Matt Canterino grew up in Southlake, a Texas suburb north of Dallas and Fort Worth. Like any good Texan, he played football. However, despite being a natural athlete, he only played for one year in eighth grade.
“I wasn’t bad, but I was the guy that would say ‘sorry’ every time I would tackle someone,” he said. “I just didn’t like the aspect of it.”
Canterino is 6’2” and weighs 222 lbs., but he didn’t hit his growth spurt until high school. Therefore, he played on the B team, and the A team players thumped him in practice.
“I remember going against this one guy, he was always a little bit bigger than me,” Canterino recalled. “During run defense drills, I would just get pummeled. So, that was my one year with football.
“I decided maybe baseball was right for me.”
Canterino chose right. He had a 4.03 ERA as a 19-year-old at Rice University in 2017, then established himself as an ace with a sub-3.00 ERA in his final two college seasons. The Minnesota Twins took him in the second round of the 2019 draft and gave him a $1.1 million signing bonus.
In 2020, MLB Pipeline ranked Canterino as Minnesota’s 11th-best prospect between Lewis Thorpe and Brent Rooker. In Canterino’s scouting report, they wrote he could become a starter with a four-pitch mix: fastball, slider, changeup, and curveball.
With a bit of an unusual delivery that includes a good amount of effort, Canterino has faced questions about his ability to start long-term. But he’s always been a strike-thrower overall and was very durable throughout his college career, leaving no reason to believe he can’t fit very nicely in the middle of a big league rotation in the future.
Royce Lewis was Minnesota’s No. 1 prospect that year. However, the Twins got mixed results from that class.
- Alex Kirilloff (No. 2) had a 116 OPS+ in 2023 but retired earlier this offseason.
- Jhoan Duran (5) is Minnesota’s closer, Ryan Jeffers (6) is its starting catcher, and Matt Wallner (14) had an .894 OPS in the middle of the lineup last year.
- Jordan Balazovic (5) and Thorpe (10) were top pitching prospects. However, Balazovic finished last season in Korea, and Thorpe pitched in the Mexican league.
- The Twins took Keoni Cavaco ahead of Canterino in 2019 and released him last year.
- Trevor Larnach (3) and Jose Miranda (22) enter spring training looking to establish major-league roles.
- Cole Sands (19) had a 127 ERA+ as a reliever last year.
Canterino pitched 289.1 innings at Rice but only 85 in pro ball. He was healthy from 2019 to 2021, pitched 48 innings, and reached High-A. There was no minor league season in 2020 because of the pandemic, but Canterino pitched at Minnesota’s alternate site at CHS Field in St. Paul.
“I recorded probably 75 innings in simulated innings that year,” said Canterino. “I really tried to build up the workload and make sure that it wasn’t going to be a lost year.”
After finishing at the alternate site in St. Paul, Canterino pitched 35 innings for the Twins in the Arizona Instructional League.
“That kind of kept me on their radar,” said Canterino. “I feel like I made a lot of developmental strides. I developed my changeup. That’s probably been my best swing-and-miss pitch since I’ve gone into pro ball during that year.”
Then injuries struck.
In 2021, he had a forearm issue. A year later, he injured his forearm again, culminating in Tommy John surgery in 2023. Last year, Canterino reported to spring training healthy, only to suffer a shoulder strain and miss the entire season.
“I had a normal offseason,” he said. “I reported to spring training fully healthy, feeling good. Stuff was intact. Nothing really going on.
“Then I think just a little hiccup along the way in spring training caused a shoulder strain. Everyone knows how shoulders are. The shortest time frame for those feels like it’s a few months, and then, unfortunately for me, right as I was starting to build up again, it just reaggravated itself. Three months plus three months is a whole season’s worth.”
Canterino hasn’t pitched since throwing 34.1 Double-A innings in 2022. Still, he had a 1.84 ERA that season and looked on track to break into the majors around the same time as his prospect peers. However, Canterino still feels he has his stuff despite missing so much time.
“Whenever I’ve come back from an injury, it’s like I’m able to kind of pick up where I’ve left off,” he said. “It’s tough to say, ‘Oh, I’ve gotten so much better over time,’ because four years missed due to injury, it’s tough to get better on the field without those actual reps.
“But I feel like I’ve shown myself the glimpses of the pitcher that I was, the pitcher that I can still become if I can stay healthy, and ultimately, that’s what’s made me come back here. I still love this game, and I still love being here with everybody. It’s a good time still.”
Rocco Baldelli says Canterino has the stuff to produce outs in the majors and that the Twins anticipate him being an effective reliever.
“We all have known for a long time that he has exceptional stuff,” said Baldelli. “The pitches do some pretty great things, almost kooky. He’s got the delivery that is coming from a different spot. The ball is coming out really hot. His offspeed pitches, they’re very difficult to find a barrel with.”
Baldelli says Canterino’s next step is staying healthy to get a feel for the game. Canterino has maintained his velocity and pitch shape. However, he must learn to read hitters and set them up to keep them off-balance.
“It’s about being on the mound, consistency, finding himself again as a pitcher,” said Baldelli, “and then getting into a rhythm of being on the field for an extended period of time where he can actually work on some feel and nuance. It’s hard to do when he’s been out there somewhat sporadically, but it’s something that could come quickly.”
Canterino has dropped his curveball and would use the fastball, slider, and changeup out of the bullpen. “That’s that’s my main mix,” he said. “We’ll try to really dial that in here going forward. And then, it’s a long season. It’s about making adjustments.
“The goal is to get on the field first, to stay healthy, and see how hitters respond. And then I’ll respond to that.”
Baldelli says Canterino is inquisitive. He’s a unique pitcher who’s always trying to refine his game. “He’s got interesting thoughts, and his delivery is a little different,” said Baldelli. “It kind of makes him unique as a member of the group. But it’s cool. That’s who he is.
“We want him to feel comfortable asking the questions, bringing up the topics that he thinks are relevant, and just let him go do his thing. We want him to be able to go pitch. Really, that’s the only thing that matters right now.”
Canterino hasn’t lost his passion for the game or given up on his dream of being a big leaguer. He gets emotional when discussing his support system. His parents, John and Marlene, retired and moved an hour north of Fort Myers. Canterino stayed with his brother while rehabbing with Dr. Keith Meister in Arlington, Texas. He also said his wife Kylie, whom he met at Rice, has supported him throughout his career.
“I love baseball, [but] I don’t love rehabbing,” said Canterino. “I’ve been pretty consistent in saying that. Getting over that hurdle is the toughest part. I think I do a good job of goal setting, meaning I try to keep a big-picture goal in mind, and then I try to set little, small goals along the way to help keep reminding me that I’m still on the right track.
“It’s been a dream of (mine) to play and contribute at the major league level since I was very young, and I still have that dream like I said, the support system around me constantly reminds me of that dream. Not just pressures me to achieve it but supports me to get there. It’s just kind of been a perfect storm of everything going in the right direction to keep me going.”
Canterino, 27, no longer appears on Minnesota’s top prospect lists. However, he still has the stuff that enticed the Twins to draft him 54th overall in 2019 and helped him rise through their system. Canterino may no longer be the starter people projected him to be, but he could be a valuable reliever this season because he’s kept his major league dreams alive.
