Overview:
A pitch to the nose can’t bench James McCann, but even a pitching gem can’t keep Michael McGreevy on the mound in St. Louis
Athletes are trained to keep their nose to the grindstone.
But what if that nose just got broken?
Goleta native James McCann kept plugging away for the Baltimore Orioles despite getting plunked in the schnoz by a 94.6 mph fastball during the first inning of their July 29 baseball game against Toronto.
He got both nostrils plugged with gauze to stop the bleeding and played on in the 11-5 victory over the Blue Jays.
But former UC Santa Barbara pitcher Michael McGreevy felt an altogether different pain when he learned he wouldn’t keep playing for the St. Louis Cardinals … at least for now.
The club sent him back to the minor leagues the day after a stellar Major League debut in which he pitched seven innings of a 10-1 victory over Texas.
As Yogi Berra once said, “Take it with a grin of salt.”
Nose for the Game
McCann, a 2008 graduate of Dos Pueblos High School, bled from both the nose and mouth after getting hit in the face by a pitch from Toronto rookie Yariel Rodríguez during the first game of a doubleheader in Baltimore.
“The blood wasn’t stopping,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters after the game. “Just a really, really scary scene.
“He is incredibly, incredibly tough.”
McCann received treatment on the field from trainer Brian Ebel before heading into the team’s clubhouse … but only to change out of his bloodied jersey.
“I felt like if I could get the blood to stop flowing then I could stay in the game, and that was what I was able to do,” he said.
Toronto’s change of pitchers gave him enough time to switch uniforms and return to first base as a runner.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider was just happy to see him upright and alert.
“I’m really, really thankful that James is OK,” he said. “That’s just life stuff — he’s a father and a husband. You hate seeing that.
“I can’t believe he stayed in the game. I think everyone around the league probably respects him even more than they did already.”
McCann said it was “more scary than anything.”
“It’s like taking a pretty good punch … a pretty good right hook, I guess,” he said. “Now, it’s just the swelling that’s kind of set in and hard to see a little bit.
“I take pride in staying tough, doing what I can to stay on the field.”
The fans at Camden Yards gave him a standing ovation when he returned as a baserunner and another when he took his next at-bat in the third inning.
McCann singled and scored a run in the fifth despite dealing with a swollen left eye. He also caught Zach Eflin’s first pitching win as an Oriole.
“What a leader James McCann is,” said Eflin, who was obtained in a trade with Tampa Bay just three days earlier. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that on a baseball field.
“I just became his No. 1 fan. To be able to go through that and stay in the game, show the grit and determination he has … It’s inspiring.”
A CT scan later showed that McCann had suffered several fractures in his nose. That prompted the Orioles to recall catcher Blake Hunt from their Triple-A farm club at Norfolk.
But they optioned him back to the minors the next day when McCann stuck his nose back into the fray.
He belted a double off the centerfield fence to help beat Toronto again.
One and Done
McGreevy, the Cardinals’ first-round pick in the 2021 MLB draft, learned that he would be the starting pitcher for their July 31 home game against Toronto while on a road trip to Durham, North Carolina, with their Triple-A farm club.
He’d struggled for the Memphis Redbirds during the first two months of this season.
His earned-run average rose to 5.81 after he gave up nine runs in a May 29 loss to Nashville.
McGreevy found his groove after that, posting an ERA of 2.94 in nine starts over the following two months.
But he still braced for the worst when Memphis manager Ben Johnson called him just before the MLB trade deadline of July 30.
McGreevy turned to teammate Connor Thomas before answering his phone and said, “Well, I just got traded.”
But Johnson stunned him with some different news.
“You’re going to the bigs!” he declared.
McGreevy had to scramble to get his gear from the visiting clubhouse at the Durham Bulls’ Athletic Park and catch the next flight to St. Louis.
Family and friends in Southern California, meanwhile, also had to hustle to get to Busch Stadium in time for McGreevy’s debut.
His 15-member entourage included parents Wendy and Steve, brother Matthew, grandmothers Judy and Nancy, uncles, his girlfriend, and several friends and former coaches.
They cheered on the former Gaucho to his first MLB victory. McGreevy allowed just five hits, one walk and one run while striking out three in seven innings of a 10-1 victory.
“My parents have sacrificed to help me get here, get me opportunities to get here,” he said. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better.
“This is exactly what I’ve been dreaming of since I was little, exactly what I’ve been training for.
“You don’t train for college baseball. You don’t train to be in the minor leagues. You train to be here.”
McGreevy went to the stands to celebrate with family and friends while dripping wet from an ice-water shower administered by his new teammates.
But those Cardinals didn’t wait long to also call him the clubhouse for a ride in their own special welcome wagon: McGreevy was loaded into a laundry basket and rolled through the shower room while getting lathered up with everything from mayonnaise to shaving cream.
Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol heaped praise on McGreevy for keeping the Blue Jays at bay with an array of six pitches.
A sharp sinker was most responsible for getting 12 of his 21 outs on ground balls.
“Oh man, that was awesome to watch,” Marmol told reporters. “Probably the most impressive thing was how much he was in control.
“You wouldn’t have thought it was his first time out there on a big-league field.”
But McGreevy must now wait for his second time.
The MLB trade deadline impacted him, after all, with the Cardinals dealing for pitchers Erick Fedde and Shawn Armstrong.
They cleared room for them on the 26-man roster by returning McGreevy to Memphis on Thursday.
But at least Marmol sent him off with some encouraging words:
“He was exactly what was needed, especially with what the offense did,” he said. “To be able to give us seven and hit the refresh button for that ’pen was amazing.”
McGreevy also could commiserate with his former Gaucho catcher.
Eric Yang, the 2019 Big West Conference Player of the Year, was sent back to Triple-A Louisville by the Cincinnati Reds when catcher Luke Maile returned from the injured list on Friday.
Yang made his big-league debut the same day as McGreevy, although it was briefer and less satisfying: He struck out swinging after taking Chicago Cubs reliever Porter Hodge to a full count in a pinch-hit appearance.
Season-ending injuries to Cleveland ace Shane Bieber and Arizona reliever Kyle Nelson, and Baltimore’s demotion of reliever Dillon Tate to its Triple-A farm club, leave just one former Gaucho in the Major Leagues:
Pitcher Noah Davis came through the revolving door of professional baseball when the Colorado Rockies recalled him from Triple-A Albuquerque on July 22.
It’s like Yogi Berra once said: “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”
