Ryan Cusick ready for draft

Right-hander from Wake Forest could be picked in MLB draft tonight

If Ryan Cusick is nervous about which team picks him in the MLB draft, he’s not broadcasting it.

But at least he’ll be a part of the draft broadcast.

Wake Forest’s big right-handed pitcher is one of eight players who will be in Denver on Sunday night for the first round of the MLB draft, which begins at 7 p.m. and will be aired on MLB Network.

“We got the invite two weeks ago and it was just something that was always a possibility,” Cusick told Wake Up on Friday of attending the draft. “I didn’t know if I wanted to do it at home or if I wanted to go out there.

“The more I thought about it, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I wanted to take advantage of it.”

This is, indeed, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Cusick. Wake Forest’s ace this past season lands in some first-round projections, and if he’s not picked tonight (the first 36 picks), he figures to be snatched up early when the draft resumes Monday.

But the 6-6, 235-pounder isn’t fretting about where he winds up.

“I think it’s pretty cool to get an opportunity to play baseball for, maybe getting paid this time,” Cusick said. “I don’t really have any expectations and that’s really the only way you can approach it.”

Cusick has been drafted before — he was a 40th-round pick of the Cincinnati Reds coming out of high school.

Three years later, he’ll obviously go a lot higher than the last round of the draft.

ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel projects Cusick to go 29th overall to the Dodgers, but notes “he could also go about a dozen picks higher than this in a best case.” Cusick is ranked the 26th best draft-eligible player by mlb.com

But again: Cusick isn’t scouring the rankings and mock drafts to see where he might wind up. The process since Wake Forest’s season ended in May has been about readying himself for what comes after he’s picked.

“I look at things and keep myself busy by working out and seeing what I can do better,” Cusick said, “and each day has been (about) keeping my mind off of the short term of where I get drafted and on the long term of what can I do to get to the big leagues and can I do to stay there.”

Cusick said as he’s talked with teams that could draft him, he’s been asking whether he’ll be on an innings limit when his professional career begins. He threw 70 innings for the Deacons this past season.

Answers have … varied.

“Every (team) says it’s just something a little bit different and it’s something that they evaluate … when I come in there,” Cusick said. “They have protocols that they want me to go through and it’s going to be a case-by-case basis.”

And this is where Cusick’s experience last summer comes in handy.

The summer between a college player’s sophomore and junior seasons is of the utmost importance when it comes to pro aspirations, and Cusick was set to pitch in the famed Cape Cod Baseball League. That never came to fruition, with the COVID-19 pandemic interceding.

Cusick, though, stayed ready for a chance; and that chance came with the High Point-Thomasville HiToms.

“I didn’t know if I was going to play in the summer. I stayed ready and I benefited from it, so I’m taking the same mindset of staying ready,” Cusick said. “If they have me pitch, great, but if they don’t have me pitch, I know it’s the best plan for me.

“And I’m going to be playing a whole lot of baseball in the next couple of months, I just don’t know when exactly that lines up.”

Tonight could be when that all starts lining up.

(photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics)