Cassius Shy, LHP, Taft College

April 24 — Big, very tall young lefty with a ton of physical upside; will shed a bit of baby fat and add muscle as he ages and fills out. High-three quarters release with mild deception hiding the ball through back swing; pitch life flashes exceptional downward plane when he gets on top and pounds the bottom of the zone; inconsistent command there, though. Fastball/off-speed indistinguishable out of the hand in my April look; sells everything with same arm speed and arm action; tough to pick up … Had him 80-86 fastball in late April (sitting 82-84), paired with a 75-78 changeup and a 72-76 curveball. Generally 1.64-1.71 to the plate with a runner on first base … Great feel early and throughout the game for both his changeup and curveball; saw him on a career-best day so must take repertoire with that grain of salt, but really sold every pitch well and off-speed proved to be go-to in drawing bad swings from College of the Sequoias hitters … Curveball feel flashed advanced; enough touch to go to it early vs RHH for strike one, repeat it deeper for strike two, and then pitch backwards through fastball to tie guys up. Nuanced looks to the breaking ball; over for a strike vs. buried on back foot as a wipeout; both indistinguishable out of the hand from fastball with great arm speed and arm action to sell it … Generally same push with changeup; some splitter life/action on it; feel for creating downward tumble to get it down off barrels as a potential strikeout pitch, too, with consistency improvements … Works pretty quickly; strong tempo, dictates timing to hitters, gets the ball back from catcher and ready to go again … To really take advantage of all this off-speed feel, though, his fastball command and consistency must improve. There’s considerable velocity coming soon to his large, sturdy frame in the next couple years, and if he can consistently command the ball down to corners at the knees to match that—especially with the natural plane and pitch life he gets from the high release point—he’ll be a force … Not an MLB Draft candidate right now; Cassius Shy is certainly a project, but with his size and repertoire, and a normal development path for velo/life/command, Taft College may have themselves a diamond in the rough.

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