Slade Cecconi has been one of the Cleveland Guardians' best starting pitchers over the last few weeks.
Slade Cecconi stepped on the mound on Tuesday evening with a tough task at hand: keep a talented New York Yankees lineup at bay, after just seeing the group of players in his previous start.
For the most part, that’s exactly what Cecconi did. The Cleveland Guardians’ starter threw 6.0 innings, allowed just four hits, allowed one earned run, issued one walk, and struck out four batters.
Cecconi’s outing was the definition of a quality star, and over the last few weeks, that’s precisely what Cecconi has been: a quality pitcher.
One of the biggest concerns with Cecconi after his first season in Cleveland’s rotation was that he gave up a lot of hard contact. He had an average exit velocity of 91.7 mph in 2025.
It looked like that finally caught up with him earlier this season, because through Cecconi’s first seven starts of the season, he had a 6.23 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP. He had given up five home runs, with an average exit velocity of 87.2 mph, and a hard-hit rate of 37.8 percent over this stretch.
These numbers weren’t sustainable for a starting pitcher, but to Cecconi’s credit, he has really turned his season around and has been one of the better pitchers in the Guardians rotation over the last few weeks.
Jun 9, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Slade Cecconi (44) reacts in the fourth inning against the New York Yankees at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn ImagesIncluding his outing against the Yankees, Cecconi now has a 3.14 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP over his last six starts. The hard contact was still there at that time, but the Guardians pitcher has found other ways to get outs, including a ground-ball rate of nearly 50 percent.
One of the other big standouts from this stretch has been Cecconi's seemingly newfound ability to miss bats. While his command has always been a strength, generating punchout hasn't been.
Cecconi ended up generating 12 swings and misses in his start against the Yankees, with six of them coming on the cutter alone. Over this recent seven-game stretch of solid outings, Cecconi's strikeout rate has been 23.3 percent.
The changes aren't too surprising for the Guardians or Cecconi, considering that he has made some adjustments over the last few weeks.
"We see what's playing well. We see what's working well, and we're playing into it. and that's what we've been doing," Cecconi said on
"Earlier in the year, we had to decrease some of the spin usage because it wasn't playing. Now that it is, we're increasing it. We're following what feels well, what's working. Just going out there and pitching with what's my best stuff on that given day."
Cecconi heading in a positive direction is definitely an encouraging sign for the Guardians and the pitching staff. Now, it's all about making sure he continues to trend in the right direction as the season progresses.
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