This story was excerpted from Tim Stebbins’ Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CLEVELAND -- Slade Cecconi came to the set position in the first inning on Monday and paused, staring in toward Maikel Garcia. Ahead 1-2 in the count, the Guardians right-hander snapped off an offering that appeared to be headed toward the top of the strike zone.
The pitch -- a 78.8 mph curveball -- instead dove toward the bottom of the zone. Garcia whiffed at it for strike three.
As Cecconi carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning, his curveball was a key wrinkle to his dominant performance against Kansas City. Of his 100 pitches, he threw it 30 times -- marking his highest usage in both percentage and total thrown in a single outing this season.
The Royals recorded just a 73.0 mph average exit velocity and zero hits against Cecconi's curve.
“It’s incredible to me to watch him. With how big and slow it is, it still has teeth,” manager Stephen Vogt said of Cecconi’s curveball. “It’s still sharp coming down, and that’s what he was missing there for that month. It just wasn’t sharp. It’s not an easy pitch to throw, and he executed it really well [Monday]."
Cecconi had a strong first half after he joined the Guardians’ starting rotation on May 17. In 10 starts before the All-Star break, he recorded a 3.44 ERA over 55 innings. His second half has been more of a mixed bag. In his first nine starts (entering Monday), Cecconi recorded a 6.19 ERA across 52 1/3 innings -- that included a 6.31 ERA in 25 2/3 innings over five August starts.
The Guardians believe Cecconi has been at his best when he has his curveball and slider to complement his four-seam fastball. Those are his primary three offerings, and his spin pitches help keep opponents from sitting on his heater. Consider how his curveball fared over the previous two months:
July (16.6 percent usage): .120 BA, .204 xBA, .280 SLG, .355 xSLG
August (10.9 percent): .143 BA, .294 xBA, .214 SLG, .503 xSLG
Even beyond the past two months, Cecconi’s curveball has been a reliable offering all season. Opponents have hit .118 against it with a .224 slugging percentage and a 30.4 percent strikeout rate. It has averaged 75.2 mph, which was below the league average of 79.6 mph (entering Tuesday). Its vertical drop was 1.6 inches greater than other curveballs thrown at similar velocities and release points.
“Not a lot of people in the league throw a curveball like I throw it,” Cecconi said. “It’s bigger, it's slower. It really complements my fastball. They have almost the exact opposite movement patterns. It's probably the best tunnel for a pitch that I have, and it's a pitch that we've talked about really working into the game plan.”
Cecconi has thrown his curveball far more against lefties (207 offerings) than righties (71) this season; Kansas City had seven left-handed hitters in its starting lineup on Monday, hence why he leaned into it as much as he did. But given how effective it is, he noted he wants to throw it more to right-handers going forward.
“It kind of worked out well that I had the best command of it tonight that I've had all season,” Cecconi said. “When you pair that with the strategy of how to use it, things go well.”