The Cardinals announced that they have selected right-hander Andre Granillo to their roster and also recalled outfielder Michael Siani. In corresponding moves, they have optioned righty Chris Roycroft and designated outfielder Ryan Vilade for assignment.
Granillo, 25, was selected by the Cardinals in the 14th round of the 2021 draft. Exclusively a reliever, he has climbed the minor league ladder while posting good strikeout numbers and also giving out a high number of walks. He has 233 1/3 minor league innings under his belt to this point, having allowed 3.74 earned runs per nine innings. He has punched out 32.2% of batters faced in that time while also giving out free passes at a 12.7% clip.
It seems he has taken a big step forward in terms of his control this year. He has thrown 29 2/3 innings over 18 appearances with a 1.82 ERA. He has only walked 6.9% of batters faced while still getting punchies at a huge rate of 39.7%. In May of last year, FanGraphs ranked Granillo as the #21 prospect in the system. That report gave the highest praise for his slider, though it also mentioned his changeup and his mid-90s fastball.
With Granillo seemingly taking a big step forward at Triple-A, the Cards will give him a chance to face major league hitters. But that required a 40-man spot, so Vilade will get bumped off. Vilade, 26, signed a minor league deal with the Cards in the offseason. He put up a strong .280/.375/.476 line in 48 Triple-A games and was added to the roster a couple of weeks ago when Jordan Walker landed on the IL.
Unfortunately, Vilade hasn’t been able to do much in his limited big league playing time. He has been sent to the plate 15 times and struck out in five of those trips. He drew two walks but recorded just one hit, a single. He now has a .141/.200/.188 slash in his 71 big league plate appearances for his career.
He will now head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Cards technically could take five days to explore trade interest. Vilade’s major league numbers aren’t good but in a tiny sample. Dating back to the start of 2024, he has a .279/.355/.457 slash and 114 wRC+ in 156 Triple-A contests. He also stole 25 bases in that time while playing the three non-shortstop infield positions and all three outfield slots. Since he still has an option year, perhaps he could appeal to a club looking for extra position player depth.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images
Granillo reads like an exciting arm- 47 Ks while only walking 8 in just under 30 IP makes the sub 2 ERA seem legit.
He pitched 2.2 innings June 12 with no damage recorded. It sure would be nice to have a shutdown reliever to take the place of some who are shuffling.
I don’t understand why Vilade was ever on the 40 man roster anyway. Siani is a redundant piece. Call up Fermin or Prieto. Best of luck Granillo, we need somebody to step up.
Siani has been hitting well at triple a and victor has looked lost for weeks now. The last thing they need is another infielder to ride the bench. Saggese would get the call before those two anyways and they clearly don’t see a path for at bats for him in STL
I agree with you about the useless call up of Vilade over players like Sagasse, Siani, and others.
Vilade are type of players Mozeliak is calling up and making Marmol play them.
Why?? I don’t know!!! John Mozeliak is not going to one single thing positive to help the Cardinals be successful in 2025.
Anyone else —- in their last season —- would want to make quality moves to leave the club in better shape when he left than when he first was hired by the club.
Owners!!! At least turn the Cardinals over to Bloom after the All-Star game!!!
Mozeliak is the one who’s torn the Cardinals down. He could care less if the club improves or not in 2025!! He’s as much as said so!!!
Let a fresher mind —- with new ideas and philosophies rebuild the club in a positive manner. That positive reflection will bleed over to the players.
They called him up bc of walkers injury. Should of called up koperniak instead of him though
Koperniak is not having a good year but I too think he should have been called up. If he is going to stumble then let it be in the Bigs so he can say least gain experience. IMO
Seems like Vilade has SOME defensive value, but he sure looked lost at the plate.
As a bench player, Vilade can play both the outfield and infield, whereas Siani, Prieto, and Fermin aren’t as versatile in addition to not being good hitters.
Vilade was worth a look IMHO, but I think we all saw he wasn’t going to make an impact yet, if ever.
Fermin was told he was going to make the team out of Spring Training, then they changed their minds at the 11th hour. He has played well at Memphis and deserved to get the first call when a RH bench bat was needed. He also has the ability to play SS. At some point, the Cardinals are going to need to give Winn a day off and with Donovan banged up that might not be a good option.
I don’t understand why they traded for Prieto if they never intended to give him a look. They know what they have in Siani and there is still no clear path to playing time for him. I love the guy, but he is better off staying at Memphis until one of the LH hitting outfielders gets hurt.
The problem is the team needs a right handed hitting outfielder and it doesn’t have enough of them.
Siani is a decent player he can absolutely be a 4th outfielder but with him and Scott both hitting from the left side it doesn’t work. But heck Siani could be better than Scott it wouldn’t surprise me if that was the case long term. I think Scott is better but it wouldn’t surprise me.
Team needs another right handed hitting outfielder. At least 1 maybe 2.
Check out the Memphis roster.All the outfielders hit from the left side.A system set up to feed the big league teams should not be managed that way.
Hopefully Granillo isn’t the next rick ankiel pitching wise. Best of luck Granillo
Huh? No one will ever be the next Rick Ankiel. He was one of a kind power lefty with a wicked curve.
Villade had a hit. Save that ball my man.
Ryan Villade = really good hair!
Somebody will pick him up. Pirates,Brewers etc
If Siani is going to hit as he has in AAA Memphis, then by all means bring him up. But if he is going to hit like he did last year in the Major Leagues, then ,”No Thanks”.
Granillo looks good on paper, so I’m happy he gets a turn since the pitching has not up to par in the past few games.
In my Opinion only.
Siani came on a lot over the course of last year and actually showed some semblance of being a hitter and occasionally going the other way. Was probably Turner Ward’s only positive last year.
He was called up because the need help against LH pitching. Siani is on the 40 man but doesn’t hit LH pitching well. Prieto isn’t on the 40 man Kopreniek isn’t hitting well at AAA. I would of rather seen Sagasse.
Hopefully Granillo can replace Roycroft on the mound for good. Roycroft is just simply not a major league pitcher. Replace Munoz with Matzek and hope he is healthy. Just waiting for Leahy’s arm to explode. He stunk it up every rung of the ladder moving up mostly starting. Hoping he is a smart guy who figured it out mentally and with coaching rather than just giving it 110% until the injury eventually happens.
Good luck
Cardinals have good team – I expect them to be there in September with the Cubs and the Brewers.
None of it matters. The Cardinals are turning back into pumpkins.
5 losses in a row is definitely pumpkin material.
By my count Gorman has screwed up at least two easy plays, where he should have caught the ball or at least stopped it from going into the outfield , thank god we still have Arenado , hate to think how bad he would be at third, Cards need to trade him now, his value is going to do nothing but go down.