When it came time to hear where Terrapin pitcher Brett Cecil would be drafted in the June 7 Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft, he insisted he wasn’t nervous. Cecil just wanted his mom, Linda, to get her camera out of his face.
“I think my mom was more excited than I was,” he said. “When it got into the later part of the first round and the supplemental picks, she wanted to have the camera up to get my expression when and if they called my name. Finally, I told her to put it down because she was making me nervous.”
Meanwhile, he watched ESPN2’s coverage of every pick of the first round. Finally around 5:15 pm, more than three hours after the draft started, Cecil received a call from Toronto Blue Jays’ scout Tom Burns congratulating Cecil for the team selecting him with the 38th overall pick in the draft in the “sandwich” compensation round between the first and second rounds.
It was the highest a Terp has been selected in the draft since outfielder John McCurdy went to the Oakland Athletics with the 26th overall pick in 2002. The junior was joined in being drafted by fellow pitchers Ryan Moorer and Casey Baron.
Cecil said his advisor, Rick Oliver, called him late in the first round to say the Blue Jays would select him with the 38th pick if the one player still rated ahead of him on their draft board was selected.
Burns said the Blue Jays feel like they got the best available player for that spot in the draft, a pick awarded to them when relief pitcher Justin Speier signed with the Anaheim Angels as a free agent. Burns, an East Coast scout for the team, saw Cecil pitch a number of times throughout the season and was impressed with Cecil’s fast ball, which Burns clocked at 93 mph, the break on his slider and his competitiveness.
Cecil said Toronto was near the top of his list of preferred places to play because he will join former teammate Seth Overbey, a 15th round selection by the team last year.
The former and possibly future teammates talked on the phone the night Cecil was picked.
“[Overbey] said where the farm teams are located are nice places to play,” Cecil said. “He really liked the pitching coach at Lansing, Mich., which is low A-ball. He had a lot of good things to say about the organization.”
Both sides said contract negotiations would start immediately, and Cecil said he will head as soon as possible to Dunedin, Fla., for a week-long workout camp before being assigned to the short season A League Auburn (NY) Doubledays of the New York Penn League.
Cecil leaves the Terps having made his mark on the team record books. Last season, he set a new team record with 13 saves, tying him for 12th in the nation. He went 4-5 with a 4.78 ERA.
After a very successful summer in the Cape Cod League, Cecil entered this season with high expectations and a spot on the Clemens Award Watch List for the NCAA’s best pitcher.
Cecil set the career saves record, increasing his total to 23 by the end of the season. The left-hander broke Overbey’s record for appearances in a season by pitching in 30 of the team’s 56 games and went 5-6 with a 3.32 ERA and 62 strike outs.
However, he struggled at times, converting only 8 of 13 save opportunities. Burns said the blown saves didn’t influence Cecil’s draft stock in his mind.
“Often young pitchers have ups and downs over the course of a season,” Burns said. “We weren’t hung up on the number of saves so much as the stuff that we saw.”
Terp coach Terry Rupp liked the way Cecil progressed during his three years with the Terps and said his performance in the Cape Cod League was probably what helped him the most. He said he is in a position at this point where he can make a rapid ascent towards the majors.
“I think he got physically stronger. He gained some velocity on his fastball, but the other thing he did was he refined his secondary pitches,” Rupp said. “I think Brett, with his ability to pitch and how refined he is right now, will move up the ranks fairly quickly.”
Cecil is just happy to be a Blue Jay and ready to start his major league career. His only concern when reached the day after his selection was filling out his wardrobe with items from his new team.
“It feels unbelievable. I couldn’t be happier with what happened. I’m looking for a couple of Blue Jays’ T-shirts. I already have my hat, now I just need some T-shirts to go along with it.”
TERP NOTES: Moorer, a junior this season, was drafted in the 12th round, 375th overall, by the Seattle Mariners. Moorer was 3-0 with a 3.24 ERA in 21 appearances. Moorer had been drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 13th round of the 2004 draft after finishing high school, but decided to play for the Terps rather than join the Cubs. … Baron, a senior, was drafted in the 34th round by the Milwaukee Brewers with the 1,028th overall pick. He went 4-5 with a 4.06 ERA in 16 appearrances, including 14 starts. Baron ends his Terp career with an 8-10 overall record in 57 games, sporting a 4.54 ERA.
Contact reporter Eric Detweiler at edetweilerdbk@gmail.com.
