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LAKELAND, Fla. -- Brett Cecil has fallen in love with his changeup.
A pitch that last season was No. 4 in his heart, behind his fastball, slider and curve has now become No. 2 with a bullet for the Blue Jays left-hander.
Cecil made his second appearance of the spring Monday, throwing 2.1 innings of relief. A cut on his left thumb put him about a week behind the other starters and his first outing last week in a 'B' game was one in which he wasn't allowed to throw breaking balls for fear the cut would re-open.
MINIMUM
Although he had the go-ahead to throw his curve and sliders Monday, Cecil kept them to a minimum and 90% of the time went fastball/changeup.
"I told Papi (pitching coach Bruce Walton) I like the fastball/changeup combination for a good amount of my pitches," Cecil said. "I kind of pick and choose my spots to throw the curve and slider.
"I like the fastball/changeup combination and I'm working on a new sinker that's working pretty well so I kind of want to stick with that game plan as far as pitching goes. You can go through the majority of a game and throw 10 total breaking balls and the rest fastball/changeup if you locate it well. And so far, knock on wood, it has been."
