For a Change of Pace Meet Jacob Cantleberry

Left-hander Jacob Cantleberry was selected by the Dodgers in the 13th round of the 2019 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Missouri.

He was born in Greenwood, Indiana and attended Center Grove High School in his home town before heading off to San Jacinto-North Community College, located just outside of Houston, Texas. In two seasons with the Gators he posted a 23 – 4 record through 32 appearances, all starts. 

Other players who have had a connection to San Jacinto include Andy Pettitte, Brandon Belt, Brandon Montgomery, Devin Smeltzer and some guy named Roger Clemens.

Following his two years at San Jacinto, Cantleberry transferred to the University of Missouri having had offers also from three other Division I programs – Houston, Arizona, and Arizona State.

Life on the mound was not as easy as it had been in junior college but Cantleberry liked the challenge of the Southeastern Conference and fulfilled a dream of playing in the SEC. The atmosphere surrounding the game was definitely different at the Division I college level.

“The biggest thing about playing in the SEC is the magnitude of the games. The environments we’re playing in are a lot more hostile, but it’s fun,” said Cantleberry. “Their fans will look up everything about you. Your parents’ names, your animals’ names. There’s not a lot of that in JUCO ball.”  

It was a big jump for the 6’1”/180-lb lefty but appreciating where he was and confident in his abilities he fit right in with the rest of his Tiger teammates.

“There is a ton of baseball history everywhere we play,” Cantleberry said. “I don’t feel overwhelmed at all. I feel I belong the same as everyone else here.”

He had been a two-pitch pitcher at San Jacinto with a changeup and good tailing, sinking fastball.  Although a change-up is not usually described as filthy”, Cantleberry’s has earned a bit of a reputation. His fastball is described as a four-seam fastball that has been clocked as high as 94 miles per hour. But back to his changeup.

“It’s a changeup I wouldn’t want to face,” Missouri baseball coach Steve Bieser said during the season. “It just has such late (movement) and a lot of depth to it. I’ve said it before: There’s a lot of big leaguers who wish they could throw that changeup.”

“It’s one of the best changeups I’ve ever seen,” catcher McDaniel said. “The best thing about his changeup is it’s unpredictable. I definitely had to get used to (catching) it the first couple of times. It took me a little while.”

Missouri pitching coach Fred Corral calls the changeup “one of the most devastating, dirtiest pitches I’ve ever had as a coach.”

And from his Missouri teammate and fellow left-hander Tyler LaPlante: “The thing almost acts like a knuckleball the way it comes out of his hand. It has such low spin rate,” LaPlante said, “It’s such a swing-and-miss pitch for him.”

To digress a moment, Corral once worked in the Dodgers minor league system. Here is an interesting anecdote.

In his second of many jobs in baseball, Corral was a pitching instructor with the Dodgers. In spring training before the 2000 season, Corral was watching a young lefty throw in Vero Beach, Florida. Long being in awe of Sandy Koufax he was flabbergasted with what happened that morning.

“I get a tap on my shoulder and I hear, ‘Do you mind if I work on this guy’s breaking ball?’” Corral said. “I turn and there’s Sandy Koufax.”

To this day Corral isn’t sure what mush came out of his mouth next.

“Oh my gosh .. sure … here,” he recalled. “That’s what my brain was saying.”

Back to Jacob Cantleberry.  What makes his changeup so different is the obscure spin he puts on the ball. The Missouri starter’s grip is no different than the rest, but he produces a knuckling effect that makes the movement unpredictable. Because of this, it’s hard for opposing hitters to gauge how much Cantleberry’s changeup will move, regardless if they recognize the pitch as it leaves his hand.

“It’s weird; I can’t really explain it to be honest with you,” Cantleberry said. “We don’t really know why it does what it does. It’s always been my bread and butter, but it’s a weird pitch for sure. I hold it the same as everyone else does. It’s just about reps with it, throwing it, you know? Kind of getting a feel for it more than anything. I screw around with it a lot.”

Cantleberry arrived at Missouri as the aforementioned two-pitch pitcher, albeit with one of them a devastating changeup. However, Missouri pitching coach Fred Corral decided he needed more if he was to continue on his path with MLB a goal so a slider was added to his arsenal. His tertiary pitch was a work in progress at Michigan but it gave him a third option to keep hitters off balance a bit more instead of simply sitting and guessing a fastball or changeup. His slider does have the potential to be a good pitch for him as it breaks down and to the right as opposed to his other two pitches that tail to the left.

Corral had more than a little work to do with the young Cantleberry who apparently had fallen a bit in love with technology. So Coral went to work. He sounds like an amazing pitching coach having mentored 83 players who have gone on to sign professional contracts.

“It took a little stern relationship to say, ‘Hey, this is who you are right now. We’re going to get you where you need to be with those higher velocities, but you’ve got to master the strike zone. … He was so inundated with technology that he was scrambling his own eggs.”

According to Corral, Cantleberry was making a mistake that’s common for young pitchers, focusing too much on what happens on the mound and not the plate. The famed pitching coach likened it to driving with your eyes focused on the steering wheel instead of the road.  Cantleberry’s  BB/9 has continued to fall since his two years at San Jancinto.

With the University of Missouri through 16 appearances in 2019 – 12 of them starts – he posted a 4.73 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP over 72 innings along with 97 strikeouts and 31 walks. His K/9 IP ratio was 12.07.

Cantleberry decided to sign with the Dodgers instead of returning to Michigan for a second year. It was not a hard decision.

“It was a pretty easy decision. My teammates at Missouri were all excited for me,” Cantleberry said. “I was too, but my family was much more excited. It’s a blessing, honestly. Baseball is a game, but it’s been able to take me everywhere.”

On June 11, 2019 Jim Callis posted on Twitter:”13th-rder Jacob Cantleberry signs w/@Dodgers for $125k. Missouri LHP, plus changeup, flashes solid slider, fastball up to 92 mph.”

He began his professional career on July 1, 2019 in the Arizona League against the AZL Cubs. Splitting his time equally between the AZL Dodgers (Mota) and the Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer League over 19 appearances – all in relief – he posted a 1.03 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP. In 26.1 innings pitched he struck out 35 and walked nine. Opponents posted a .144 batting average against the now 22-year-old and former Cleveland Indian fan.

Cantleberry will most likely start his 2020 season with the full-season Loons. I am guessing that his future might be that of a reliever depending on the mastery of his slider and the strike zone. I look forward to watching his progress in Great Lakes.