JUPITER, Fla. (AP) - Newly re-acquired St. Louis Cardinals closer Luke Gregerson sat on a stool in front of his spring training locker reflecting on his first major league spring training experience more than a decade ago.
He didn't record a save. He didn't even throw a pitch.
As a minor league call-up for the day, Cardinals coaches summoned Gregerson from the bullpen in the ninth inning to pinch-run for catcher Yadier Molina.
"The ball got hit, I ran halfway to third, game was over. I was like, What's going on?" Gregerson said.
For the 33-year-old Gregerson, who reported with Cardinals pitchers and catchers Tuesday, the location is familiar but the surroundings are a little different.
Tuesday marked the first time Gregerson entered the Cardinals' major league clubhouse since he was a member of the Class A Palm Beach Cardinals, who use Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium as their home ballpark in Florida State League play once the big league club heads north.
St. Louis traded the right-hander, then still a minor leaguer, to San Diego in 2009 to complete the previous year's deal for shortstop Khalil Greene.
A nine-year major leaguer, Gregerson spent the past three seasons in Houston, with 2017 being the most memorable.
It began with Gregerson saving three games for United States in the World Baseball Classic and ended with five scoreless playoff outings for the Astros. Gregerson and third baseman Alex Bregman became the only two Americans ever to win the WBC and the World Series in the same year.
"It was special, it was fun, it was exhausting, it was a mental run," said Gregerson. "At the end of it, that's why you go through those struggles. That's why you go through the mental stress. That's why you go through the physical stress, to reach that ultimate spot. So it was worth every second of it and I wouldn't change anything."
Having released the injured Trevor Rosenthal and with Seung-Hwan Oh a free agent, the Cardinals signed Gregerson to help cement the back end of their bullpen. Gregerson insists he wasn't looking for a closer role, and that the club didn't guarantee him the final three outs as part of the wooing process, but he enters the spring expecting to start the season as the closer.
"Until they tell me otherwise, that's kind of what I've been hearing," said Gregerson, who signed a two-year, $11-million contract with a team option for a third year.
The right-handed Gregerson is not the prototypical hard-throwing closer. His fastball reaches the mid-90s, and when successful he mixes sinkers and sliders to induce weak contact.
He saved 47 games for the Astros during the past three seasons, but only one of those saves came last year.