Slade Cecconi came into the 2026 season hoping to build off of a fairly successful first year with the Cleveland Guardians organization. However, five starts into the new year, and the starting pitcher isn’t in the position he or the team wants him to be in.
Those struggles continued on Monday evening as the Houston Astros got aggressive against Cleveland’s starter and scored six earned runs before the Guardians had a chance to blink, leading to a 9-2 loss for the Guardians in the series opener.
When his outing was over, Cecconi ended up allowing 10 hits, issuing a pair of walks, and only striking out two batters in 5.0 innings of work.
The command was actually pretty good, and that was part of the problem. Cecconi left a lot of pitches in the zone, and when the Astros hit them, they hit them hard.
One of Cecconi’s biggest struggles in this outing against Houston has been one that’s been a recurring problem all year, and that’s giving up hard contact. Cecconi gave up multiple hits with an exit velocity that exceeded 100 mph, including two home runs.
Even with Cleveland having an above-average defense, giving up hard contact, hoping to get groundouts and lineouts isn’t a sustainable recipe for success, and Cecconi is learning that right now.
Manager Stephen Vogt actually liked Cecconi’s fastball, but “just not crispy with his other stuff.” That heater is what the Astros seemed to be sitting on, or jumping at on the first pitch if it was there.
After this start, Cecconi has a 6.46 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP in his first start. That includes two outings where the right-hander has given up six earned runs.
Despite all of the early-season struggles, Vogt is not worried about where Slade is at.
“He knows that he needs to make some adjustments, and our pitching team knows that the adjustments that need to be made,” continued Cleveland’s skipper. “I would not question Slade working his backside off again and making some adjustments to get back to being him, to get him the crispness back on his off-speed.”
In Cecconi's defense, he's been tasked with throwing against some of MLB's toughest lineups and hasn't pitched in the best conditions, given the cold. However, that's baseball, and it's all about how a player responds.
Cecconi’s next start is estimated to come over the weekend against the Toronto Blue Jays. It’ll be interesting to see whether or not he gets the movement back on the offspeed pitches.
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