Gordon Graceffo, a 2018 Cranford High School graduate who went on to excel at Villanova University, was recently called up to the St. Louis Cardinals to bolster their bullpen.
One day in April of 2016 he’s on the mound at Memorial Field, making his first varsity start as the defending champion Cougars begin their quest for another Union County Tournament title.
Then one day in June of 2024 he enters a game, some 930 miles from his hometown of Cranford, to get the final out of an inning as a new member of the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen.
Gordon Graceffo, a 2018 Cranford High School graduate who went on to excel collegiately at Villanova University, went from mowing down batters in the Oratory Prep lineup to performing the same task against the Cincinnati Reds eight years later.
Dreams certainly can come true.
Graceffo, 24 and born on the first St. Patrick’s Day of this century, was just called up to the Cardinals to help provide support to a bullpen that was in need.
Graceffo’s first major league appearance on Saturday, June 29, 2024 saw him close out a game by pitching the final four and one-third third innings of a 9-4 St. Louis setback. Although the Cardinals lost, falling to 42-40 on the season, Graceffo was outstanding to say the least.
Graceffo’s first-ever MLB line included the right hander pitching four and one-third innings, allowing just one run, earned, on three hits, while striking out four and walking only two. His first earned-run average at the end of his initial MLP appearance read an eye-soothing 2.08.
Graceffo retired the first batter he faced, a red-hot Jonathan India, on a ground-out to third base to end the top of the fifth. Graceffo then struck out the next batter he faced, Elly De La Cruz leading off the top of the sixth, for his first-ever major league strikeout.
He got De La Cruz swinging.
In retiring India, Graceffo said “they had all the scouting reports ready for us,” as he faced a batter that was hitting an impressive .513 in his previous 45 at-bats.
Before Graceffo retired India with a runner on second to prevent the Reds from scoring a seventh run in the inning, he admitted that he didn’t feel his legs running from the bullpen and that he didn’t hear anything – cheering or music.
What Graceffo, who produced a 17-10 three-year varsity record at Cranford, was able to do was focus when the moment mattered most.
“Awesome. We needed it, right?” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said. “That’s why he’s here, to pick up innings like the ones he did and help us stay away from the rest of our bullpen, to keep the guys fresh for tomorrow. To be quite honest we’re on fumes.”
With his family in attendance, Gordon Joseph Graceffo (6-4, 220), who was born in Wayne, NJ, became the – according to baseball-reference.com – 23,256th player in major league history.
The two walks Graceffo issued came on the very next two batters he faced after he recorded his first strikeout. However, he got the next two batters on a strikeout and groundout to prevent the Reds from adding to their already big 8-1 advantage.
“He was able to stay in the moment and kind of regroup, not let anything speed him up, which is good to see,” Marmol said. “You want to see how he reacts to those types of situations. I thought he handled it extremely well.”
India did get Graceffo for an RBI-double in the seventh, which was the only run Graceffo allowed on the day.
Graceffo, who is now donning No. 67, even made history of sorts. In his first big league appearance he produced the longest relief appearance by any Cardinals pitcher this season. It was also the longest relief appearance in a debut for a Cardinals pitcher since John Martin hurled seven innings in relief against the Houston Astros on Aug. 27, 1980.
A fifth-round pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, Graceffo threw 67 pitches, 44 for strikes. He also managed a nifty feat of 11 swings-and-misses.
“I try not to look at stats,” Graceffo said. “Anything I’m working on, I try and let the hitter tell me if it’s working or not. That’s the biggest test. I try not to dwell too much on the numbers.”
Starting pitcher Sonny Gray, who took the loss, had this to say about Graceffo’s big league debut: “that was big for us. What he did put us in a position have some fresh arms for tomorrow and come out of here with a split.”
It worked. St. Louis bounced back the next day on Sunday, June 30 to beat the Reds 2-0. Four Cardinal pitchers combined for a two-hit shutout. Starter and winner Lance Lynn hurled the first six and one-third innings.
St. Louis was more than thrilled with Graceffo’s most recent minor league numbers, which was also a big reason for the call-up. Graceffo was a starter at Triple-A Memphis and aside from a couple of hiccup starts, had been solid over the past two months.
Graceffo had back-to-back seven-inning starts in May with only one run allowed and he had a 2.05 ERA in his final four starts before getting the call to the Majors.
“Gordon is a product of hard work and is someone who has worked very hard to get to this point in his career,” said present Cranford head coach Dennis McCaffery, who also starred at Villanova following a standout career at Roselle Park High School and who was selected in the MLB Draft by the California Angels.
Overall, Graceffo had a 3.84 ERA in 14 starts for Memphis, an improvement over his 2023 showing at the same level, when he had a 4.92 ERA in 21 games, 18 of them starts.
“Gordon has the ability to throw three pitches for strikes,” McCaffery said. “He’s a very intelligent person who has an incredible work ethic.”
Here Graceffo expands a bit more on his first major league experience: “it’s about trusting the process, getting more comfortable with my mechanics every day. I’m just trying to stay consistent and trying not to think about coming up here and the next step. I’m just trying to stay within myself and take it one day at a time.”
Those quotes sound similar to the ones he said to this reporter when I interviewed him eight years ago after he beat Oratory Prep at home by an 8-3 score in a first round UCT assignment at Cranford’s Memorial Field.
Graceffo’s goal in his first varsity start, age 16, was to simply put the ball over the plate. Graceffo conquered that challenge on a consistent basis to help the Cougars advance in UCT play.
Graceffo retired the first six batters he faced and eight of the first nine. He allowed just one run on three hits in six complete innings, while striking out eight and walking only one.
“I was spotting my fastball and just trying to throw strikes,” said Graceffo, who previously pitched in relief before making his first varsity start here and as a result started with a pitching record of 1-0. “I also used my curve a lot and my slider.”
At the time Cranford won its third straight to improve to 8-4.
Here’s how McCaffery saw the performance: “he had a good fastball and off-speed pitch.”
Graceffo allowed only two baserunners in the third, one in the fourth, one on an error in the fifth and just one on a walk in the sixth. “He threw the ball well and put forth a good effort,” McCaffery said.
Although Cranford did not go on to win another UCT title that season, Gov. Livingston won it for the first time, the Cougars did go on to win the North 2, Group 3 sectional state championship for like the millionth time in the last million years.
McCaffery also handed Graceffo the ball in the North 2, Group 3 championship game at Bridgewater against Somerville and, once again, Graceffo didn’t disappoint.
Graceffo tossed a two-hit, complete-game shutout to lead Cranford to a 2-0 victory. The Cougars scored the game’s only runs in the top of the seventh.
Graceffo struck out four and did not walk a single batter.
Although Cranford fell in the Group 3 semifinals to finish 2016 with an 18-11 record, McCaffery had a pitcher the Cougars could count on to come through for them for two more years and Graceffo did.
At the moment it seems like Marmol has another relief pitcher in his St. Louis Cardinals bullpen that he can count on for the time being and hopefully more.
That pitcher is Cranford native Gordon Joseph Graceffo.