Slade Cecconi

Cecconi looked like a first-round pick based on his summer performance entering his senior year of high school, but he pitched sparingly in the spring due to an injury and made it to campus at Miami as a result. His freshman season was solid over 80 innings, although the stuff wasn’t quite as loud as he showed in shorter stints as a high schooler. Still, he showed enough flashes that teams were convinced he was the same pitcher and would become a first-round candidate with another strong season as a draft-eligible sophomore. In terms of pure stuff, Cecconi has more than any pitcher in Florida and stacks up with the better starters in the 2020 class. Having everything together at once has been a challenge for the 6-foot-4 righthander, who also saw his velocity tick down in his last outing of the year. At his best he runs his fastball up into the upper 90s with impressive life and has a slider, cutter and changeup that all flash plus. On top of the quality of Cecconi’s pitches, scouts like his frame and strike-throwing ability but believe he gets too much of the plate at times. Cecconi fits in the second round with his track record and performance, but his overall talent likely fits higher. Whether a team wants to take the risk to draft and sign him in that range is another question, and with additional leverage as an eligible sophomore it could prove difficult.