Another day, another Braves roster move. This time: say hello to Cal Quantrill.
Quantrill was a first-round pick (eighth overall) all the way back in 2016, and has largely been a mainstay in someone’s rotation going back to the 2019 season. Unfortunately for him and his employers, he hasn’t actually been very effective, as he carries a career 100/107/112 (ERA-/FIP-/xFIP-) pitching line. That is not very exciting in and of itself, but guys like that don’t tend to get waived, either. However, in Quantrill’s
case, he’s declined substantially over the last three seasons, with an 87/100/106 line from 2019-2022, and a 118/117/119 line since. His recent performance is pure “fringy roster sixth starter” territory, and, well, the Marlins waived him as a result.
On the season, Quantrill is at 129/112/112, with 0.8 fWAR in 109 2/3 innings of work spanning 24 starts. He had a really nice five-start run from June 29 through July 25 (23/3 K/BB ratio, three homers allowed), but has been absolutely shelled in August by the Astros and Red Sox, while also lasting just four innings with a 1/0 K/BB ratio against the Braves in between those. It’s those performances that have likely led to him getting shown the door.
Pitch-wise, Quantrill is a pure junkballer at this point. His long-term problem has been that whatever combination of grip, arm action, release, mechanics, you name it, has never led to a fastball that’s made sense or been effective — he’s thrown a sinker-gripped ball that moves like a four-seamer for a long time. Combine that, the fact that none of his pitches have had a consistently good or even useful shape, and some truly abominable command over the arc of his career with basically every pitch (sometimes his four-seamer command is passable), and, well, there’s Cal Quantrill, major league starter with 1.9 fWAR/200 for his career and just one 2+ fWAR season under his belt.
Can he eat innings for the Braves? Probably. Should you expect anything other than nom nom nom? Nah. At least he hasn’t transitioned to relief yet, while his dad so in his late 20s? Maybe he feels good about that.
