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The Cardinals surely got more than they expected from Graceffo in his first start since being moved to the pen in Triple-A early last year. He hadn’t pitched more than 2 1/3 innings in any of his 52 appearances this year, but he needed just 38 pitches to get nine outs today. In spite of his success, he’ll probably head back to the pen and make an appearance against the Pirates this weekend.

It’ll be a bullpen game. Newly-called up Cade Winquest may have the best chance for a bulk role, but that’s not exactly an endorsement of chasing a win with him.

Graceffo returns to the big leagues with rookie reliever Max Rajcic hitting the shelf with an elbow injury. The 26-year-old has delivered a respectable 3.35 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 18/19 K/BB ratio across 40 1/3 innings across 35 appearances at the highest level this season. He’ll continue operating in low-leverage spots for the Cardinals.

Seems like an odd send down as Graceffo had a 3.35 ERA in 35 games (40 1/3 innings pitched) for the Cardinals so far this year, even if the 18:19 K/BB ratio isn’t ideal. He’ll probably be back in a few days, but the Cardinals needed the roster spot with Ryne Stanek off the paternity list.

Graceffo will take the roster spot of Matt Pushard, with Pushard heading to the injured list with knee tendinitis. The 26-year-old will be a multi-inning option in the St. Louis bullpen in this current stint.

Graceffo has made the conversion to a full-time relief role this spring and looked sharp in a handful of Grapefruit League appearances. The 26-year-old will open the regular season back in the minors but should factor into the Cardinals’ relief mix at some point.

Graceffo averaged 97.6 mph with his fastball today. He was at 95.7 mph last year in his first stint as a full-time reliever, which was already a nice improvement over his time in the rotation. Graceffo probably won’t be in the closing mix for the Cardinals initially, but he might turn into a factor there in time.

At the Cardinals’ Winter Warm-Up, Graceffo mentioned that he will be moving to the bullpen full-time and has been focusing on being more intentional with his attack plan since he no longer needs to plan for five or more innings of work. One of those changes has been adding a kick-change that will help make him less fastball-dominant. It will be interesting to see how the new role and pitch impact his success. Graceffo is just 25 years old and the Cardinals don’t have many established starting options, so there’s a chance he could pitch himself back into the rotation.