St. Louis Cardinals: Cardinals 2020 MLB Draft Guide

Slade Cecconi, RHP, Miami

I might sound like a broken record at this point, but the point still stands. The Cardinals need right-handed pitching in their system. So, that’s why the majority of these profiles were about filling that need.

Not only does Slade Cecconi have the coolest name in this draft, but he has the arm talent to be a problem for hitters at the next level.

Scouts love his size at 6’4′ while weighing about 220. His fastball tops out at about 97 mph but can decrease as he goes deeper into starts, which worries scouts as well as cause debate to whether he is a reliever or starter past college. He has an effective power slider but his curveball and changeup could use some further development.

He does not have too much of a problem with throwing strikes but leaving the ball over the heart of the plate on occasion seems to be a weakness for Cecconi.

Slade Cecconi will be entering the draft as a draft-eligible sophomore and is one of the younger college arms in this class at only 20 years old. He made the rotation as a true freshman but didn’t amount to much; posting a 4.16 ERA with 89 strikeouts in 80 innings.

He still came away with Freshman All-American Honors though. He was starting to show his potential during the 2020 season before the season ended shortly.

Though he might end up deciding to stay another year at Miami since he got to play only one season at the school he was firmly committed to coming out of high school. He could have gone higher in the 2018 MLB Draft, but his strong commitment to the University pushed him to the Baltimore Orioles in the 38th Round, but he did not sign.

Cecconi is yet another pitcher oozing potential with a high octane fastball and a solid breaking ball arsenal. As stated, there are concerns about whether he can remain in a starting rotation but the talent from Cecconi is there.

This 2020 Draft is very rich with college arms. Because of this, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Cardinals take multiple early, or go with a higher upside position player with their first pick and take a pitcher later. Either way, the Cardinals will have a ton of options at 21 and in just under a month we will see who will be joining the organization.