Cardinals promote top prospect with funky windup to fill bullpen innings vs. Reds

Whenever the Cincinnati Reds take on the Cardinals, there is an added level of urgency and tension. Not only do the Reds need to put together a run soon to keep themselves in contention in the division in general, but the Cardinals are also a division rival that are the sworn mortal enemies of most (all?) Reds fans, and dishing out suffering their way directly feels really nice.

The Cardinals are in a similar boat to the Reds in this series. They are a couple games better in the standings, but the difference is marginal in the grand scheme and they, too, need to make a statement in this set, as well as in general ahead of the trade deadline.

To try and gain an edge of the Reds, the Cardinals are calling up Gordon Graceffo to both beef up their bullpen as well as potentially throw off the Reds with his funky delivery.

Reds News: Cardinals get desperate and call up Gordon Graceffo and his weird delivery

The Cardinals' bullpen can certainly use all the help they can get, as they have been heavily taxed with the team's philosophy of signing starting pitchers down at the Social Security office taking it's toll. Graceffo throws pretty hard, sitting in the mid-90's with the ability for more with his fastball and has a good slider, but he relies on his gimmicky stutter step during his windup to create deception that doesn't really exist with his pitches naturally. Cincinnati will just need to make sure their timing gets adjusted if/when he comes into games. Encountering him in the middle innings rather than at the start presents its own unique challenge.

With this latest show of gamesmanship (and desperation from the Cardinals to try and survive to the All-Star break), the Reds-Cardinals rivalry is in full swing. Cincinnati will be sending one of their offseason acquisitions in Frankie Montas to the mound to start things off against Andre Pallante on Friday. If history is any indication, this series should be a fun one.

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