Cardinals Notes: Pushard, Graceffo, Soriano
The Cardinals finalized their 13-man pitching staff today by filling out their last few bullpen spots. Per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, relievers Chris Roycroft, George Soriano, and Matt Pushard have all been informed that they’ve made the team.
The selection of Pushard is arguably the most notable of the three. St. Louis selected him out of the Marlins organization in the Rule 5 Draft back in December. In order to keep Pushard’s rights, the Cardinals would need to keep him on the active roster or major-league injured list for the entire 2026 season, without optioning him to the minors. Otherwise, he would need to be placed on waivers and potentially offered back to the Marlins.
Pushard was originally signed by the Marlins as an undrafted free agent in 2022. He reached the Double-A level in 2023, then Triple-A in 2024 as a 26-year-old. In 62 1/3 innings at that level in 2025, Pushard carried a 3.61 ERA along with a 28.5% strikeout rate and a 9.0% walk rate. He has always kept the ball in the yard and allowed just 0.43 home runs per nine innings last year. The strikeouts and walks were mostly there during his seven Spring Training appearances, although he allowed two home runs in 6 2/3 innings.
Ultimately, Pushard’s minor league track record and intriguing pitch mix were enough for the Cardinals to take a flier on him. The 6’4″ righty added a mile and a half to his four-seam fastball in 2025, averaging 95.0 MPH with the pitch. He also added velocity to his slider and curveball and increased his usage of both pitches, throwing them a combined 51.1% of the time.
Pushard will be slotting into the multi-inning role previously held by Gordon Graceffo. The righty was optioned to Triple-A following Saturday’s spring game. “[We want Graceffo to] continue to build up,” manager Oli Marmol told reporters, including Bill Ladson of MLB.com. “If he is going to help us, he is going [to pitch multiple innings]. Being able to do that is going to be important.”
Graceffo briefly debuted with the Cardinals in 2024. He was up and down with the club this past season, ultimately compiling 43 innings across 26 appearances. Graceffo struggled to a 6.28 ERA, though a .353 BABIP was likely to blame. The right-hander had a sub-4.00 xFIP and SIERA. Graceffo struck out nearly a batter per inning while posting a tidy 6.7% walk rate. He was one of nine Cardinals’ relievers to earn a save in 2025.
Soriano was acquired from the Nationals straight up for fellow reliever Andre Granillo. St. Louis is his fourth organization of the offseason. The right-hander bounced between the Marlins, Braves, and Nats after a series of waiver claims and designations. He’s now found a home on the Cardinals, where he’ll look to improve on his 5.95 ERA in the big leagues.
A dazzling Spring Training likely played a role in Soriano earning a job. The fact that he’s out of options might’ve also helped. The soon-to-be 27-year-old tossed seven scoreless innings with a 34.6% strikeout rate this spring. “The stuff coming out of the hand is impressive,” Marmol said. “He did a lot of things well.”
Roycroft made his debut in 2024. He contributed 34 1/3 innings of a 4.19 ERA that season. The righty spent another partial season in St. Louis this past year, though the results waned. Roycroft’s ERA ballooned to 7.84 in 20 games. He posted his second straight season with a walk rate above 11%, while taking a step back in the strikeout department. Roycroft punched out hitters at a 14.9% clip in 2025, after notching a 21.3% mark in his first MLB campaign.
Goold relayed that Roycroft spent time this offseason working on recovering the arm slot and pitch movement that he had as a rookie. The spring results suggest the time in the lab paid off. Roycroft tossed seven scoreless frames, walking just one.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Cardinals Designate Ryan Vilade For Assignment, Select Andre Granillo
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
Cardinals Outright Alfonso Rivas
May 23: Rivas cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Memphis, the Cardinals announced. He’ll remain with the organization.
May 20: The Cardinals announced Monday that they’ve designated first baseman/outfielder Alfonso Rivas for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to right-hander Ryan Loutos, whose previously reported selection to the MLB roster has now been confirmed by the club. Righty Chris Roycroft was optioned to Triple-A Memphis to open space for Loutos on the active roster.
Rivas was claimed off waivers out of the Angels organization back in January. The 27-year-old has continued to show his typical keen eye at the plate in Memphis this season, walking at a hearty 12.8% rate, but he hasn’t hit for his usual average or power. Overall, he’s batting just .246/.364/.323 in 158 plate appearances with the Redbirds.
The well-traveled Rivas played sparingly in the majors each year from 2021-23, spending time with the Cubs, Pirates and Padres. He’s a .243/.324/.349 hitter in 459 big league plate appearances to this point in his career.
Tepid as his output in Memphis has been, Rivas entered the season with a lifetime .313/.424/.492 batting line in parts of four Triple-A seasons. He’s walked in nearly 15% of his plate appearances across five campaigns at the Triple-A level, and while he’s more of a gap hitter than true slugger — 48 doubles to just 15 homers in nearly 800 Triple-A plate appearances — he’s nevertheless been quite productive there outside this season.
Rivas has primarily been a first baseman in the minors but has a few hundred innings of corner outfield experience as a professional. He’s in the final of three minor league option seasons and is still two seasons shy of even reaching arbitration eligibility. A club looking for a left-handed bat with strong on-base skills could potentially take a look. Rivas has been designated for assignment three prior times in his career but has never made it through waivers, so MLB clubs are clearly intrigued by his bat — even if he hasn’t yet been all that productive in the majors.
The Cardinals will have a week to trade Rivas or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. If they can succeed in getting him through waivers, they can keep him in the organization without needing to dedicate a 40-man roster spot to him. Rivas has neither the MLB service time nor the prior outright assignment required to reject an outright to the minors after going unclaimed on waivers.
Cardinals Select Chris Roycroft
The Cardinals announced that they have selected right-hander Chris Roycroft to the roster. In corresponding moves, they placed righty Giovanny Gallegos on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder impingement and transferred infielder/outfielder Tommy Edman to the 60-day IL. Roycroft’s promotion was hinted at earlier by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Roycroft, 27 next month, graduated from Aurora University in 2019. The 6-foot-8 righty pitched for the Joliet Slammers of the independent Frontier League in 2021 and 2022, but signed with the Cardinals midway through the latter campaign.
He reported to Single-A and tossed 32 innings in 2022, with a 4.50 earned run average. Last year, he went through Single-A and Double-A and Triple-A with a 5.86 ERA. His 21.8% strikeout rate and 13.9% walk rate were both subpar, but he generated ground balls on about half of balls in play.
This year, he has continued to keep the ball on the ground. He has logged 13 innings over 11 Triple-A appearances so far in 2024. His 16.7% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate are again not great, but 67.6% of balls in play have been pounded into the dirt. That’s helped him post a 1.38 so far this season. He won’t be able to maintain a .237 batting average on balls in play nor a 95.9% strand rate, but the Cards are encouraged by the results nonetheless.
The Cards did a sort of bullpen game yesterday, with Steven Matz recently landing on the IL. Matthew Liberatore took the start but isn’t fully stretched out since he’s been working out of the bullpen this year. He threw 3 2/3 innings but the club then used four other relievers to get through the game. Three of those threw more than an inning and the other was Gallegos, who is now hurt. Roycroft will give the team a fresh bullpen arm and will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.
As for Edman, he underwent arthroscopic wrist surgery in October and was still experiencing pain in Spring Training, forcing him to start the season on the injured list. He’ll now be ineligible to be activated until 60 days from his initial IL placement, which was backdated to three days before Opening Day. In other words, he could rejoin the Cards in late May if he’s healthy by then. He still hasn’t yet begun a rehab assignment, so it doesn’t seem like he has a strong chance of being ready by then, which allowed the Cards to use his roster spot on Roycroft.