Cecil quickly learns valuable lesson

DUNEDIN, Fla. - It didn't take long for Brett Cecil to learn his first big lesson as a professional pitcher. When something is bothering you, speak up.

Cecil, whom the Blue Jays selected with the 38th pick in last June's First-Year Player Draft, was experiencing soreness in his left shoulder earlier this spring but he kept quiet and kept pitching. It wasn't a new situation for him. In fact, he says the discomfort he sometimes feels in his shoulder has been present since he was a teenager so he didn't give it much thought.

But about a week before he threw two shutout innings against the Yankees in a Major League Spring Training game on March 20, Cecil began experiencing the pain once again and this time it didn't go away. Finally, he had no choice but to speak up and hasn't pitched in a game since.

"Usually the pain would go away but now it was hurting doing ordinary stuff," Cecil said early Friday afternoon at Knology Park. "So they gave me a cortisone shot about two weeks ago and that helped. The pain wasn't any different than I had experienced before. It was just an impingement. The sac in my shoulder was a little inflamed so they gave me the shot and I'm on anti-inflammatory pills. Hopefully all will stay well."

Had he spoken up sooner, Cecil likely would have started Dunedin's season opener Thursday night against Clearwater. For now, he's scheduled to start Monday against Fort Myers. He'll pitch the first two innings and is on a 35-pitch limit. Cecil was slated to throw a side session on Friday and if he makes it through that fine and feels no discomfort over the weekend, he'll be ready for Monday.

"I might have been able to go for Opening Day but I waited a week," he said. "When [the pain] started to get more intense, I had to say something. I'm going to say something from now on. I'm not going to risk a full season just to pitch one day. If anything feels abnormal, I'll speak up.

"I felt the same kind of pain my first two weeks in the Cape Cod League after my sophomore year in college. Whenever I take more than two weeks off, I usually have some tendinitis or something. But I know myself and everyone is different. That's the reason why I didn't say anything. But I learned my lesson and if anything is wrong, I'll have it checked out."

Cecil said the team's medical staff gave him a strength test before the cortisone shot was administered and he did poorly. Shortly after the shot took affect, his scores shot up so the results have been positive. Still, the Jays have no plans to rush their prized southpaw, whose shining moment this spring came in that nationally televised game against the Yankees.

While there was some talk earlier this spring that Cecil might have been ready to begin the season at Double-A New Hampshire, this setback, albeit a minor one, squashed whatever talk - premature as it may have been - there might have been about him beginning the season in the Eastern League. Cecil, who was a closer at The University of Maryland, appeared in 14 games (13 starts) last year with Auburn of the New York-Penn League. He was 1-0 with a 1.27 ERA, 56 strikeouts, 11 walks and a .197 opponents' batting average over 49 2/3 innings.

Cecil is also hoping to start working on pitching more inside once he gets back on the mound and into a routine. He still has a bit of the college mindset of pitching away -- the result of facing aluminum bats. He had been working on adding a cutter to his repertoire but abandoned that idea when he couldn't find a comfortable grip. So Cecil will stick with his four-seamer inside and two-seamer away and a power slider that acts a great deal like a cutter anyway.

"I can't back door my slider, though," Cecil said. "I spoke to Gustavo Chacin and told him I was trying to back door it. He said step a little to the left in my pitching line so I might try that today during my side. A hitter might pick up on the delivery but he won't have time to see the ball and hit in time. If he can, he's a heck of a hitter."

The Blue Jays think that Cecil will be a heck of a pitcher. He only reinforced that belief after learning a very valuable lesson.