Slade Cecconi gets start for Guardians with season on the line

CLEVELAND — After making the trade for Slade Cecconi, the Guardians reinvented the right-hander. The results were impressive in 2025, as he compiled a 7-7 record with a 4.30 ERA in 23 starts. His biggest test will come this afternoon as he gets the call to start against Detroit's Jack Flaherty in the decisive Game 3 of the AL Wild Card Series. Cecconi, 26, was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks, with whom he had modest success despite being a first-round pick in 2020. "There's nothing that's the same," he said. "I mean, everything, to be honest with you, is different. My delivery has become much more consistent, and I move in ways that complement my movement patterns and my range of motion and my strength patterns. "I've developed two new pitches. I've sharpened up pretty much every other pitch that I have. We've tweaked my usages to righties and lefties throughout the years to complement what the game is telling me. I'm in a better mental state. I've never been able to process the game the way I process it now. All these things come together to create the product that's on the field right now." The former University of Miami standout was 3-8 in two seasons with the Diamondbacks before being dealt to Cleveland for first baseman Josh Naylor. "If you don't learn from failure, then what are you doing?" Cecconi asked. "We took all the areas I failed last year, and we dissected them and figured out where can I get better. How can I be better here? How can I be better here? We kind of merged that into a plan." Cecconi said he huddled with two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, who's the Guardians' special assistant to the pitching staff. "He was really good at what he did," Cecconi said. "That's why it's so valuable. That guy was incredible. And to have a mind like that around to bounce ideas and questions off is incredible. "A lot of times, it's nothing profound. It's just reassuring what you believe to be true and him, with as much experience as he has, say, 'What you've done to get here is what's going to get you through tomorrow or the next game or whatever.' Having that reassurance from a guy like that and being able to pick his brain on other stuff all the time. A baseball mind like that is something you should take advantage of whenever you can." Flaherty (8-15 with a 4.64 ERA in 31 starts) re-signed with Detroit as a free agent in the offseason. The Tigers traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the trade deadline in 2024 and he won a championship ring. "It was weird because I didn't really want to go," he said. "I was lucky enough to come back and continue those relationships. As this year's gone on, it obviously hasn't been quite what it was last year. There have been a lot more ups and downs. These guys have had my back throughout all of it. "We experienced all the highs and all the lows and everything in between. We may not have gotten here the way we wanted, but I think A.J. (Hinch, manager) said it doesn't matter once we get here. Everybody gets a chance to start over." Flaherty said he hasn't seen his World Series ring in five months. However, winning is everything in his eyes. "The reason you get out of bed in the morning is to go out and have a chance to win no matter where you're at," he said. "To have a chance to do it with these guys is all the more special." Bob Finnan can be reached at rfinnan30@gmail.com.