Blue Jays: What you need to know about Darrell Ceciliani

New Blue Jays outfielder Darrell Ceciliani comes over from the New York Mets with youth, tools and recent production that Toronto is looking to harness

For each addition to the 2016 Toronto Blue Jays, no matter how big or small, we like to give an extra introduction past the initial news release.

This has been done with minor league free agent Casey Kotchman and several others in the hope that, should their name be called at some point during the coming spring and summer, you won’t be left wondering “who”?

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In Darrell Ceciliani, who the Blue Jays acquired recently from the Mets in exchange for a player to be named later, Toronto adds a starting candidate for the triple-A Buffalo Bisons with a shred of upside as a fourth major league option. He also comes with major league option years remaining, giving him short-stint value should the need for injury insurance arise.

Ceciliani was selected in the fourth round, 134th overall, by the Mets in 2009. He spent two seasons being ranked inside New York’s top-20 prospects according to Baseball America before falling out, and while you won’t see him ranked as a blue-chip prospect anywhere, his scouting reports rarely come without compliment.

In fact, researching Ceciliani reminded me often of Kevin Pillar‘s value prior to his 2015 breakout season. Different levels, perhaps, but in the same lane.

Two ‘boom’ seasons in 2010 and 2012 were surrounded with lesser seasons, and in 2013-14 at the double-A level with Binghamton, his prospect flame seemed to be flickering.

That doesn’t necessarily surprise me, and here’s why:

You’ll notice that Ceciliani, in this video from early 2013, is causing himself a great deal of grief with that front foot. By both planting it early and planting a wide base, he appears to be leaving himself wide open to breaking pitches or inside heat.

Fast forward to this (rather generous selection of) video from his debut major league season this past June, and you’ll notice a difference in that swing.

Everyone looks good hitting a long ball, of course, but in this sequence and the ones I’ve found surrounding it, Ceciliani appears to be cocking that front foot and unloading it more properly instead of the “ready, fire, aim” approach he was employing in the 2013 footage.

While he was limited to a .206 average over his brief big league debut, Ceciliani did earn that shot with an explosive offensive season at triple-A Las Vegas. In 70 games there, Ceciliani hit .345 with a whopping .979 OPS.

Following are a series of scouting notes from Baseball America’s Mark Anderson, who saw Ceciliani play live four separate times in mid-2014.