In December 2024, a couple of days before Christmas Eve, the Cleveland Guardians sent fan favorite Josh Naylor to the Arizona Diamondbacks to bring in right-hander Slade Cecconi and a draft pick.
At the time, the trade was seen as the Guardians trying to get some value out of Naylor in his last year of arbitration. And, to some extent, it was mostly about that.
However, Cecconi, who was coming off a 6.66 ERA season in the desert in 2024, was a legitimate pickup. The Guardians were able to overlook the numbers and focus on the tools, and that approach paid off in 2025.
Last year, the 26-year-old righty posted a 4.30 ERA in 132 innings, with a very good 3.90 mark in September in the middle of the race for the division.
How good can Cecconi be in 2026, now that he has a full season in Cleveland under his belt? Well, the talent is there for him to take a significant step forward.
Having developed a new version of his cutter, revamped his slider, and changed his pitch mix in the process. He now throws the hard cutter more often, which goes well with the rest of his arsenal.
This new recipe is leading to a lot of successful spring training starts. He boasts a 2.13 ERA in Cactus League play, in 12.2 innings, with 14 punchouts against just three walks.
Of course, we can’t just expect spring stats to seamlessly translate to the regular season, but it does give Cecconi a strong foundation to build upon and some much-needed confidence.
Some believe Cecconi’s ceiling is much higher than what he showed in 2025, which wasn’t bad to begin with. The fact remains that he will need to prove he can join the elite tier in the regular season, not in the Cactus League.
If Cecconi, a former Competitive Balance pick (33rd overall in 2020), can take a step forward, it would bring Cleveland’s rotation to a whole new level of excellence. A trio of Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibee, and Cecconi would be behind many victories this year.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. Let the kid prove himself before jumping to conclusions.
We would be lying if we told you that he isn’t looking good, though.
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