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Cardinals' Reliever Changed Grip on his Slider, Dramatically Changed Trajectory of his 2026 Season
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- Cardinals' Reliever Changed Grip on his Slider, Dramatically Changed Trajectory of his 2026 Season
Roundtable Sports' John Denton details the grip changes that Cardinals ' reliever Gordon Graceffo made to his slider and how that improved pitch dramatically changed the trajectory of his 2026 season and possibly his MLB career.
With one simple grip change on his slider, St. LouisCardinals' reliever Gordon Graceffo finally found the downward movement he hadbeen seeking for years, and he simultaneously launched his career into adramatically upward trajectory.
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The second half of the season was an ugly one for theCardinals with them following a 50-45 run before the MLB All-Star Game with adisappointing 27-40 stretch, one that included nine losses in the last 11games.
However, the opposite was the case for Graceffo, who struckout dramatically more batters in the second half of the season (39) as thefirst half (24) while making fewer appearances (23 compared to 39). The gripchanges on the slider came in early July – following a three-day demotion to Triple-AMemphis – and he got almost immediate feedback from hitters who routinely swungover the pitch thinking it was a fastball and then snapping their heads aroundto glare out at the 26-year-old right-handed. After striking out just threehitters all of June, Graceffo piled up 17 punchouts in July, 11 in August and 18more in September.
"The changes have been really good and so helpful for me,"Graceffo admitted late in the season at Busch Stadium before the Cardinalsfinal two home games. "The slider just pairs really well with my other stuffand it looks a lot like my fastball, which is something that is always going tomake it play better against hitters. It also helps that I can throw (the slider)in the (strike) zone and underneath it when I need to."
That hard-biting slider helped Graceffo put up career-best numbersout of the Cardinals' bullpen in 2026. He went 8-2 with a 2.67 ERA, seven holdsand a save over 62 appearances. More importantly, he trimmed the battingaverage against him to .190 – significantly better than the .250 and .286 hesurrendered in his first two seasons in the big leagues. Also, there's this:After striking out 17 batters in March, April, May and June, Graceffo punchedout 46 over July, August and September with his new-and-improved slider.
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An impromptu meeting between Graceffo and Cardinals'pitching coach Dusty Blake, bullpen coach Julio Rangel and assistant pitchingcoach Kyle Driscoll – also a New Jersey native like Graceffo – to discuss the wayshe could improve his slider. Their hope was to find a "tunneling" pitch that lookedlike a fastball out of the hand but then dipped precipitously to elicit more swingand miss. After some trial and error, Graceffo liked what he saw and he likedseeing hitters baffled by the pitch.
"We went over a few grips, and we talked about what mightwork and I just worked with all three of them to get the shape that I wantedand I just kept throwing it," said Graceffo, who threw his slider 18.3 percentof the time after almost abandoning the pitch all together in 2025 (4 percentusage), per Baseball Savant.
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Almost instantly, the pitcher who struck out just threehitters in June, had games with four, four, four, six, three and threestrikeouts. The six-strikeout performance came at Dodgers Stadium on Sept. 2and six days later he saw how the newfound swing-and-miss stuff could help himescape jams.
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With two on nobody out in the seventh inning of a 2-1 gameat San Francisco 's Oracle Park, Graceffo struck out superstar Rafael Devers and6-foot-7 slugger Bryce Eldridge and got Jung Hoo Lee to line out. After showingDevers two sliders below the zone, he got him to chase an elevated fastball. Withthe count at 2-2 on Eldridge, Graceffo snapped off a low slider that got a swingand miss for another punchout. Against Lee, Graceffo playfully alternatedthrowing fastballs and sliders to keep the contact specialist guessing. Cardinals'manager Oliver Marmol liked the chemistry between Graceffo and rookie catcherLeo Bernal, and them understanding when to throw the slider.
"For (Graceffo) to be able to sneak in (sliders) and dowhat he did (against Devers and Eldridge) there, that was pretty good," Marmolsaid.
Could the rapidly improving Graceffo see his role with the Cardinalsexpand in 2027? Could they move him back to a starting role? Or could he getsome of the high-leverage save opportunities that All-Star closer Riley O'Brienstruggled with down the stretch?
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"(Starting) would be cool, but it's not up to me," Graceffosaid. "I wish (the decision) was, but I like being in the bullpen and theadrenaline kick you get when your name is called. And I like hanging out withthose (relievers). But I'll do whatever they need me to do."
