Early-Season Struggles Place Slade Cecconi's Future in Guardians Rotation in Question

Through his first six starts of 2026, Slade Cecconi is posting a 6.23 ERA with an 0-4 overall record.

Apr 26, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Cleveland Guardians pitcher Slade Cecconi (44) is relieved during the sixth inning at a MLB game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images | Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images

Slade Cecconi's start to the 2026 MLB regular season has been nothing short of frustrating.

Outside of a singular outing against the Chicago Cubs, where he tossed six scoreless innings, Cecconi has been on the unfortunate end of countless losses to begin the year. Across his six starts, he has a 0-4 overall record, 6.23 ERA, 1.52 WHIP and .273 batting average against.

Each of those are the highest among Guardians starters, minus the batting average against, where Tanner Bibee has a mark 0.02 higher.

In Cecconi's sixth start of the year, which came on Sunday, April 26, he showcased the ability to hang in the game when things get tough, but it was still a rocky road. He tossed through 5.2 innings, giving up six hits and four earned runs, striking out five along the way.

"I thought we saw a lot of good out of Slade today," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said following the loss. "Obviously, the first inning and sixth inning, weren't his best, but I thought two through five, he was as good as we've seen him so far this year. Started to get a little bit of life on the sweeper, landed a few curveballs. The fastballs were pretty good today, so definitely a lot of good signs from Slade."

Cecconi did end up giving up a two-run home run in the sixth, which led to him being pulled from the game, on a curveball towards the top of the zone.

"The home run, it seemed like it was setting that curveball up," Vogt continued. "That's just bad. Yeah, just a mess up. They had the curveball set up right there... It happens. But just really unfortunate that it happened when it did."

Jesús Sánchez gives the Jays the lead with a two-run shot! 💥 pic.twitter.com/9vcSgW3h5Z

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 26, 2026

That rocket off the barrel of Jesús Sánchez's bat marks the sixth home run that Cecconi has given up through 30.1 innings this season.

He's going to need to cut down on the hard contact he gives up to opposing players, as that has been one of his primary weak points.

Besides his scoreless outing against the Cubs, Cecconi has allowed six or more hits in four games and has given up four or more earned runs in that same amount of time as well. Unfortunately, it's not like his knocks given up are at the expense of a high strikeout count, as he has only surpassed five once.

For Cleveland's coaching staff, especially Vogt, they are going to work with the 29-year-old as much as possible to try to pull him out of this funk. Very rarely does the team give up on players, especially those in the starting rotation.

But unless he drops his ERA to below 5.0 by the time he gets through 10 starts, an uncomfortable conversation is going to have to be had.

Cecconi does have one option remaining, making an appearance in Triple-A possible.

Currently, the Guardians are 15-14 and atop the American League Central heading into Monday night's affair against the Tampa Bay Rays, and with a starting arm giving you zero wins across six games, the leash can only be so long.