Though Canada isn't always known for our baseball talent, the country is seeing more players get drafted into the MLB from this northern side of the border.
One player making an impact in the minor league baseball is relief pitcher - and Oakville's own - Eric Cerantola.
Cerantola grew up in Oakville, and was a multi-sport athlete playing hockey along with baseball.
He was so good at hockey as well that he was drafted by the Owen Sound Attack in the 2016 OHL Draft. But he decided to put down his stick and pick up a glove choosing to pursue baseball full-time.
Cerantola was originally drafted to the MLB straight out of Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School by the Tampa Bay Rays, but decided to go to college instead of joining the minor leagues.
The Oakville product attended Mississippi State University on a baseball scholarship, and played there for four seasons.
After his senior season in 2021, Cerantola entered the MLB draft once again and was picked in the fifth round by the Kansas City Royals and signed a $500,000 signing bonus.
In his first minor league season (playing for the Royals single-A and high-A teams in 2022), some believed that Cerantola had the potential to be a starting pitcher since he started some games when he was in college.
He was granted 10 starts in his first minor league season, but his control of the baseball was an issue and eventually moved to the bullpen where he has been ever since.
2023 saw Cerantola start to improve his game from the bullpen, he played in 32 games that year across high-A and double-A and managed to record an ERA of 3.66 and had a K/9 (Strikeouts per nine innings) of 11.9. His control was still an issue, as his walks per nine innings was a total of 5.4.
This was a step forward in the right direction because even though his control of the baseball was leading to a good amount of walks, he still despite that was able to improve on his strikeouts and ERA.
The momentum carried into the 2024 season where he played in 24 games in double-A to start the year and posted a 2.78 ERA and a 12.5 K/9 - a huge improvement from the season prior.
Cerantola's success was noticed and he was later promoted to triple-A in August. In his 13 games coming out of the bullpen, he posted a 3.77 ERA and a 12.6 K/9.
All combined with his time in double-A, Cerantola posted a 2.97 ERA in 37 total games. In fact, he played so well that he was ranked number 29 on the Royals top 30 prospects.
Cerantola certainly has the potential to climb the ranks in the Royals system as he will most likely start this next season in triple-A.
If he shows more improvement on the mound and has another good season in the minor leagues, Cerantola may just get a call up to play in the MLB with the Royals.