One of the Top Arms in the Country
Fastball velocity isn’t everything, but it’s the foundational aspect of most pitchers’ arsenals. In that regard, very few prospects in the 2021 draft class can match Ryan Cusick. The Wake Forest right-hander was holding 94-97 deep into starts, sometimes touching 99 mph, before the shutdown this spring. Seemingly unfazed by the four-month layoff, he’s continued firing in summer ball.
Velocity Development
Cusick didn’t throw this hard coming out of high school. In their writeup of him as a prep, Baseball America noted he “sits in the 92-94 range,” an assessment with which he agrees. Already strong and physical, Cusick wasn’t prototypically projectable when he arrived on campus. He has put on some muscle in the weight room, but the bigger key to unlocking arm speed has come in cleaning up his delivery. Naturally, Wake Forest’s state-of-the-art pitching mechanics lab played a big role.
“I remember going in at the end of the summer (2019) and doing a biomechanics report….The power production from my legs was just extremely poor. I’m a strong kid, I lift a lot, so I knew I was leaving a lot of power potential on the table,” Cusick told Prospects Live. Previously too reliant on his quads, he went to work on better integrating his glutes and hamstrings into his delivery.
Cusick’s work to fine tune his lower half translated into increased rotation through his hips. No longer cutting himself off and throwing quite as dramatically across his body, Cusick increased the separation between his front hip and throwing shoulder prior to release the ball. The concept of hip-shoulder separation can be better visualized on Nathaniel Plotts’ screenshot of Mookie Betts mid-throw.
How does that enable a 3-4 mph jump in velocity? A biomechanical analyst (not commenting specifically in relation to Cusick) analogized to a rubber band.
“Pretend one side of the band is your upper half and the bottom of the band is your lower half,” the analyst said. “If both your upper half and lower half rotate in opposite directions, you can throw harder during arm acceleration, (which is like) when you let go of the rubber band and shoot.”
Secondary Pitches
That fastball velocity is the primary reason Cusick could find himself in the first-round mix next June. Of course, it’s not the only pitch in his arsenal. In his final start of the season, the Demon Deacons’ Friday night starter finished off three of his eleven strikeouts with the breaking ball.
That pitch is 81-85 MPH, something of a curveball velocity band for a pitcher with a plus fastball. Yet its action is more east-west than a typical curve. Some pitchers would blanch at a slurve label, but Cusick embraces it.
“I don’t really know how someone would characterize it. My spin direction’s around that 7:30 range, so it’s kind of in between the two,” he said of the breaker. “Getting through the baseball, getting into my legs and allowing myself to get on top of the ball and pull it down…since I’m a naturally cross-bodied pitcher, it ends up going more east-to-west than a traditional breaking ball.”
However one would characterize the breaking ball, it’s been Cusick’s secondary of choice thus far. Perhaps that won’t be the case next spring. His changeup, which he’s had almost no feel for over his first two collegiate seasons, was a developmental focus during quarantine. Working with former Wake teammate (and Braves’ 2020 first-rounder) Jared Shuster this summer, Cusick toyed with different offspeed grips. Most players are adjusting constantly; merely working to develop a better third pitch is no guarantor he’ll find one. Still, it’s encouraging Cusick has the aptitude to target specific improvements in his profile, and he’s already made strides with his two primary offerings since he’s been on campus.
Overall Draft Outlook
So, where does the overall package fit? Cusick certainly has the upside to follow Shuster as a first-rounder. Even in today’s game, finding pitchers who hold mid-high 90’s velo deep into starts isn’t easy. What’s more, he seemed on the verge of emerging as one of college baseball’s premier swing-and-miss arms before the shutdown. With 43 strikeouts in 22.1 innings, Cusick ranked sixth nationally in K/9. Of those ahead of him, only Ohio State’s Seth Lonsway is returning to campus in 2021.
Cusick is not without flaws, of course. Until he incorporates his newfound changeup into games, that pitch remains a question mark. He’s had bouts of wildness throughout his career, perhaps a product of some visible effort at release. If he’s to stick as a starter long-term, at least one of those concerns will have to be alleviated. Nevertheless, Cusick’s present stuff and budding performance track record place him among the most interesting players in the country to follow next spring.