Bandits’ Cerantola trades pucks for fastballs

Revue de Web

Steve Batterson, Quad City Times

Hockey or baseball? Baseball or hockey?

A standout athlete who was drafted in two sports, Eric Certantola found himself facing what proved to be a not-so-difficult decision.

“I grew up playing hockey, but I fell in love with baseball,’’ the Quad Cities River Bandits pitcher said.

The 6-foot-5 right hander whose fastball averages just a notch above the mid 90s believes now more than ever he made the right decision when he chose to see where baseball could take him.

“I’m about a year into it now and I’m excited about the possibilities,’’ Cerantola said. “The Royals organization is a good fit for me. I couldn’t ask for anything more.’’

Still, Cerantola initially faced a choice.

He was born in Montreal, where he first put on a pair of skates at the age of six and thrived.

“I played baseball in the summer, hockey in the winter. I enjoyed both but the more I played baseball the more I liked the game,’’ Cerantola said.

He excelled at both.

Cerantola was drafted in the eighth round of the Ontario Hockey League draft by the Owen Sound Attack in 2016 after leading the Oakville Rangers Minor Midget AAA team with 15 goals and 16 assists over 34 games.

By that point, at the end of his sophomore year of high school, Cerantola was already enjoying success on the diamond as a pitcher and outfielder as well.

He played for the Oakville A’s youth program and helped that organization win four consecutive provincial championships.

A member of the Canadian U18 National Team that finished fourth in the World Championships in 2017, Cerantola’s work in baseball was attracting the attention of both college recruiters and scouts.

By the end of his junior year at Ecole Secondaire Catholique Sainte-Trinite in Oakville, Ontario, where he also played volleyball, Cerantola had decided to pursue baseball.

“Both sports had been a big part of my growing up, but I didn’t find it to be that tough of a decision,’’ Cerantola said. “I had found a good college program in Mississippi State, good competition in the SEC and I was fully committed to playing baseball at the point.’’

He felt with his size, he now packs 225 pounds into his 6-5 frame, and a promising collection of pitches that pursuing opportunities in baseball made the most sense.

The Tampa Bay Rays agreed as well and selected him following his senior year of high school in the 30th round of the baseball draft.

Cerantola stuck with his decision to pitch for Mississippi State and saw action in 11 games as a freshman with the Bulldogs, the last coming in a relief role in the 2019 College World Series.

In three seasons at Mississippi State, he combined for a 4-2 record with a 4.41 ERA before the Royals organization chosen him in the fifth round of the 2021 draft.

“The experience I had going up against good competition in the SEC every time out was what I needed,’’ Cerantola said. “I was facing top draft picks and top prospects on a regular basis and was the type of challenge that I wanted coming out of high school.’’

It forced Cerantola to rely on more than the power of his fastball to effectively deal with opposing hitters.

“If I’m throwing 98, there were guys there who could hit that,’’ Cerantola said. “The staff at Mississippi State did a good job working with me and helping me make the kind of progress I needed to make.’’

That work continues as he settles into his first full season with the Kansas City organization.

Cerantola split time late last season between the Royals’ two short-season rookie-level teams that play in the Arizona Complex League, putting together a 1.93 ERA in four games including a pair of starts.

He began the current season at low-A Columbia, going 1-2 with a 5.48 ERA in seven starts before being reassigned to the River Bandits last month.

“Going back to college, I’ve always had a good connection with the Royals and their scouts. It was an ideal situation for me,’’ Cerantola said. “They’ve always been about wanting me to be myself on the mound, play to my strengths.’’

He spent time at the Royals’ instructional league camp last fall, getting to know personnel within the organization and working on a couple of minor mechanical adjustments Cerantola believes will help strengthen the consistency of his pitches.

Through three starts with Quad Cities, Cerantola is 0-1 with an earned run average that climbed to 5.00 when he exited a start Thursday at Peoria after allowing three runs over 1.2 innings because of an injury.

He remains on the River Bandits active roster, worked out with his teammates prior to Friday’s game and will likely have what appeared to be a shoulder issue diagnosed further in upcoming days.

Cerantola is working this season on the development of his third pitch, a change up, to go with his fastball and breaking ball.

“I’ve always had those two pitches working for me. I know I need to get that third pitch down, something to keep hitters off balance, and that is part of my focus now,’’ Cerantola said.

As he works deeper into the season, Cerantola expects to grow the use of his change-up while continuing to refine his fastball.

“I’m feeling more and more comfortable with everything game by game,’’ Cerantola said. “I'm using them to build off of each other, using what I learn from one start and carrying that over to the next. If I do that, I should be able to make the kind of progress I expect to make."

Revue de web publiée par Jacques Lanciault.