Cleveland Indians running away with Mike Clevinger trade

Joey Cantillo

The final player from the Mike Clevinger trade is the 6-foot-4, 21-year old left-handed pitcher Joey Cantillo. A 16th round pick in the 2017 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres, Cantillo is now the No. 22 prospect in the Cleveland Indians organization and one of only four left-handed pitchers on the list, and the highest ranked of those four.

Currently on the injured list, Cantillo has yet to pitch this season as a member of the Double-A Akron Rubberducks. However, his career numbers from the minors are rather promising for the young pitcher.

Over three seasons in the minors, Cantillo has a career 2.51 ERA with a 13-7 record and 221 strikeouts over 168.2 innings pitched, averaging 11.8 strikeouts per nine innings. He’s also walked only 55 batters, averaging just under three per nine. If he can continue to build on those numbers, he could very easily crack the majors in the next couple seasons.

One thing to monitor will be Cantillo’s usage. He’s only had one season where he pitched over 100 innings, being 111.2 during the 2019 campaign. For comparison, Shane Bieber tossed 214.1 innings during his 2019 All-Star season. It will be interesting to see if Cantillo’s numbers can remain the same, or even improve, as his usage increases.