Guardians notes: Cleveland pitching coach Carl Willis continues to work his magic

CLEVELAND — Carl Willis would never give himself credit for the success of Cleveland's pitching staff under his tutelage throughout the years. So team president Chris Antonetti will. "He has such great humility that he'd be the last person to look towards himself," Antonetti said of the longtime pitching coach, who is in his 15th season with Cleveland in the role. "In fact, the only time Carl looks at himself is when things aren't going well and he thinks about what else he can do to do better. He is a Hall of Fame-caliber pitching coach and person and leader. "Not only is he exceedingly skilled as a pitching coach, but he does such an extraordinary job of creating environment for the pitching team to come together, all with the sole focus of, 'How do we help support each individual pitcher to be the best that they can be?'" Willis' first stint as Cleveland's pitching coach under manager Eric Wedge spanned 2003-09 and included an American League ERA title in 2005 (3.61) and two Cy Young award winners, CC Sabathia (2007) and Cliff Lee (2008). He is in the midst of his second tour, rejoining the staff under manager Terry Francona prior to 2018. Cleveland pitchers ranked in the top four in the AL in ERA in each of his first three seasons, topping the list in 2020 (3.29, second-lowest in the majors), and Willis guided another starter to the Cy Young in Shane Bieber (2020). Cleveland's staff have posted sub-4.00 ERAs in six of the last seven seasons and entered Sunday at 4.02 over 81 games. "Carl pours everything he has into each individual player and I think he creates this belief in our guys," Antonetti said. "In addition to all of the development on the mound and the technical and tactical part, he helps instill a belief because he believes that every one of them has a chance to be successful, sometimes maybe more than they believe in themselves. And that total package is part of what makes Carl so unique. "It's hard to get Carl to talk about himself, but if you can, to get him to talk about his professional journey and how he continues to evolve over the last 25 years as a pitching coach and the things that he's learned as different resources have come available, how he's incorporated those. And I think that's another attribute of Carl is he's always seeking to get better and grow." Nolan nugget Outfielder Nolan Jones' batting average stood at only .219 over 73 games through Saturday, but he's been swinging the bat better as of late, hitting .311 (19-for-61) with 11 RBIs over his last 19 games. "I feel like I'm in a good spot," Jones said. "I feel like I've been taking good swings, haven't had a ton of results, but kind of sticking with the process." Striking gold? When the Guardians acquired Slade Cecconi from the Diamondbacks in a trade for Josh Naylor this offseason, the right-hander was coming off a year in which he went 2-7 with a 6.66 ERA in 20 games (13 starts) at the major league level. What did they see? "I think we look for attributes and ingredients that we think would lead to pitchers being successful," Antonetti said. "And in Slade's case, we didn't think that the superficial numbers told the whole story about what his potential might be. And so we thought it was someone that had those ingredients. If we could bring him into our environment, hopefully we could develop a new productive pitcher. "And I give Slade all the credit in the world for the way in which he's transitioned to the organization, the faith he's placed in us and our pitching staff to try to help him continue to improve. Hopefully that continues and hopefully he has a bright future ahead of him as a successful major league starting pitcher." Cecconi made his eighth start for the Guardians on Saturday, allowing three runs over 4 2/3 innings of a 9-6 loss to the Cardinals. He owns a 3-3 record and 3.64 ERA, striking out 42 over 42 innings. Next up The Guardians are off Monday, opening a three-game series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night at 8:05. RHP Gavin Williams (5-3, 3.68 ERA) starts the series opener for Cleveland, opposing LHP Matthew Boyd (7-3, 2.65), while RHP Tanner Bibee (4-8, 3.90) goes Wednesday night (8:05) against LHP Shota Imanaga (4-2, 2.54). RHP Luis Ortiz (4-9, 4.36) will pitch for the Guardians in the series finale Thursday night (8:05), while Chicago counters with RHP Cade Horton (3-2, 4.80). Roundin' third Jose Ramirez walked in the first inning Sunday, moving him past Charlie Jamieson for the 10th-most in franchise history with 628. Ramirez entered the day batting .355 (38-for-107) in 28 interleague games, trailing the Athletics' Jacob Wilson (.365) for the highest average in the AL. ** Steven Kwan entered Sunday tied for ninth in the AL with 91 hits, ranking third among outfielders behind Detroit's Riley Greene (94) and New York's Aaron Judge (108). Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.