaker 3: slow and I would get stuck and have no momentum
10:17
Speaker 3: going down the mountain. And it was kind of just
10:19
Speaker 3: going into the off season finding that happy medium where
10:21
Speaker 3: everything felt smooth and I felt like myself again.
10:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, even looking at just like still frames, not even video,
10:30
Speaker 4: but just like images of your delivery, especially from twenty
10:34
Speaker 4: twenty one when you first got into the organization to
10:36
Speaker 4: where it's at right now. You just look very well connected,
10:41
Speaker 4: in a good spot to enter into this season. I mean,
10:43
Speaker 4: obviously we're excited about baseball in general, but excited to
10:46
Speaker 4: see what you bring. I imagine at this point you've
10:50
Speaker 4: probably had a few bullpins in camp, maybe a live VP. Well,
10:54
Speaker 4: what are those conversations like, you know, taking that information
10:57
Speaker 4: from the off season with Pajez and Herrera?
11:00
Speaker 2: Uh what what? What?
11:01
Speaker 4: What's what's been the main focus as you kind of
11:04
Speaker 4: gear up and ramp up into these games.
11:06
Speaker 2: Yeah. I've had one pen, one LOTVP so far. The
11:09
Speaker 2: pen was really really good.
11:11
Speaker 3: I had a lot of people behind me watching just
11:13
Speaker 3: being able to give me feedback, and it's been good
11:16
Speaker 3: so far. I felt really good in my bullpen in
11:19
Speaker 3: my live the other day. I would like to get
11:21
Speaker 3: ahead a little bit more, but I was. I was
11:24
Speaker 3: able to fight by fight back into counts, which is good.
11:27
Speaker 3: I was able to throw a lot of breaking stuff
11:29
Speaker 3: for strikes, which is something you're gonna be gonna have
11:31
Speaker 3: to have to do during the year, and but I
11:36
Speaker 3: think by the end of it, I I felt like
11:38
Speaker 3: myself I was I was moving.
11:40
Speaker 2: I think I was.
11:41
Speaker 3: Just moving a little too fast at first, just kind
11:43
Speaker 3: of like a little bit a little bit too geared
11:45
Speaker 3: up and uh and ready to go. Just kind of
11:47
Speaker 3: have to remember to almost take a step back and
11:49
Speaker 3: take a breath and and kind of think more slow
11:53
Speaker 3: and smooth rather than, oh, I gotta get this by
11:55
Speaker 3: I gotta get this by this guy right now and
11:58
Speaker 3: right away. But yeah, I mean, you take everything as
12:01
Speaker 3: you go and it's a learning process and you take
12:05
Speaker 3: in build on it for the next one.
12:07
Speaker 1: Gordon, I definitely want to get into more spring based,
12:09
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13:21
Speaker 1: All right, that was pretty good trying to job, Katie.
13:23
Speaker 1: I'm getting better, you know, just like fishures and catchers.
13:27
Speaker 1: I'm ramping up so by opening day these adreads are
13:30
Speaker 1: going to be like seamless. I'm wanting to get nervous
13:31
Speaker 1: about it, like I totally was before I played it.
13:36
Speaker 1: I'm interested you through one live so small sample size,
13:39
Speaker 1: but between the hitters you faced and some of the
13:42
Speaker 1: other bullpens you've watched. Has anyone really stood out too
13:45
Speaker 1: early in camp?
13:47
Speaker 3: That's a great question. I think Raley O'Brien is a
13:52
Speaker 3: guy that he came in really hot in camp last
13:56
Speaker 3: year and kind of was dealing with some injuries and
14:00
Speaker 3: we got close when it came down to Memphis to
14:02
Speaker 3: rehab last year, and I think he came in just
14:05
Speaker 3: as hot this spring training. He looks really, really, really
14:08
Speaker 3: good right now, throwing hard, sinker's moving like crazy, so
14:13
Speaker 3: I think he's definitely.
14:14
Speaker 2: Got to watch.
14:16
Speaker 1: They've been pretty I mean, again, it's early, but they've
14:19
Speaker 1: been pretty noncommittal day as an Olie Marvel, John Azaylok
14:22
Speaker 1: on roles, I'm sure they have an internal idea of
14:25
Speaker 1: what they'd ideally like things to look like, but for you,
14:27
Speaker 1: it seems like it's a pretty versatile role for you.
14:30
Speaker 1: But I did note or thought it was interesting when
14:32
Speaker 1: I asked all earlier in the week about what the
14:34
Speaker 1: bullpen could look like because it is a wide open competition.
14:37
Speaker 1: Your name was one of the first he brought up.
14:39
Speaker 1: Have they emphasized to what the if there's like an
14:42
Speaker 1: emphasis on relief pitching or starting pitching, or are they
14:45
Speaker 1: keeping you in this mold here of just it can
14:47
Speaker 1: be anything.
14:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's more of a wait and see
14:50
Speaker 2: kind of thing.
14:50
Speaker 3: I think they don't want me to be thinking about
14:53
Speaker 3: one particular role going in the camp and just kind
14:56
Speaker 3: of keeping my focus on the livps and getting hitters out, uh,
15:00
Speaker 3: seeing more, seeing what they have in me once games start.
15:04
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean I'll do anything. I'm I'm ready
15:07
Speaker 3: to compete for this team or to compete for a
15:09
Speaker 3: spot on this team, and I'm ready to go make
15:11
Speaker 3: an impact at the bigger level.
15:13
Speaker 4: Well, this question might give us a little bit of
15:16
Speaker 4: an idea. How many pitches did you throw in your LIVP?
15:20
Speaker 4: How many innings are they telling you to be ready for.
15:22
Speaker 4: What's kind of the build up process here?
15:25
Speaker 2: I threw twenty my first LIVP.
15:28
Speaker 3: It was it actually ended up being like seven hitters
15:30
Speaker 3: because they were everybody was swinging.
15:33
Speaker 2: And then on Wednesday I got another one.
15:35
Speaker 3: It's two innings, it's two ups, so I don't really
15:38
Speaker 3: know how many pitches it'll be, but yeah, definitely definitely
15:42
Speaker 3: build them up for more than one inning.
15:44
Speaker 4: So stretching out a little bit more than one inning
15:47
Speaker 4: so that that it's easier to go backwards than than
15:50
Speaker 4: to try and get stretched out in the middle of
15:52
Speaker 4: the season. So that's always a good tactic. I like
15:55
Speaker 4: really this time of year. Katie and I were talking
15:57
Speaker 4: about this before we started the episode, but but when
16:01
Speaker 4: full squad workouts begin live VP, it feels like like
16:04
Speaker 4: real baseball, and you know here on Cardinal territory talking
16:07
Speaker 4: with Gordon Griseppo. This is another extended insight. And if
16:11
Speaker 4: you're a Cardinal fan and you haven't been to spring training,
16:14
Speaker 4: I highly encourage it because it's such an intimate setting.
16:17
Speaker 4: As a player, it's enjoyable. It's a little bit different
16:22
Speaker 4: interaction that you have with fans in spring training. You
16:25
Speaker 4: get to be a little bit closer and have them
16:28
Speaker 4: see an insight to what's really going on behind the scenes.
16:31
Speaker 4: And that's why I like talking about this, because the
16:34
Speaker 4: average fan really doesn't have an idea of how competitive
16:38
Speaker 4: it is at this point. Like you've been training. We
16:40
Speaker 4: mentioned tread tread is no joke, right, Like, you're coming
16:43
Speaker 4: in there, guys are getting after it. Everybody's working to
16:46
Speaker 4: get better. So by the time you lace up your
16:48
Speaker 4: cleats for the first time at spring training, like you're
16:51
Speaker 4: you're pretty dialed in and ready to go, and so
16:54
Speaker 4: I'm interested to hear from you. We talked about you
16:56
Speaker 4: had your first live VP. We got a little bit
16:58
Speaker 4: of an idea of your mindset. But what would you
17:01
Speaker 4: like Cardinals fans to know about Gordon Gerseppo's mindset going
17:05
Speaker 4: into the twenty twenty five season.
17:09
Speaker 2: Just said, I'm ready to compete. I'm ready, I'm ready
17:11
Speaker 2: to go. I'm ready to I'm ready to be on
17:13
Speaker 2: the on the.
17:14
Speaker 3: Highest stage of baseball and uh and just ready to
17:19
Speaker 3: make an impact for this team. I I think that
17:23
Speaker 3: I could, I could do some real damage at the
17:25
Speaker 3: big league level, and I feel really ready to go.
17:29
Speaker 1: I mean, first, I'll backup Treppor's point, I love this
17:33
Speaker 1: first week of full squad because it's real baseball stuff,
17:37
Speaker 1: like the intricate things that you never get to hear.
17:39
Speaker 1: And if you're a fan that hasn't been a spring training,
17:41
Speaker 1: I know it's all about the games, and I obviously
17:44
Speaker 1: for training games are fun, but go to the backfields.
17:47
Speaker 1: I learned so much on the backfield just for the
17:49
Speaker 1: two weeks that we're there because I can hear the
17:51
Speaker 1: interactions like I can hear what you're saying you know,
17:54
Speaker 1: to Dusty Blake or Julio as you want for your
17:57
Speaker 1: lives and I can see like how the Pitches movie
18:00
Speaker 1: because I'm there next to your bullpen and it's so interesting.
18:03
Speaker 1: But to switch to last year for a second most
18:08
Speaker 1: of the season in Memphis, and it was an up
18:09
Speaker 1: and down year again, we talked about the v LA
18:11
Speaker 1: fluctuation and the command fluctuation. What did you learn in Memphis?
18:15
Speaker 1: I think maybe the hardest thing that you learned in
18:17
Speaker 1: Memphis last year that allowed you to be in the
18:19
Speaker 1: place that you are right now, Like the biggest takeaway.
18:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think last year was probably one of the
18:26
Speaker 3: toughest years in my career so far, just from a
18:29
Speaker 3: mechanical standpoint and being frustrated and thinking that just working
18:34
Speaker 3: as hard as I did over the off season and
18:36
Speaker 3: coming in and just not feeling right. Obviously, I stayed
18:39
Speaker 3: off the AEOL, which was huge. I was able to
18:41
Speaker 3: make pretty much every single start, and I think, I
18:46
Speaker 3: mean obviously made my debut and that's huge, but I
18:50
Speaker 3: feel like there's just so much more in the tank
18:52
Speaker 3: and so much more that I can do for a team.
18:56
Speaker 3: And I mean, if that's if that's my floor, then
18:59
Speaker 3: then uh, we'll see what We'll see what happens. And
19:02
Speaker 3: I think it I think I learned that just you
19:06
Speaker 3: kind of have to regardless of how you feel at
19:08
Speaker 3: the time, you kind of just have to trust yourself
19:09
Speaker 3: and trust your stuff and go out there and compete
19:11
Speaker 3: because you can't be worrying about how you feel or
19:14
Speaker 3: or how your mechanics feel, or how how you look
19:19
Speaker 3: like how the stuff looks coming out. You kind of
19:20
Speaker 3: just have to go out and compete, and it's your
19:22
Speaker 3: verse the hitter. And once I kind of was able
19:26
Speaker 3: to realize that and not think thanks so much, almost
19:30
Speaker 3: I had some more success.
19:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's great.
19:34
Speaker 4: I mean, and it's every level that you move up,
19:37
Speaker 4: it's it's much different, and you've gone through the system
19:39
Speaker 4: rather quickly.
19:41
Speaker 6: I know.
19:41
Speaker 4: In double A it's like, you know, there's a lot
19:44
Speaker 4: of prospects, a lot of potential talent, a lot of
19:46
Speaker 4: young guys that are eager to get out in the
19:49
Speaker 4: field for the first time. In triple A it gets
19:51
Speaker 4: a little bit more polished. But I mean, what was
19:53
Speaker 4: your what was the biggest difference that you saw going
19:56
Speaker 4: from Triple A to the big leagues even.
19:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I triple it.
20:00
Speaker 3: It's really just the Obviously you have the stars that
20:04
Speaker 3: are in the big leagues and the guys that that
20:06
Speaker 3: everybody talks about, everyone wants to watch, But I mean,
20:09
Speaker 3: the brand of baseball.
20:10
Speaker 2: You just have to keep it the same, you can't.
20:13
Speaker 2: I feel like the hardest part.
20:14
Speaker 3: About getting to the big leagues is is kind of
20:16
Speaker 3: getting over the fact that you're in the big leagues.
20:17
Speaker 2: I'm just kind of pretending it's it's the same game.
20:21
Speaker 3: And I think once I kind of realized that and
20:24
Speaker 3: was able to lock in on on what I was
20:26
Speaker 3: doing in the task at hand, I had way more success.
20:30
Speaker 3: And uh, I think just having that little taste last
20:33
Speaker 3: year has prepared me so much for for.
20:35
Speaker 2: What's what's gonna come this year. And I just I
20:40
Speaker 2: just can't wait to get going.
20:41
Speaker 4: I mean you yeah, sorry, Katie. I mean, do you
20:44
Speaker 4: have any specific personal goals? I mean, I know you
20:48
Speaker 4: you have like this this ferocious mindset. You're like, I'm ready,
20:51
Speaker 4: I'm gonna do some damage. Is there anything outside of
20:54
Speaker 4: I love I love that you, you know, you really
20:56
Speaker 4: value being healthy and being able to contribute consistently. You
21:00
Speaker 4: talked about, uh, you know, regardless of the day, the
21:04
Speaker 4: temperature or the way you're feeling. You know, you just
21:06
Speaker 4: have to trust that you've done the work and that
21:08
Speaker 4: you're you know, you're the man for the job. But
21:10
Speaker 4: outside of just that that that tough mentality that you have,
21:14
Speaker 4: are there any like specific personal goals that you've really
21:16
Speaker 4: set and maybe even wrote out on paper for yourself.
21:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, Uh, definitely, make the team out of camp
21:23
Speaker 3: is a is a big one.
21:24
Speaker 2: And just kind of stay there.
21:26
Speaker 3: I mean, it's people say nowadays it's making the debut
21:30
Speaker 3: is the easier part, and kind of staying there is
21:33
Speaker 3: the part that's tough, just because there's so many moving
21:35
Speaker 3: parts and there's so many guys just chomping at the
21:37
Speaker 3: bit ready to go. But yeah, just definitely making the
21:41
Speaker 3: team and staying there is a huge goal of mine
21:43
Speaker 3: and just enjoying the journey. Like not really if I
21:46
Speaker 3: if I don't make the team out of camp, it's
21:47
Speaker 3: not the end of the world. You just you kind
21:49
Speaker 3: of have to you take it one day at a time,
21:50
Speaker 3: and and you show up in Memphis and and you
21:53
Speaker 3: you make that first start, you make that first appearance,
21:55
Speaker 3: and then you take it day by day and you
21:57
Speaker 3: make the next one and whatever happens happens, because stuff
22:00
Speaker 3: always happens down the road, and it's just enjoying that
22:02
Speaker 3: journey and enjoying the ride that makes it that much
22:04
Speaker 3: sweeter once you get there.
22:06
Speaker 1: Gordon, you've we have six weeks to figure out what
22:09
Speaker 1: this Cardinals team is going to look like. But I
22:12
Speaker 1: know veteran rotation aside. We know what sunny Gray looks like.
22:16
Speaker 1: Eric Vetti, Miles, Michael Stephen Matts. We know that. But
22:18
Speaker 1: when you look at your pitching staff as a whole,
22:21
Speaker 1: what's the strength that you think that's maybe flying under
22:24
Speaker 1: the radar this early on.
22:26
Speaker 2: Well, I think we saw last year how good the
22:27
Speaker 2: bullpen really is.
22:29
Speaker 3: And obviously up Hellsley in the back end and he's
22:32
Speaker 3: going to shut the door pretty much every single time.
22:36
Speaker 3: And I just think you let those young guys run
22:39
Speaker 3: in the pen and.
22:40
Speaker 2: And they we can be really really good.
22:43
Speaker 3: I mean this, this bullpen last year was was one
22:45
Speaker 3: of the top opens in baseball. I mean we went
22:48
Speaker 3: over a lot of the stats when we first came
22:49
Speaker 3: into camp, and the walk rate, the walk grate was
22:52
Speaker 3: super low, and the carrate, the Kada walk was really
22:55
Speaker 3: really good, and just how we attack these hitters once.
22:58
Speaker 3: Once these guys come in the game, and we've were
23:00
Speaker 3: really really good last year, and I think we can
23:01
Speaker 3: only build on that this year.
23:04
Speaker 1: Love it saw the bullpen in person for one hundred
23:07
Speaker 1: and fifty plus games last year. It was indeed very good,
23:10
Speaker 1: and I think that will be a key for this
23:11
Speaker 1: Cardinals team again. They won eighty three games last year
23:15
Speaker 1: with a subpar offense, but that bullpen was legit. And
23:18
Speaker 1: I think this internal competition that you all have will
23:21
Speaker 1: bring out the best, right. I mean, you talked about
23:23
Speaker 1: guys like Riley O'Brien. That's Trevor's pick too. He loves
23:25
Speaker 1: Riley O'Brien. You go down the list after Hellsley, Jojo.
23:30
Speaker 1: You never know, like who's going to slide in? Bernandez
23:32
Speaker 1: had a great year, Libi had a great year last year.
23:34
Speaker 1: Now it's your turn, Gordon, and we are excited to
23:36
Speaker 1: see it.
23:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm ready to go. I feel like it's going
23:40
Speaker 3: to be a good year. My body feels good, and
23:44
Speaker 3: my mechanics feel good, and my stuff feels good. So
23:46
Speaker 3: it's just putting it all together and being there for
23:49
Speaker 3: when my name is called.
23:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, Katie, there's a lot of guys to choose from
23:54
Speaker 4: in this bullpen, guys to be excited about. You know, Gordon,
23:58
Speaker 4: he gee here he mentioned O'Brien and that's that's the
24:01
Speaker 4: kind of the same thing I saw. I saw some
24:03
Speaker 4: very insane metrics analytics on his arsenal and I was like, Okay,
24:08
Speaker 4: this guy's an interesting guy to watch, and I know
24:10
Speaker 4: he's had trouble staying on the field, but if we
24:12
Speaker 4: can find a way to get him out there, I
24:13
Speaker 4: know he can make an impact. But you know, Gordon Grisefo,
24:17
Speaker 4: He's no, he's no sham himself. He's gonna be right
24:20
Speaker 4: in the mixed Gordon. So are you still hometown in
24:24
Speaker 4: New Jersey or where are you spending your off season?
24:27
Speaker 3: So I was in Charlotte this entire offseason at Tread.
24:31
Speaker 3: It was my first first off season away from home.
24:34
Speaker 3: But yeah, a lot of guys will kind of stay
24:37
Speaker 3: at home, come into Tread like maybe once a month,
24:39
Speaker 3: kind of get a bullpen in, kind of get get
24:41
Speaker 3: eyes on you. But I decided that if I wanted
24:45
Speaker 3: to do this right and kind of give my career
24:47
Speaker 3: the best shot of being as good as it could be,
24:50
Speaker 3: I wanted to make that commitment and and kind of
24:53
Speaker 3: leave Jersey and move to Charlotte's to be there every day,
24:56
Speaker 3: to be there in person, because I feel like that's
24:57
Speaker 3: how I get the best work done. And it was great.
25:00
Speaker 3: I loved it, and I think I would definitely do
25:04
Speaker 3: it again. It's it's just different every single year what
25:08
Speaker 3: you want to work on and how you feel at
25:10
Speaker 3: the end of the year. So we'll see what happens.
25:13
Speaker 3: But yeah, it was it was great.
25:16
Speaker 4: No, I like that.
25:16
Speaker 2: I like that all in approach.
25:18
Speaker 4: I mean, if you had to pick out on one modality,
25:22
Speaker 4: like one training technique that you really are staying consistent
25:26
Speaker 4: with right now and look to continue into spring training,
25:29
Speaker 4: do you is there one thing that really stood out
25:31
Speaker 4: from your time and tried this offseason.
25:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, we did it for the first time in an
25:36
Speaker 3: offseason pretty much in my career. We did a ton
25:39
Speaker 3: of like constrained plio drills with the weighted balls, and
25:43
Speaker 3: I think that really kind of taught my body and
25:46
Speaker 3: my arm how to move in the right way. And
25:49
Speaker 3: once you kind of hammer in those movements, it makes
25:51
Speaker 3: it almost second nature when you're on the mound. And
25:54
Speaker 3: that's just something that I really really would like to
25:56
Speaker 3: keep going during the year because I think that that's
25:59
Speaker 3: what helps me feel my best going into going into
26:02
Speaker 3: a starter or coming out of the pen. That was
26:06
Speaker 3: one thing that we focused on that I think really
26:09
Speaker 3: really paid off in the end.
26:11
Speaker 1: Gordon, this is great again. We talked all off season
26:14
Speaker 1: about the youth movement and you certainly would be a
26:16
Speaker 1: face in that. I think Cardinals fans have a lot
26:19
Speaker 1: to look forward to when it comes to you. Thank
26:21
Speaker 1: you again for joining the show again. First player interview.
26:24
Speaker 1: You can put that on your baseball reference page. This
26:26
Speaker 1: is a big deal for us, so we're really glad
26:28
Speaker 1: that you took some time out of your very busy
26:30
Speaker 1: day to join us. Thank you so much.
26:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, thank you guys for having me.
26:34
Speaker 1: All right, you know where to find us. We are
26:36
Speaker 1: on Spotify, YouTube, Apple. I don't have the banners ready.
26:40
Speaker 1: I almost was a perfect producer today, so close. I'd
26:43
Speaker 1: give myself like a B plus. We'll be back next week.
26:47
Speaker 1: Lots to get into games are starting, so we'll have
26:50
Speaker 1: some real competition there and again you can find us
26:53
Speaker 1: breaking it down here on Cardinal Territory for Gordon Griseppo
26:56
Speaker 1: and Trevor Rosenhal. I'm Katie Wu talk to you soon.