With Matt Canterino, you have to first look at the numbers, then look at the video, and then try to reconcile the two.
- Born: December 14, 1997
- B/T: Right/Right
- 6’2″, 222-lbs
- Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft from Rice University
The Numbers
His raw numbers are listed above courtesy of baseball-reference.com. Let’s aggregate by year then focus on the important numbers for minor leaguers:
Yes, yes, I know, an almost perfect sea of green, but the numbers I want you to focus on are 25 and 21: his IP for 2019 and 2021. Matt Canterino has done exactly what you want to see on the field, he just hasn’t been on the field enough.
Well, he’s been on the field enough for High-A batters to want nothing more to do with Canterino ever again! When you strike out 43 of the 78 batters you faced, and you have an almost 11-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, yeah, you did what was asked.
And any time I see a WHIP begin with 0.6…, I bow low and genuflect.
So what does Canterino have?
Thanks to BaseballHQ’s terrific Minor League Baseball Analyst book, we see at a glance that this former Rice U. starter has a four-pitch mix, with his slider being a true plus pitch, and his FB and curve being already average. His changeup is behind the others, though he throws it at the same arm speed as his fastball, though it travels ten mph slower from that same start. It has good arm-side fade and sink.
He’s got a starter’s mix of pitches. Now the bad news: if you haven’t already, look at that brief video embedded above. See how his pitching motion is so violent? A lot of scouts take one look at that motion and his body and mutter “reliever.”
Then we circle back to his elbow injuries that have limited his injuries, and team managers are beginning to mutter “reliever.” So yeah, there’s that risk, although can you imagine how high his strikeout rate would go out of the pen?
The Scouts
- Rotowire: #230 on their Top 400
- Fantrax: #137 on their Top 400
- Fantasy Six Pack: #489 on their dynasty Top 1,000+
- Imaginary Brick Wall: #578 on their Top 473
Warnings
His wonky pitching motion.
The lack of innings due to injury.
He hasn’t even faced Double-A yet.
Conclusion
But oh that talent!
If he’s healthy, he seems likely to reach the majors, and relatively soon. And he has the stuff to start, if his body agrees and the coaching staff concur.
It’s a risk, but if you want to drool some more at that sea of green above, I won’t stop you.