The Athletic's Katie Woo reports that the St. Louis Cardinals are calling up right-handed pitching prospect Gordon Graceffo, and he will operate out of the bullpen. Graceffo is back with the major-league club after allowing just one earned run while walking none and striking out five in five innings for his first big-league win in an outstanding spot start last Wednesday against the Cincinnati Reds. The 25-year-old former fifth-rounder in 2021 out of Villanova is the team's No. 16 prospect, per MLB Pipeline. Graceffo hasn't been quite as good on the farm in four starts (17 1/3 innings) for Triple-A Memphis, though, as he's sporting a 5.71 ERA ad 1.09 WHIP with 16 strikeouts and five walks. For the time being, Graceffo will pitch in a long-relief role out of St. Louis' bullpen, which won't give him any real fantasy appeal in redraft leagues.

St. Louis Cardinals pitching prospect Gordon Graceffo logged six innings of one-run ball on Wednesday against Triple-A Norfolk. In this outing, Graceffo allowed just two hits and served up one free pass. He struck out one. This was another strong outing for Graceffo as he allowed two runs across five innings of work in his previous start. Before this stretch, Graceffo allowed eight runs and eight hits over his first two starts of the Triple-A season. The No. 16-ranked prospect in the St. Louis system had a brief eight-inning stint in the majors earlier this season but struggled as he allowed seven runs and 10 hits. Fantasy managers should expect Graceffo to be in the mix to return to St. Louis if he continues to turn the corner at the top level of the minor leagues. However, when he does get the call, he may be deployed exclusively out of the bullpen.