Cleveland Guardians have secret weapon that should excite fans

For a franchise that spends essentially no money in free agency, and has an incredibly hard time developing any sort of power bat, or corner outfielder one thing has been incredibly consistent over the last fifteen or so odd years.

The Cleveland pitching factory just continues to churn out reliable starters, year in and year out. Although this iteration has not yet produced a bonafide No. 1, potential Cy Young winning starter a la CC Sabbathia, Corey Kluber or most recently Shane Bieber, the development of starting pitching by this organization can perhaps only be matched by the Milwaukee Brewers.

For the time being it seems like the Guardians front office has put their faith in Tanner Bibee, inking him to a $48 million contract that will potentially keep him in Cleveland through the 2030 season. And although Bibee has not built on his second place rookie of the year finish in 2023, he is still just 26 years old and there is plenty of reason for optimism.

Namely the offense has been no help scoring runs at just under 4 a game (3.9), and the defense behind Bibee has been uncharacteristically subpar for a Cleveland squad who prides themselves on fundamentals. Regardless, he's here to stay and should he be able to recover his 2023 form Cleveland has themselves a front line starter on an incredible bargain deal.

Let's talk about another 26 year old, Slade Cecconi, who was written off by the Arizona Diamondbacks after just 17 starts. Admittedly, those starts were not great pitching to an ERA over 6 over just 104 innings. A centerpiece of the Josh Naylor trade this offseason, Cecconi is under contract until 2031, so he is here for the long haul as well.

Although it has been an up and down season for Cecconi, at times he has flashed brilliance (most recently carrying a no-hitter into the 8th inning on Monday). When Cecconi is at his best he relies on exceptional command his walk rate is in the eighty third percentile and a curveball that seems to vanish on hitters. He has lowered his ERA by a full run and a half from a season ago and has consistently taken the ball since coming off the injured list in mid-May.

And there is more help on the way, we haven't even mentioned Parker Messick who has absolutely sparkled across his first four career starts. Daniel Espino, a former top pitching prospect for the club has looked sharp in Double A Akron after missing the first half of the year due to a shoulder injury. The real diamond in the rough however, could be Khal Stephan, Guardians No. 7 prospect who came over in the Shane Bieber deadline package. Stephan has rocketed up prospect lists and pitched across four levels of the minor leagues since being drafted last July and has pitched to a 2.55 ERA with 107 strikeouts and only nineteen walks.

Not to mention the bullpen, and other veteran starters like John Means who could make his way into the rotation next year.

The pitching factory just continues to roll on and at some point next year, Cleveland fans will be learning the names of three new dynamic arms who seemingly came out of nowhere. Just look around the rest of the league and you will see players and coaches who came through the Cleveland system carving out solid careers for themselves on the mound.

The coaching staff which includes Beachwood graduate and former major leaguer Brad Goldberg and the ever-constant Carl Willis, as well as the aforementioned Kluber in a "special assistant role" seem to make pitching development look as easy as getting out of bed in the morning.

It's just what they do.

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