NAME: Cade Cavalli
SCHOOL: Oklahoma
POSITION: RHP
HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6’4″, 218 lbs
B/T: R/R
D.O.B.: August 14, 1998
PREVIOUSLY DRAFTED: Atlanta Braves, 2017 – 29th round (860 overall)
SCOUTING REPORT
The son of former Angels minor league catcher Brian Cavalli, Cade played both baseball and basketball at Bixby High School in Oklahoma. As a legit two-way player, Cavalli’s performance caught the eye of scouts early. Despite the fact that he missed most of his senior season with a balky back, the Braves selected him in the 29th round of the 2017 First-year player draft. The former number five prospect in the state of Oklahoma decided to forego a chance of going pro early and instead opted to attend the University of Oklahoma on a scholarship.
After joining the Sooners in 2018 as a freshman, Cavalli continued to approach baseball as a two-way affair. He batted .202 with six home runs, seven doubles and 28 RBI’s in 58 games (53 starts), mostly from first base, while also appearing on the mound 11 times (two starts). He finished the pitching side of his season with 18 strikeouts in 17.1 innings (3-2, 6.75 ERA). His mound presence earned him a trip to the Cape Cod League in the summer of 2018, when he pitched in five games (4.15 ERA, 15 strikeouts in 13 innings).
During his sophomore season, Cavalli became the Friday starter for the Sooners, starting 12 games on that day and notching 19 games as the team’s designated hitter. With a 5-3 record and a 3.28 ERA, the progression was evident. In 60.1 innings he gave up 53 hits, 22 earned runs and posted 59 strikeouts. As the DH, he hit .319 with four home runs, a .611 SLG and .393 OBP in 72 at-bats. Over the summer of 2019, Cavalli joined USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team.
SCOUTING GRADES
These scouting grades are from mlbpipeline.com. Cavalli’s grades probably fluctuate across publications.
FASTBALL: 60
CURVEBALL: 60
SLIDER: 55
CHANGEUP: 50
CONTROL: 45
OVERALL: 50
PROSPECT OVERVIEW AND FUTURE OUTLOOK
Cavalli is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to his status as a draft prospect. With an easy to project body and a quintessential pitcher’s build, the hard-throwing right-hander certainly looks the part. Combine the physique with easy mid-90s heat (topping out around 98 mph) and a killer slider around 87-90 mph, and Cavalli is already several steps ahead of the competition. Add an above-average curveball and a changeup with room for improvement to the arsenal, and it’s not hard to see what scouts like about Cavalli as a pitcher. The cherry on top is one of the cleanest deliveries in this year’s draft.
There are a few question marks that are preventing Cavalli from being a shoo-in top 10 draft pick. For one: health. Cavalli sat out most of his senior season in high school with a back injury,. He followed that up by missing more time with a stress reaction in his throwing elbow in 2019. Though he has stayed healthy ever since, teams looking for a no-doubt future workhorse may be scared off by the history.
Aches and pains aside, Cavalli has one other ‘problem’: he tends to get hit. Hard. This is not due to a lack of stuff, but more due to a lack of control and deception. Hitters are not fooled enough by his delivery to be unable to adjust to the pitch coming their way. With a college career WHIP of 1.54 and a H/9 of 8.28, there is too much hard contact for the pure stuff he possesses. That is not to say that his pandemic-shortened 2020 hurt his stock. On the contrary, in limited action (23.2 innings), Cavalli K’d a whopping 37 hitters while walking only five, raising his K/9 from 8.80 in 2019 to 14.07 in 2020. He did give up more than a hit per inning.
MOCK DRAFTS
There is a slim chance the White Sox will opt for Cavalli, as the pitcher is consistently mocked further down the first round than the Sox’ number 11 pick — usually somewhere between 14 (Bleacher Report) and 21 (MLB.com). CBS Sports leaves Cavalli out of the first round completely, whereas Baseball America is hearing that he is a lock for the (middle of the) first round. Either way, 11 seems to be too high for Cavalli, despite the intangibles.
POTENTIAL FIT WITH THE WHITE SOX
Though the Sox have a recent connection to Oklahoma’s program in the person of Alec Hansen, Cavalli is a different kind of pitcher than the 6’7″ right-hander. The Sox have never shied away from drafting (Hansen) or trading for (Matt Thornton) pitchers with some control issues, but the 11-spot is not a place to take a shot at a potential work in progress with several injuries in his recent past. That aside, the fact that they haven’t been able to get Hansen back on track could play a role as well.
If they do surprise and grab Cavalli at 11, he’ll fit in with the more intriguing pitching prospects in the organization. Somewhere in the Dunning/Lambert group. Cavalli certainly covers a lot of the bases front offices look for in a potential top of the bill arm. The question is which organization is willing to take a chance early-ish in the first round.
Photo credit: Instagram Cade Cavalli
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