When I saw his new curveball in his first start in Louisville, I said this:
Cingrani threw the best breaking balls I have ever seen him throw in this game and it wasn’t particularly close. They weren’t all good ones, but there were more good ones than bad ones and the good ones were really good.
After the second start I said this:
The good news though, is that like his first start, the breaking ball was once again a good one. Some were better than others and a few weren’t quite good, but compared to last year it is a big step in the right direction. And also unlike last year, he is mixing his pitches much better than he has in the past.
My concern has always been the breaking ball. I wasn't sold on his slider. It was still a very poor pitch after years of throwing it (he would flash it as a good pitch at times, but very often it just flat out stunk). New breaking ball that is good enough and that he can throw in the strikezone = me being sold on him being a starter. I said this the day before he took the mound for his first start. I was slightly wrong so far.
I wouldn’t expect him to be a dominating top of the rotation guy right out of the gate (well, maybe right out of the gate against the hapless Marlins lineup). I do believe that he can put up middle-of-the-rotation numbers out of the gate with an ability to dominate at times, especially against lefty heavy lineups with his improved/new breaking ball.