We Are Witnessing A New And Improved Dylan Cease

Dylan Cease found himself in uncharted territory on Thursday night. In the sixth inning, the White Sox found themselves deadlocked in a 1-1 tie with the Baltimore Orioles. With 92 pitches, Dylan Cease had thrown five innings of one-run ball against the Orioles. Tony La Russa opted to let his starter head back out and try to complete a quality start. Things did not start as planned. Anthony Santander and Maikel Franco singled to open the inning. With a pitch count climbing towards 100 and trouble brewing, Dylan Cease's day would have been over a year ago. But the 25-year old bore down. He struck out Freddy Galvis with a high fastball. The next hitter DJ Stewart worked a full count. Cease needed to make a big pitch and answered the bell. He got Steward to fly out to centerfield on a changeup. With his pitch count over 100 for the first time this season, Cease ended the threat with a nasty 1-2 slider to fan Stevie Wilkerson. He walked off the mound with a burst of emotion and a quality start to his name. "At that point, you know your batter to batter, so I just tried to be as nasty as I could and get ahead of guys, really," Cease said after the game. "I emptied the tank there. Close game, high pitch count, you know your time is limited, so here's everything I've got." The 111 pitches are a career-high for Dylan Cease. And his first time over 100 pitches this season. His final line for the night was 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 R, 2 BB, 10 K, 1 HR. Of his 111 pitches, 69 were for strikes. That included 29 swinging strikes. That's tied for the 2nd-most by any White Sox pitcher in a game in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008), with 8/16/15 Chris Sale, behind only Lucas Giolito's 30 in his no-hitter last year.

Dylan Cease's 29 swinging strikes match Jacob deGrom's 29 on April 23rd for most in a game in MLB this season. Dylan Cease is beginning to mold into the elite starting pitcher the White Sox envisioned when they sent Jose Quintana to the Cubs in 2017. His mental toughness has been on full display. In his April 11th, start against the Minnesota Twins, Cease did not have his best stuff but was able to battle and keep the White Sox afloat. Cease was out of rhythm for much of the evening yet, was able to work around traffic and make the big pitches when the situation demanded it. Thursday night, Cease also showed the ability to work out of jams. His outing started the same way it ended, with Cease maneuvering out of trouble. In the first inning, after Cedric Mullins singled and Trey Mancini was hit on the right elbow, Cease shut down the next three hitters in order, including a strikeout of Freddie Galvis to halt the rally. The ability to attack hitters and generate strikeouts shows that Cease is beginning to trust his stuff. Over his last six starts, here is the number of swings and misses he's gotten. 5/27 VS BAL-29 5/22 VS NYY - 20 5/16 VS KC - 9 5/11 VS MIN - 20 5/4 VS CIN - 17 4/28 VS DET - 16 Cease has slowly improved each season. In 2020 he lowered his ERA from 5.79 to 4.4.01 and his opponents batting average from .271 to .234. This season his ERA currently stands at 2.98. The key to his success has been fastball command. When he gets ahead in the count it allows him to unleash his devastating slider. His slider's quality of pitch averages ranks amongst the best in baseball. It's 4.51 QOPA is in the top 16 percent in the MLB. The horizontal break is in the top 28 percent, location top 31 percent, velocity 37 percent, vertical break top 38, late break 49 percent, and low rise 49 percent.

Mix that slider with his knuckle curve and suddenly emerging changeup, and you have some of the best pure stuff in the MLB. Cease has always had great pure stuff which, is why he was one of the top prospects in baseball. The difference between now and his rookie season is that Cease is learning to be a pitcher and not just a thrower. Cease has been improving before our eyes. With the trajectory he is on this could be the tip of the iceberg. Dylan Cease can take home a Cy Young award in the future.