You Better You Better You Brett!

Thursday, January 07 2010 @ 07:02 AM EST

Contributed by: #2JBrumfield

Who comes up with these titles!?!   A belated Happy New Year, Bauxites!   The first Batter's Box POTD of 2010 features a pitcher who showed promise at times in 2009.

Brett Cecil pitches against the Minnesota Twins at the Rogers Centre September 10th.

In his final start of the season, Cecil gave up two runs on seven hits and a walk over six innings to earn the victory as the Jays shelved the Twinkies 3-2.


The 23 year-old lefty from Dunkirk, Maryland didn't waste time getting to the big league stage.  The 38th overall pick of the 2007 amateur draft from Maryland started his pro career in Auburn and helped the Doubledays capture the New York-Penn League title by winning the clinching game against Brooklyn with a solid seven inning performance.  Cecil continued to climb the minor league ladder in 2008 by making stops in Dunedin, New Hampshire and Syracuse.  He began 2009 in Las Vegas but was called up to make his major league debut against Cleveland at the Rogers Centre May 5th.  Despite plunking three batters, Cecil struck out six over six innings and walked nobody as he allowed just two runs.   He was in a position to get his first major league "W" but the bullpen couldn't hold the lead for him.  However, the Jays did prevail with a 10-6 victory.

The 6-foot-2, 225 pound Cecil would earn victories in his next two starts by pitching eight shutout frames in Oakland and he picked up his first home win with a three-run, six inning effort against the White Sox.  However, he would get rocked by the Red Sox at Fenway Park as he was torched for eight runs in 4 2/3 innings for his first career loss.  The season went to hell in a handbasket for both Cecil and the Jays as Cecil was sent down to Las Vegas while the Jays went 0-9 on their road trip through Boston, Atlanta and Baltimore.

Cecil came back up on June 20th and did his best to help the club win on my birthday but his three-run, seven inning effort was not enough as the Jays lost in Washington 5-3 in 12 innings.  He endured a pair of rough starts by giving up five runs to Cincinnati and seven runs against New York while failing to reach the fourth inning.  Cecil would avoid getting charged with the loss in both instances but the team wasn't as lucky.  Cecil did get back on the beam by supplying six shutout frames against his hometown Orioles in a 2-0 Jays victory at Camden Yards July 5th.  He won his fifth game of the season in his next start in Oakland in a four-run, seven inning effort but Cecil suffered a knee injury while fielding a Robert Andino bunt against the Orioles at Rogers Centre August 8th.  He didn't start again until August 20th and was raked for 22 runs over his next four starts that included losses to Boston, Tampa and the Yankees and a win during an 18-10 slugfest against the Rangers in Arlington.  His knee injury may have played a role during his rought patch but Cecil finished 2009 on an high note with his quality start against the Twins September 10th.  For the season, Cecil was 7-4 with a 5.30 ERA and pitched 93 1/3 innings.  His K-BB total was 69-38 and his WHIP was 1.65 thanks to 116 hits given up.  Along with 49 innings pitched in Las Vegas, Cecil was shut down for the remainder of the season.

Cecil featured a fastball that ranged from 90-92 MPH along with a slider in the mid-80's as well as a changeup and a curve.  Two things Cecil will have to work on at the big league level are keeping the ball down and keeping it in the park.  With ground ball rates in the 50-70 percent range in the minors, it was only 44 percent in the major leagues as he did give up 17 home runs.  His BABIP (batting average on balls in play) was .340 but conventional wisdom suggests that will drop for Cecil in 2010 as the typical BABIP for most pitchers checks in around .300.

Where Cecil pitches in 2010 appears to be up in the air.  In a recent article, Jordan Bastian of bluejays.com pegs Cecil to be the number five man in the Jays starting rotation with the recent acquisition of Brandon Morrow and the expected return of Shaun Marcum from Tommy John surgery.  However, Cecil will have lots of competition to hold down his starting role as there's speculation Dustin McGowan may finally return in 2010 after missing part of 2008 and all of 2009 with a shoulder injury.  It'll be interesting to see how Cecil fares in 2010.

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