Blake Cederlind's fastball touches 99 mph in a major league debut for Pirates as easy as 1-2-3

Blake Cederlind couldn’t sit still, bouncing around the bullpen until he heard the phone ring. That’s when he got excited, knowing his major league debut was about to go down.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been awaiting Cederlind’s arrival since spring training, when he turned heads with a sizzling fastball that touched triple digits and showed off a mound presence to match.

“He’s a really fun guy to watch pitch, and his mentality and his attitude is infectious,” Pirates starter Joe Musgrove said. “He’s a guy we’ve been waiting on a long time to get up here and see what he’s got. Hopefully, he can bring a little spark and energy to the team.”

If Cederlind didn’t do that on his first pitch to Brian Goodwin, which registered 98 mph on the radar gun, he did on his second. That’s when his fastball hit 99. Cederlind followed with a 92 mph slider. Cederlind threw six fastballs that registered at 97 mph or higher.

“I wasn’t really worried about my velo. I knew with the adrenaline that it’d be there,” said Cederlind, a 2016 fifth-round pick out of Merced (Calif.) College. “I wasn’t exactly happy with my slider. I think it could’ve been a little bit sharper. But that’ll be something to work on.”

Cederlind got both Goodwin and Freddy Galvis to ground out to second and Jose Garcia to fly out to left for a 1-2-3 inning. It wasn’t quite the dazzling debut he had imagined — no strikeouts — but a clean inning nonetheless.

#Pirates' Blake Cederlind cruised through a 1-2-3 inning in his MLB debut. pic.twitter.com/fffn0KbdSE

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) September 16, 2020

“I was thinking the same thing: I wish I could’ve gotten a couple tickets,” Cederlind said. “But I was happy it was clean. Anytime you can get a clean one, you never complain.”

Cederlind brings a closer mentality to a team that lacks one, with two-time All-Star Felipe Vazquez in jail and Keone Kela and Kyle Crick on the injured list with right forearm inflammation. Cederlind could get a chance to compete for that role, if not this season then next spring.

The 6-foot-4 right-hander started the 2019 season in Class high-A Bradenton and finished it in Triple-A Indianapolis, going 5-2 with a 2.28 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 59¹/₃ innings over 41 appearances last season in three levels of the minors. Cederlind had nine strikeouts and four walks in five appearances last spring but tested positive for covid-19 in July and missed all summer training camp and spent most of the season at the alternate training site in Altoona.

The Pirates were careful not to rush Cederlind, believing not only does he have spectacular stuff, but it’s accompanied by an aggressive attitude. They wanted him to stay in the strike zone before testing him against major league hitters.

“He’s always had a really good arm,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said. “When someone can make the baseball do the kinds of things that he can make it do, there’s always hope and belief that that’s going to translate into success against the best hitters. There’s kind of no hitter he shouldn’t be able to get out if he’s able to get his pitches where he wants them.”

The Pirates put Cederlind on the taxi squad for a couple road trips so pitching coach Oscar Marin and bullpen coach Justin Meccage could work with him. They moved him from the far right to the middle of the rubber, giving him the freedom to let his stuff have movement.

Cederlind has received good-natured ribbing from his teammates since the spring, when Derek Holland bought blonde wigs for the bullpen to wear in warm-ups as a gag. Cederlind cut off his long locks, which took two years to grow, and sports a close-cropped cut.

Blake Cederlind, Different Look, Same ⛽️

Now vs. Spring Training. pic.twitter.com/ZmXIyuJsMu

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 16, 2020

That didn’t stop Pirates players from badgering Cederlind if he was ever going to get the call-up from the taxi squad to the 28-man roster. That call came Tuesday, with the bullpen taxed the day after a doubleheader. Shelton asked Cederlind to come into his office, along with Marin and Meccage, for the kind of conversation players and coaches love.

“This one’s a fun one, when you call a kid into your office … and be able to tell him, ‘You’re a big leaguer now, man,’ something that he’s been working on,” Shelton said. “What I told him was, ‘Trust your stuff, have fun and attack guys the same way you are. It’s no different than any other level you’ve played at: 60 feet, 6 inches. You get paid a lot better at this level than you do at other levels. It’s the same game, so just go out and have fun.’”

If that didn’t work, Pirates catcher Jacob Stallings reminded Cederlind to breathe and enjoy the moment. Going three up, three down on 14 pitches — nine for strikes — in his debut did just that. Stallings congratulated Cederlind as they walked off the field, and he shared fist bumps with teammates in the dugout and a congratulations from Shelton.

“He did a good job,” Shelton said. “He threw the ball in the zone. He got contact, stayed under control. Really positive first outing. I know he’s an emotional kid. For him to have his first outing go 1-2-3 and get contact on all three, I thought it was outstanding.”