Video Scouting Report on San Diego Padres RHP Cal Quantrill

With a father who spent 14 years in the major leagues and even made an All-Star team, Cal Quantrill had been exposed to the major league life before he ever put on a big league uniform. Now, he’s making his first Major League starts for a team that also employed Paul Quantrill!

Background

Born in Canada in 1995, Cal Paul Quantrill came into the world just a season before his father would return to his home country to play for the Toronto Blue Jays. Cal’s name recognition allowed him to be a known commodity when it came to the draft, but his father’s nearly $20 million in big league earnings allowed him options when he was drafted in the 26th round by the Yankees in 2013.

He chose instead to attend Stanford University, where he filled into his frame and became a force in the Cardinal rotation as a freshman when he posted a 2.68 ERA over 110 2/3 innings. However, after 3 dominant starts in his sophomore season, Quantrill suffered an arm injury that ended up requiring Tommy John surgery, leading to his absence from the Cardinal rotation the rest of 2015 and all of the 2016 season leading up to the draft.

The Padres surprised many when they grabbed Quantrill with the 8th overall selection in the 2016 draft. He was handled carefully by the Padres in 2016 in his pro debut, making 12 starts across three levels, pitching just 37 innings, posting a 5.11 ERA combined across the levels, with a 1.27 WHIP, 5% walk rate, and a 28.75% strikeout rate.

With many Tommy John recoveries, the first thing to come back for the pitcher is his velocity, then control/command. Quantrill really didn’t ever show effects with his control, pushing all the way up to AA in his first full season in the minor leagues, tossing 116 innings between high-A and AA, posting a 3.80 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 7.9% walk rate, and 21.6% strikeout rate.

Though he was struggling to show the same movement that he had before he was drafted, leading to a high hit rate, there was enough progress that Quantrill was ranked highly on major top prospect lists in the 2017-2018 offseason. Baseball America ranked Quantrill #52, MLB Pipeline had him #40, and Baseball Prospectus ranked him #48.

The 2018 season saw Quantrill split time between AA and AAA, but he did not get that missing movement back yet, showing excellent resilience on the mound, though, profiling more as an inning-eating backend starter now. He combined for a 4.80 ERA over 148 innings with a 1.47 WHIP, 6.5% walk rate, and 18.7% strikeout rate.

Quantrill has shown similar skills in 2019, tossing 25 innings at the minor league level with a 4.68 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 7.3% walk rate, and 22% strikeout rate in AAA. He recently made his first two starts at the major league level, throwing 10 innings, allowing 4 earned runs with a 3/8 BB/K over those two starts.

Scouting Report

Size/Build

Quantrill is listed at 6’3″ and 208 pounds, and that looks right on, which you’d expect with an exact listing like that. He is quite athletic and flexible in his build.

Delivery

In his windup, Quantrill begins on the first base side of the rubber, facing the plate. He takes a back step toward first base and then comes to his chest with his left leg, slightly bending at the waist as he does. He gets good depth into his legs as he strides toward the plate, and he delivers with a high 3/4 arm slot. When he’s at his best, it’s a very fluid delivery that leaves him nearly off the mound to the front as he’s eaten up that much ground with his delivery.

From the stretch, Quantrill begins on the first base side of the rubber, taking a full leg left to his chest. He tucks his chest as well from the stretch, coming tall as he lands with his lead leg toward the plate. He tends to have an issue with cutting off his arm in his follow through, which gives him the look like he’s put his hand on a hot plate rather than letting his arm travel all the way through his arm swing.

Control (50)

Quantrill can get to “dart throwing” when he seems to pull off in his follow through, trying to aim the ball. If Cal takes his time and works through his delivery, he can have fringe-plus control. However, even then, he seems to pound the zone without the same level of command as to where in the zone he’s going to send the ball. Even being able to notch that up to a 55-60 would be tremendous with Quantrill’s pitch mix.

Fastball (55)

Whether it’s the lower amount of drag on the MLB ball (used in AAA as well this year) or if he’s added some raw velocity to his game, Quantrill has seen his radar readings tick up anywhere from 1-3 MPH this year on his average fastball in a start, sitting 94-96 in his 2019 starts.

The issue that’s shown up with the new ball and/or the increased velocity is some loss of movement. Quantrill was known for his impressive late wiggle on his fastball previously. He does still get impressive lift on his four-seamer up in the zone, but his sinker has been left knee-high a lot this year, seeming like it was supposed to break another 6″ but just did not.

He does use both a four-seam and two-seam fastball, and with his arm slot and excellent extension to the plate, the two-seam can play up, though he’ll need to work on getting that late movement again, which is simply getting used to the new ball for many pitchers.

Changeup (60)

While the late drop has seemingly gone out of his fastball, that’s not the case with his plus change. Quantrill gets tremendous late downward movement on his change, allowing him to spot the pitch around the zone and end up off the barrel of the bat with the pitch. While it can draw swing and miss at its best, the change is most effective when it’s generating a ton of “just missed” contact, popping the ball straight up or driving the ball into the ground.

Curveball (45)

Certainly, his curve is Quantrill’s 4th pitch, but it can be very effective when he mixes it in well, as he does get an excellent 12-6 break on the pitch with 76-79 MPH velocity.

Slider (50)

While getting movement to his fastball and pinpointing his control could definitely allow Quantrill to take a step forward, what will determine his future is his slider. He changed his slider grip in the 2017-2018 offseason, and he’s seen the pitch tick up to an 85-88 MPH weapon, though he often gets more of a sharp, short break to the pitch. When he spots that pitch well, it can be a perfect swing-and-miss pitch, but he leans heavily on the pitch as a same-side matchup pitch, in large part due to average control of his stuff.

MLB Comp

The names associated with Quantrill probably aren’t going to draw a ton of “wow” appeal. The guy who really stuck out as a similar style of pitcher as I watched a handful of Quantrill’s 2019 starts was Dan Straily. When Straily is on, he pounds the zone with pitches that are hard to square up, a very smooth delivery, and he’ll eat up innings for his team.

That profile may not be tremendously exciting, but the truth of the matter is that Quantrill’s profile is one that 15 years ago would have been tremendously employable, but in the current game, it does require a guy who is hitting his spots very well.

In the modern game, that skill set can be one that is quickly dismissed when not going well, as seen by the fact that Straily has now pitched for 7 organizations (six of them in the majors) over 8 major league seasons.

Future Role

Ralph over at Prospects Live did a great piece highlighting Quantrill’s debut, and he came to a conclusion that I did as well. While the raw stuff (body, present pitches, etc.) says back-end starter, Quantrill has “it” on the mound, and he really knows how to pitch, as evidenced by his second start in the big leagues, where he was shaky for his first three innings against the Mets, allowing 2 runs in the first, and getting out of jams in the second and third, totaling 64 pitches in those first three innings.

However, he did battle to keep the runs off the board in the 2nd and 3rd before a 1-2-3 4th. He got the first out of the 5th on a fielder’s choice after allowing a leadoff single in the inning, but he was up to 86 pitches, and with a reported 85-pitch limit for Quantrill on the night, he was done.

I, like Ralph, see more mid-rotation potential simply due to the potential uptick in the slider and his fastballs as he gets the feel for the MLB ball along with his persona on the mound adding just an extra tick to the confidence level. With his extension and high arm slot, Quantrill could be a guy who would do well with a split-finger option as another look for hitters as well.

He’s back down to the minors now, but he should be a guy that is in the Padres rotation to stay at some point this season.

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