After trial and error, Cecconi finds the right fit for his pitching arsenal

Understanding pitching can often be like working on a jigsaw puzzle. Some parts are easier to put in place.

Slade Cecconi tried to find a piece that would fit in his pitch-mix puzzle — one that would help him succeed in the Guardians’ rotation this season. Last season, he threw his fastball 44% of the time while mixing in his slider (18%), curveball (16%), sinker (11%), changeup (8%) and cutter (3%) much less often. This season, he was looking for a more diverse repertoire.

He had the easy pieces already lined up, such as pitch location.

“There’s some obvious [results] where it’s like, ‘OK, obviously, if I’m throwing fastballs and breaking balls right down the middle to guys who slug, I’m going to give up slug,’” said Cecconi in a recent conversation with MLB.com.

Working over the offseason and in Spring Training, Cecconi thought the missing piece might be a sweeper to replace his slurvey-type slider.

However, at the start of the season, he saw that the sweeper wasn’t a fit. Opponents were hitting .417 and had a 1.000 slugging percentage against the pitch. That was part of the reason Cecconi started the season with a 1-4 record with a 6.56 ERA. He also allowed eight home runs in 35 2/3 innings in that span (seven starts).

“We got rid of the sweeper because that pitch sucked, for lack of a better way to describe it,” Cecconi said. “It just sucked.”

He hasn’t thrown a sweeper since his start on April 20 against the Astros, in which he threw more sweepers (27) than any other pitch in a 94-pitch outing. He allowed seven runs (six earned) on 10 hits in five innings.

The newest pitch is a cutter, which he used only 3% of the time in 2025.

After throwing 15 cutters in the start vs. Houston, he threw it 49 times in his next two starts: 27 in a 90-pitch outing vs. Toronto, and 22 vs. the A’s in a 69-pitch outing.

The results still weren’t showing, though. He allowed nine runs on 16 hits (including three homers) in 11 innings in those starts combined.

“It takes time,” Cecconi said. “It’s hard to just look at one outing or maybe two outings and come up with a big-picture thing from one or two outings. You need data and feedback from hitters.”

Since then, his patience with the cutter has begun to pay off.

The pitch has become Cecconi’s self-described “Swiss Army Knife,” because it has been a few pitches wrapped in one.

“I can back door to lefties more now, I can go top rail with it, I can go down with it. It’s all the same pitch,” Cecconi said. “It’s just ever-so-slight manipulations of where I’m throwing it and what action I want to get on it. But it’s all the same pitch.”

The cutter has balanced his pitch mix, as he’s now using his fastball 30% of the time, while working in the cutter (27%) and sinker (18%) at higher rates than last season. He’s also using the curveball at a rate similar to last year (15%).

“Looking back from last year to this year, I feel like I am throwing the ball a lot better, throwing a lot more quality pitches and a more diverse mix than last year,” Cecconi said. “I’m throwing four different pitches at almost 20 percent rates, which is huge for me as a pitcher. When guys don’t know what’s coming and don’t know what to sit on, it makes it a lot harder to slug.”

In his last seven starts (since May 7), Cecconi has a 3.16 ERA. More importantly, he has allowed only two home runs in that span (37 innings). His 2.83 FIP in that span also suggests that his current run is sustainable or could even get better. It’s the lowest FIP among Cleveland’s starters and seventh-best among AL qualifying starters. And the cutter? Opponents are hitting .229 against it this season with a .343 slugging percentage.

With the fastball, sinker and curveball, Cecconi’s cutter plays well with the other pitches.

“I have four pitches that I feel confident throwing to you, at least somewhere in the strike zone,” Cecconi said. “Whether it’s back door, front hip, up, down for chase, for a strike — I’m going to be able to use those four pitches.”

MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins contributed to this story