NOTE: This was originally published last year, but has been updated because this guy has one of the best changeups in baseball!
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 hometown 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 22-year-old former Cleveland Indian fan.
2020 was a lost season for Cantleberry and many other minor leaguers, but he started the 2021 season with the Great Lakes 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 and so far, that appears to be exactly what he is.
In 7 relief appearances, Jacob has pitched 13.2 innings and struck out 27. He has a 4-0 record with 1 save and a 1.98 ERA to go with a 0.88 WHIP. Those numbers are eye-popping. See you soon in Tusla, Jacob!
Pandemic Update
Dodgers Minor League Report
- The Los Angeles Dodgers AAAA Affiliate, the LA Dodgers, lost because when you only score two runs, you generally lose. Easy, peasy! You may hate bullpen games, but I think the Dodgers ERA is below 3.00 in them.
- The Los Angeles Dodgers AAA Affiliate, Oklahoma City, lost to the El Paso Chihuahuas 9-4 despite outhitting them 11-9. They also walked 6 times. Ravello was 1-3 with two BB. 30-year-old Andy Burns was 4-5, including a HR and DJ Peters played CF and was 2-5. Darien Nunez was rocked for 3 runs in his 1 IP and Yasiel Sierra struck out the side in the 8th, to lower his ERA to 19.50. BOXSCORE
- The Tulsa Drillers, Dodgers AA Affiliate, lost 4-1. Jeren Kendall (.197) hit a HR and had another hit, but that was about it. Pepiot gave up 3 hits and 2 ER in 1.2 IP for his 1st loss. Bruihl pitched a shutout inning and his ERA sits at 1.20. BOXSCORE
- The Great Lakes Loons, Dodgers High-A Affiliate lost 7-5 to the Whitecaps. Andy Pages continued his hot hitting going 2-5 with a 3 Run HR (his 6th). Valera was 2-4. Of note on the pitching side, Cole Percival (1.65 ERA pitched 3 shutout innings and Melvin Jiminez pitched a shutout inning. BOXSCORE
- The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, Dodgers Low-A Affiliate was the only team that posted a W last night as they won 4-2 over the 66’ers. AJ Pollock hit a HR as did Diego Cartya (.450 BA, 1.572 OPS). Cartaya was 2-3 with a BB as well. Diego just needs to go to Tulsa already! Kendall William went 5 strong innings, allowing 3 hits and 2 earned runs. 20-year-old, 6′ 4″ Braydon Fisher pitched the last 4 innings, allowing 1 hit and striking out 8. BOXSCORE
Gut wrenching loss last night. But it happens. Good vibe is that Mookie is starting to hit the ball and Belli had a 9th inning hit. Cannot wait for this team to get back to full strength.
It was just one of those games. Inches man! There were a couple of plays that would have changed the game. Lux was robbed with a great play off a broken bat blooper to no man’s land between second base and center field.
I rolled my eyes when Treinen came out for a second inning, but that’s what you get when you have to use all your relievers in a game.
It was nice of Reyes to hit Bellinger’s bat with a ball. That’s got to be a big confidence booster for Cody.
I sure hope that Gonsolin pitches well tonight, we may have seen our last bullpen game in a while.
Bueller tonight and an off day tomorrow, so the pen will get a rest before the Atlanta series.
Diego Cartaya is starting off like a phenom. He should be at Great Lakes in no time. Is Andy Pages going to be our next great outfielder? I find it hard to believe he was included in that Angels deal, there must have been something more to it.
At least the Giants and Padres both lost yesterday.
Gonsolin is not pitching tonight. Buehler is. Pitching for series with the Braves is not set yet, but Davis seemed to think Gonsolin would start his first game in the Pirate series.
I believe Gonsolin is pitching for Oklahoma tonight.
What Andrew said. 😉
This is supposed to be Gonsolin’s last rehab start if all goes well, then he’s supposed to join the rotation the next time through, meaning no more bullpen games coming up.
Especially hard with so many bad called strikes.
Greg Maddux strike zone for their guys. Wide on both sides of the plate and low.
I noticed on a particular pitch when they ran the replay video showing a view from the dugout that the Strike Zone box showing the pitch in the zone, but the video showed it well under the knees. The box painted on the TV is not entirely accurate.
When it is a full ball outside the box, PRETTY SURE it is a ball. Also, commenting on ones that the overhead CLEARLY showed the ball was never in the zone. IMO it got bad enough that then players were complaining on close ones that were fairly clear to be strikes. To me it is like a “butterfly effect” thing. You have no way to tell how important a single pitch is especially with risp.
Cheers
I totally agree. Many of the bad calls on Dodger batters were at crucial times when a rally was forming. Way too many of them.
7-13 in one run games. It’s the little things that are bogging down our season so far. Giving up stolen bases. Not getting any stolen bases. Striking out with runners on third with less than 2 outs. Questionable defense. Unlike last year maybe we just lack the belief. Hopefully this changes when we get healthy or we don’t win the West again.
You forgot to call out the pop flies to left field with no outs and a runner on second. That just drives me cray-Z!
I still think there’s zero chance we don’t win the West. SD and SF are playing very well and they’re barely ahead of us. We’re playing like crap and we’re right there.
I’m more concerned with Belli than I ever was with Lux. Lux is so athletic and he has a sweet quick swing. I just thought he was pressing with all the expectations. Belli reminds me of Joc, trying to hit the core out of the cover on every pitch, never making any kind of adjustment to make his swing shorter and always messing with his stance.
I love Belli’s defense in center though. I honestly think he’s one of the best defensive Center Fielders in baseball. He covers a ton of ground and barely has to reach up to get his glove over the wall.
Cantleberry has followed Cameron Gibbens to Great Lakes.
Justin Bruihl has been prompted to the OKC Dodgers. His Dad announced it in a tweet. The Dodgers are not strong on healthy left-handers so Bruihl may well get a call to the big show in the not too distant future.
Does anyone know the status of Keibert Ruiz ? I ‘ve noticed in the Okl. box scores he hasn’t played in awhile.
Nor sure what the reason is but he is presently on the temporary inactive list. He hasn’t played since May 15.
Thank you for the reply DC.
Any idea why Busch was scratched?
No info, but the Dodgers err on the side of caution… to the extreme.
Tough one last night – loooooong season. Didnt see much fanfare for passing of Mike Marshall yesterday – although he was with us short time , this guy was dominant. He pitched in 106 games, won 15 ! and saved 21 in 1974. Think why I remember him so vivdly because he was traded to Montreal for my favorite player at the time Willie Davis. RIP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZGZMG5orLY
Marshall and Bauer probably would have been best buds had they played together. Both treated baseball as a science.
The youtube video you linked to was interesting, especially the reference to the fact that Marshall once appeared in 13 consecutive Dodger games. Those were different times.
Like you said – he respected the science as well as his body. Was light years ahead of his time ! was fun watching him for 3 years
208 innings in relief in 1974. That’ll never happen again. Two Dodgers named Mike Marshall. What are the chances?
One of my favorite Dodgers relievers ever. But, my all time favorite was Game Over Gagne. Great walk up song. Crazy changeup that looked like the best splitter in the history of the sport, 98-101 fastball, disgusting baseball cap with a salt streaks from sweat all from a failed starting pitcher.
the 15 wins by RP wont happens as well. Took the ball everytime when needed – different time that I miss
Mark, need you to send me an email on my email addy. Downloaded new Windows 10 and lost everything….
Go Apple, Bear.
Triple-A West Player of the Month
Oklahoma City Dodgers first baseman Rangel Ravelo led the league in batting average (.420), on-base percentage (.529), slugging percentage (.754) and OPS (1.282). He finished second in doubles (eight), fifth in hits (29) and RBI (19) and walked more times (14) than he struck out (nine) in 20 games. Ravelo, 29, was originally selected by the Chicago White Sox in the sixth round of the 2010 MLB Draft out of Hialeah High school in Hialeah, Florida.
I hope we don’t have another Donovan Solano story in the making here.
We had Solano at OKC in 2018 and he had an excellent year. We proceeded to cut him loose and Farhan snapped him up. He’s been with the Giants since 2019 and is now in his third season of hitting over .300 for them.
Will the same thing happen to Ravelo? His minor league numbers have been very good (except for home run totals). He’s been unsuccessful at the big league level but that’s been a very small sample size. Since he isn’t on the 40-man roster, I have a feeling that AF might not want to do the maneuvering necessary to bring him up. I just hope he doesn’t come in here in a different uni and make us regret that.
Tuesday (yesterday), Roberts started Pujols against Gant (RHP) 0-2 – Bellinger (gold glove outfielder) on bench, Beaty in left field (bad error, dropped pop fly).
Monday, Roberts started McKinstry 0-4 (2nd base, 2 errors) against Flaherty (RHP), Beaty on bench.
Sunday, Roberts started Pujols against Gausman (RHP) 0-3 (but hit a homer off McGee later, a lefty) – Turner, Betts on bench.
2 out of these 3 last games, Roberts STARTED Pujols against RHP, Pujols is batting .141 against RHP this year in 85 AB’s.
Beaty has had a hot bat against RHP lately (.300, .391 OBP, all 3 of his homers). The team needs him to start against RHP.
Someone should also mention to Roberts that while versatility is good, but he doesn’t need to prove it by using players at different positions EVERY DAY!
Manage (definition) transitive verb, To direct with skill; planning, organizing, controlling a group effort.
Dave got big points for managing to have Sheldon Neuse in right field defensively in the 10th inning Friday, instead of Gold Glove right fielder Mookie Betts (who would absolutely have caught that ball that scored 2 runs).
That negated Barnes’ come-from-behind homer. In the bottom of that inning, Dave really got genius points for having ALBERT PUJOLS deployed as the gift runner on 2nd base in the 10th. That really shows Roberts skill at planning. Albert can barely walk, let alone run.
and these are just a FEW of the management high-points of the weekend.
20/20 Hindsight!
Hi Mark,
In general, I agree with you much more than disagree. I concede it’s much easier to manage after the game, but Albert not hitting RHP is not hindsight. And Beaty hitting RHP well is obviously not hindsight either. Pujols really looked funny out there on 2nd as a gift runner in the 10th, even I had to laugh. It’s a manager’s job to make sure that things like that don’t happen, though.
Roberts wasn’t the one who signed Pujols!
Signing him isn’t the problem, non-effective management decisions like playing him against RHP starters (Pujols is batting .141 against RHP), and late-inning use defensively and on the bases ARE attributable to Roberts.
Whether hindsight or learning a Manager’s consistent style is semantics. We didn’t have a lot of opportunities last night with 7 hits and 8 LOB. Scoring 2 won’t win many. But once again Doc made nothing happen even when there were opportunities to do so. He is just a poor in-game strategist. Spare me a review of his resume.
Twice Mookie was on first with opportunities to steal a bag and get in scoring position but Doc made no moves. He just waits for that home run.
After not sending Mookie in the 3rd, Muncy hit into a DP on the 5th pitch. Doc might consider starting him to at least stay out of the double-play. You see that all the time from other more aggressive managers.
Again Mookie was on in the 6th and after 10 pitches, was still at 1st. Will Smith’s double failed to score Mookie from 1st. Had he been on 2nd, there’s a run.
Mookie has 5 steals in 45 games. That’s not enough. He’s fast and an excellent baserunner but Doc refuses to put the game in motion.
We’re 7 and 13 in one run games. We’ve had a noticeable absence of game winning hits and walk off wins. That has become a disturbing pattern. When that is the case, Doc should make an adjustment and be more aggressive trying to manufacture runs. Oh yeah, we’ve had a boatload of injuries but maybe Doc should be less concerned with who’s not available and do more with who IS available.
Tyler O’Neill had a ball game. He is also one strong dude. He looks like he could have been a fearsome high school middle linebacker. He and Cole Calhoun look like they could kick your ass for drill.
Tonight’s Lineup:
Mookie RF
Max 1b
JT 3b
Cody CF
CT3 2b
Gavin ss
Zach lf
Austin C
Walker
Padres swept by the Cubs,lose 6-1 today.
Maybe Mookie is injured or not up to full speed. That’s what you can’t know. He got thrown out the last attempted steal. We’re all here second guessing Roberts all the time but without all the information. And it’s not just Roberts making the decisions. Might as well criticize AF and all the saber metrics crew!
So sorry to hear that Mike Marshall passed away. He was indeed a man among boys and set records that will never be broken nor even approached.
I don’t believe there are any screwball nor knuckleball pitchers anymore and that in itself is a shame. If anyone out there knows of such a pitcher please enlighten me.
I meant to say any screwball or knuckleball pitchers
Kirsten Watson
@kirsten_watson
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1h
#Dodgers AJ Pollock and Jimmy Nelson will travel with the team on Thursday to Atlanta. Dave Roberts expects they will be activated Friday.
Oh yeah, good start!
Glad to see Bellinger doing better tonight.
6 RBI’s —————————– in the first inning!
Bellinger is the only Dodger player with a career OPS of over .900.
I’ll go with that!
You’ve got to be kidding
Bellinger is 7th in career OPS on the Dodgers –
1 – Gary Sheffield .998
2 – Jake Fournier .973
3 – Mike Piazza .966
4 – Babe Herman .953
5 – Duke Snider .936
6 – Reggie Smith .915
7 – Bellinger – .907
Belli has been good for 4 years – let’s see what his numbers are after 10+ seasons.
Great to see him hit tonight though. If this gets him started the Dodgers will be much better offensively
Ah, the legendary Jake Fournier! Um …. who’s that again?
A quick check of the Internets suggests he actually went by Jack, not Jake, and he played with the Brooklyn Robins from 1923-26–and lead the NL in HRs in 1924. (How could I have missed that?) He did have an LA connection later–as the baseball coach at UCLA in part of the ’30s.
Mike Marshall–the one who didn’t date Belinda Carlisle–probably could have saved many a pitcher’s arm if he had been hired as a coach or advisor. He was way ahead of his time. I think it was Dylan Hernandez of the LAT who had a good piece on him.
Interesting that Roberts put Will Smith in the game at 3B. The versatility could pay off later.
Now that Pollock is coming back, I expect Yoshi will waived or traded. He didn’t come from Japan to play in OKC. The Angels need an outfielder. Maybe playing with Shohei could help.
FLASH:
This just in – Tony Gonsolin was not able to pitch tonight!
Of course, the reason is that OKC did not play.
Funny! Went through Indy today. At Toledo now.
Sooooo happy to c mookie hitting. The dodgers offense is due to roll some people. We owe some teams.
Can any of our sp get through a game without giving up a homer? Well great night so far!! Go Dodgers!!!
Nice win. Mookie and Belli heating up and this team is a whole lot different. Orel is as agitating as ever, I realize the game was a laugher, but his constant inane patter has really gotten old. I would rather listen to Charlie Steiner mangle players names than Orel.
Try listening to the cardinal crew. Sickening, I haven’t heard Orel but I will take him over Edmonds and mcglaughlin.
Remove the first inning and it would of been a one run game. I’d like to see the dodgers play without letting up though I don’t believe any team has ever scored 99 runs. 11 runs in an inning is special enough, especially in the first inning!
It’s fun to learn about this prospects like Cantleberry and Gibbens. Not sure if it’s really fair–not sure if I care, either–but AF just seems to have an ability to manipulate the reliever pool by picking up guys like Jones and Bickford and then all these prospects as well. It was also nice to see Mitch White turn in a dominant inning with 3Ks and a pitch that reached 97 mph. And if will be nice to have Gonsolin back.
I keep wondering what AF may do in the trade market. The Cubs are playing so well–thanks for sweeping the Pads–that I assume Bryant and the others won’t be on the market. Seems like the Rockies will need to salvage something for Trevor Story, but probably not within the division. Then again, it would just be a rental.
Apart from Colorado, looks to me like the Orioles, Rangers, Pirates and Dbacks are going to be sellers, and maybe the Twins and Tigers….Maybe the Reds, if they slump… Do these teams have anything that could make the Dodgers better?