The Cleveland Guardians often make magic happen with their trades.
They can spot underrated talent like no other team in the league.
During the offseason, they turned one season from slugger Josh Naylor into six of young, promising pitcher Slade Cecconi and a high draft pick.
Of course, many fans opposed the trade initially, given the fact that Naylor hit 31 home runs and drove in 108 runs with the Guardians in 2024.
However, time is slowly proving president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and his staff right.
It took a while to witness a healthy Cecconi due to a spring training oblique strain, but he is now showing the best of his talent.
Guardians senior vice president of public affairs Bob DiBiasio is impressed with the right-hander and believes he has frontline starter potential.
“He has shown that he can be a top-of-the-rotation kind of guy,” DiBiasio said, via the Bruce Drennan Show.
Slade Cecconi is going to be a STAR in the future. #GuardsBall
"He has shown that he can be a top of the rotation kind of guy."
Presented by #mentornissan https://t.co/ouNQklEmQD pic.twitter.com/Sj3Wxy7SAP
— Bruce Drennan Show (@Bruce_Drennan) June 30, 2025
Right now, in his first season with Cleveland, Cecconi is sporting a 3.64 ERA in 42 innings, with 14 walks and 42 strikeouts.
For stretches, however, he has looked untouchable.
He can touch the high 90s and has a knee-buckling curve and a sharp slider.
His velocity, coupled with the extension he generates, makes it hard for hitters to square him up.
The Guardians deserve credit because they looked past his 6.66 ERA last year with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
With hard work and a fresh approach to pitching, he is breaking out.
The feeling is that, like DiBiasio implies, he hasn’t hit his ceiling yet.
He might truly have ace potential with a few more tweaks and more time under the Guardians’ coaching and player development staff.
NEXT: 2 Guardians Prospects Will Participate In All-Star Futures Game
