1/26/24
Cloud is coming off a stellar freshmen campaign which had a few schools inquiring about him as a transfer recruit before committing to CSUN. With a good frame that has some present strength to it and athleticism in the delivery he is an interesting piece on the mound. Working with good tempo in the delivery and showing a pretty clean, repeatable operation getting down the mound there was a good feel for the strike zone, plus as he settled in flashed a feel for command of his FB, CB, SLD trio. His FB works 85-87 consistently with arm side ride to it, but he bumped 88-90 on a few occasions over the outing which could be more consistent as the year goes on. What makes Cloud dangerous is a pair of above average to plus breaking balls in his SLD and CB. The SLD is sharp with horizontal break and comes in at 75-77 MPH with late action flashing true swing/miss life consistently. He has added a 68-71 MPH CB with depth that tunnels well off his FB and froze several hitters for called strikes and bad swings from hitters. He throws a CHG in the 78-80 MPH range which is a 4th offering presently but he shows some feel for it to be a change of pace for LH hitters. There is enough in Cloud’s profile to project him as a potential starter at the next level. But, the combination of impressive breaking balls with ability to tick his FB velocity up in relief could make him a potential wipeout reliever at the next level.