On Saturday, the Cleveland Guardians defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 6-1 behind a dominant display by rookie left-hander Joey Cantillo.
The southpaw gave Cleveland five strong innings in which he conceded no runs and just one walk, striking out six batters.
Cantillo appears to be rounding into form after a few starts to figure out MLB hitters: in his last two outings, he has surrendered just a single run and accumulated 16 strikeouts in 12 innings.
He has risen to the occasion at a time in which the Guardians badly needed him to do it: right-hander Alex Cobb was just placed on the injured list with blister issues and Cantillo now has his spot in the rotation.
After the two consecutive brilliant efforts, the lefty now has a 4.99 ERA for the season in 30.2 frames, with 31 punchouts.
The changeup is, by far, Cantillo’s best pitch.
He represents a rare breed in the sense that he is a lefty who isn’t very good against batters of his own hand, but dominates right-handers.
The primary reason behind this oddity is that his breaking ball isn’t as good as his changeup, which neutralizes righties.
The numbers are very encouraging on that front.
“Joey Cantillo’s vulcan changeup is filthy. #Guardians The pitch has generated 49% swing-miss in MLB vs righties since his MLB debut (31% is avg). It’s 78 mph with 14 mph velo separation from his fastball. Cantillo also has 7.5′ of extension (99th percentile). Lots of funk,” player development analyst Lance Brozdowski posted on X.
Joey Cantillo's vulcan changeup is filthy. #Guardians
The pitch has generated 49% swing-miss in MLB vs righties since his MLB debut (31% is avg). It's 78 mph with 14 mph velo separation from his fastball.
Cantillo also has 7.5' of extension (99th percentile). Lots of funk. pic.twitter.com/jE8x1xt5ta
— Lance Brozdowski (@LanceBroz) September 15, 2024
As you can see, the changeup helps him fool right-handed hitters.
In MLB, there is a majority of right-handed batters over lefty-hitting or switch-hitting ones.
If he uses his curveball or slider to help him neutralize lefties, or if his fastball improves, the sky is the limit.
For now, he is a perfectly solid backend starter on a playoff-caliber team.
That’s not too shabby.
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