Season in Review – Slade Cecconi

Slade Cecconi was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2020 in the first competitive balance round, 33rd overall. Cecconi only pitched 104 innings between 2023 and 2024 for the Diamondbacks before the Josh Naylor trade with Arizona brought Slade to Cleveland.

Slade started his first season in the Guardians organization on the 15-day IL with an oblique strain. He pitched with Triple A Columbus on rehab assignment, starting 3 games, pitching a 4.85 ERA. He was activated on the 17th of May for the Cincinnati Reds series in Cincy. Slade earned his first loss of the season, allowing 3 earned runs. But that first loss would not be indicative of Slade’s season.

Cecconi ended the season having gone .500 with 7 wins and loses. In his 132.0 innings pitched in the regular season, he put up a 4.30 ERA, below his 5.01 xERA. He struck out 7.43 per 9, walked 2.18 per 9 and put up 0.7 fWAR. His end of season stats solidifies him as a 3rd-4th starter in Cleveland’s rotation in his first full season. He was tapped to pitch game three of the wild card round, only going 2.1 innings before getting the hook. In his 2.1 IP he allowed one run on two hits and a walk and struck out three.

However, Slade Cecconi (to quote the “kids”) got that dawg in him. One of the best things of Slade’s season was watching him emerge as a fighter and someone who can dig deep and pull out a near no hitter in late September.

In the midst of the 10-game losing streak Slade famously predicted that the team would find success at the end of the season and make a play off appearance. He also allegedly predicted CJ Kayfus’ famous walk off hit by pitch to send the Guardians to the playoffs. By the end of the season, Slade regularly professed his love for Cleveland and quickly became a fan favorite.

But, can Slade maintain this success and improve upon it?

In 2025 Slade threw 6 pitches; fastball, slider, curve, sinker, change-up, and a cutter (in order of usage). Baseball Savant has a sweeper also recorded, but it only accounted for 2 of his 2063 total pitches. His fastball accounted for the majority of his pitches at 43.6% usage. His slider (18.6%), curveball (16.5%), and sinker (11%) were his other go-to pitches. On the year, Cecconi’s wFA/C was just above average at 0.29, but was below average in Stuff+ at 87. Based on Stuff+, his best pitch in 2025 was his cutter. The cutter sat barely above average at 101 Stuff+ with the slider (97) and change up (95) falling just below average. He only used his cutter 2.7% of the time, so its likely a super small sample size issue skewing the data.

In late September, Cecconi mentioned how the success of his curveball was aiding his fastball and were the focus for his late season as he relied on the fast/curve combo more and more. Will that be the best option for 2026 in its current iteration? In 2025 Slade’s fastball accounted for 8 of his 21 allowed homeruns and the second highest batting average against him at .288. Meanwhile his curveball only had a .141 batting average against it. The sinker, for Slade, had an average velocity of 93.6 mph in 2025, making it a potential paring with the fastball to add another combo to his arsenal.

As Slade enters his second season in Cleveland’s rotation it will be exciting to see what another year under the tutelage of Carl Willis can do to help him grow as a pitcher.

Who knows, maybe he will be the one to break the no-hitter drought. Slade certainly has the drive.