Brett Cecil

by benzalman on Dec 26, 2007 1:54 PM EST

I was going through last year's draft a bit and came to Brett Cecil, who i only knew as Maryland's closer and that he was the Blue Jays Sup pick.

Everything I've read raves about his slider and notes his fastball. I also see quite a bit about his lack of a change up and thus fears about his ability to get righties out.

Then I looked at his stats from this past year:
1.27 ERA, 49.2 IP, 36H, 10ER, 7R, 1HR, 11BB, 56K 1.99BB/9, 10.15K/9, .197BAA, 0.95WHIP.

Pretty dominant numbers in any league. He was pitching in the NY Penn league so I'd expect to see some dominance.

The real question here is that he made 13 starts. Are the Blue Jays considering making him a starter? are they just trying to get him innings? Has he developed something pitchwise that's enabling him to try this?

Also, turning college closers into starters seems to be a trend of late, do you feel it's been successful?

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Starter vs Reliever

IMO, whether or not the pitcher's eventual destination is starting or relieving, it's better to work them as a starter in the low minors. It's much easier to move from starting to relieving than vice-versa. Plus, the starting forces them to learn to pitch and hopefully develop more of a repertoire.

IMO, the Giants mishandled David Aardsma when they tried to fast-track him to the majors as a closer. He never really had the arsenal or refinement to make it as a major league closer and the starting may have helped him with both. Of course, the Giants did finally do that during his third season with them and he was pitching with some success at AA. Then he got traded to the Cubs who moved him right back to the bullpen.

by DrBGiantsfan on Dec 26, 2007 3:13 PM EST reply actions

Exactly

the struggles of guys like Aardsma, Ryan Wagner, Joey Devine and Craig Hansen have made teams rethink how to handle college relievers. Plus starters just have so much value that it is always worth trying.

by kaisertown on Dec 26, 2007 3:42 PM EST up reply actions

street and cordero seem to be the successful

college closer fast trackers in recent seasons

by rayver723 on Dec 26, 2007 4:52 PM EST reply actions

Exceptions

You'll always find exceptions. I think having college relievers start for awhile in the minors is still a better way to go.

by DrBGiantsfan on Dec 26, 2007 5:04 PM EST up reply actions

Dominance at low levels

Often pitchers dominating low levels only rely on one pitch in many cases, with an average second pitch.

Occasionally they'll have two plus pitches or a full complement of pitches.

I don't think anyone dominating the low levels of the minors necessarily means they have made any sort of progress.

Not unless they were asking him to purposely throw a minimum amount of changeups into the mix.

I'm not saying what Cecil did wasn't impressive, but a lot of pitchers dominate the low minors, and it doesn't mean that much in the grand scheme of things.

Let's see how his pitches develop, and how he fares against tougher competition.

Also, moving out of the bully clearly means he's also going to need to work on his mechanics and endurance. Also,since a lot of RPs these days work exclusively out of a stretch, and even if they don't, they don't go to the windup often.

All I want for Christmas is one more bully arm.

by sportznut3081 on Dec 26, 2007 5:19 PM EST reply actions

Cecil...

was BA's top prospect in the NYPL. The Jays have every intention of making the power lefty a starter and look for him to be in the Eastern League by July. He has two plus pitches in his Slider and Fastball (92-94mph). He also threw a changeup and a splitter coming out of college.

by ayjackson on Dec 26, 2007 8:33 PM EST reply actions