What We're Seeing From Guardians Pitching Prospect Joey Cantillo - Sports4CLE, 6/19/24

another guy that um has not been up to the big leagues yet that has been on the radar of the Guardians uh is is rehabbing there as well Joey cantillo take us through um the type of picture that you've seen him and and what um what we're seeing from cantillo so Joey's not really on a rehab he's on the Clippers roster he did start the season injured I was down there in spring training in Arizona just before the start of the season and did an interview with Joey and not long after that he had that hamstring injury and it was a significant one it had him on the Shelf for you know almost 2 months and he's back in the rotation now for the Clippers and he's looked pretty good 216 erra he's only made a couple of starts eight in the third Innings but he has struck out 11 like you were talking about the command is still kind of being refined the walks are higher than he is used to having but the fast ball velocity is good he has a Bugs Bunny change up it is an outstanding change up a great curveball to go with it as well throws a slider uh this is a guy that really has the tools and you know kind of like Gavin Williams if you told a scout to drop a prototypical pitcher well he'd be the one from the left side big tall strong young man that that has a four- pitch mix and pretty good pitches really that can get outs I'm I'm sure when it happens at the major league level but again starting basically from scratch trying to build himself up so he's not going deep into games yet either he's not on the 40-man roster but you know he's a guy certainly that is in the future plans for the Cleveland Guardians and you just hope that he continues to build up continues to have that success and build his confidence I think if if he believes in himself and believes that his stuff is as good as it is he has a really high ceiling yeah the the you mentioned the change up and that's the thing that I have seen um that's like a plus plus change up it's it's elite among Elite so where's where is he at relative to how far he's getting into deep he's getting into games and what does his velocity look like as well uh he's a guy that last year when he first came up to Triple A we would see touch 97 998 but typically would sit 94 to 95 with the fast ball and he would be able to maintain that deep into his outings as well he's been 95 at the beginning of his outings this year and that is tailed off is uh again just like Gavin Williams he is trying to stretch himself out and build that endurance to keep that velocity up through his outings and the outings have not been uh full starters innings yet and that's to be expected after getting himself healthy he made one Rehab start out in Arizona and then join the Clippers and so he's been on the mound a couple of times now still trying to build himself up he hasn't gone deep enough yet to qualify for a win but hopefully that's coming very soon um and again a guy that is certainly going to be on the Guardians radar once he gets to that full pitch limit because um right now they're not they're not getting five innings six Innings from um many of starters as well yeah and obviously that's a problem uh step wants to get starters to go six Innings maybe even go into the seventh inning he has a real luxury and has all season long in that almost everybody in the bullpen is clicking on all cylinders and they have really leaned on that group I've said several times on our broadcast that I'm not sure if there is a better unit in the major leagues when you talk about position players infielders outfielders catchers starting pitchers and relief pitchers I don't think there's a better unit in the majors than the Cleveland Guardians Bullpen staff they've all been outstanding yesterday's game not withstanding but you can only lean on that for so long and you're going to wind up wearing those arms out they're not meant to go that often for a full season everybody has a lull where the starters don't go deep but for the Cleveland Guardians it has uh I mean we're in the middle of June now and they have only had really one or two runs where the starting staff has been able to go deep into the ball game now they've had some off days recently that has helped but that's really not the case for the next three or four weeks I think they only have one maybe two off days so those starters are going to have to go deeper into games uh because until Williams is ready cantillo is ready you do have Xavion Curry down here and he's stretched out and Curry's last two starts have been very very encouraging even last three starts uh earlier in the season his numbers were not good at the triaa level but he seems to have turned a corner and so Xavion Curry obviously is a guy that the Cleveland Guardians know they had him in their Bullpen all year last year and he's made some starts for them this year and if it comes down to it you know they're whether or not you are comfortable with your options sometimes you have to just go grab a guy and uh for the Cleveland Guardians you're going have to figure out who that is if that need arises