Dylan Cease gets first Cactus League start vs. A?s
? If you think of Dylan Cease as ?the other guy? the White Sox received in the Jose Quintana trade, don?t worry. There?s no insult taken.
?I?m pretty close with Eloy [Jimenez] so I?m happy for him,?? said Cease, a Cubs farm system comrade and the first player to be hugged in the Sox clubhouse when Jimenez, the No. 4 prospect in baseball per two publications, arrived in camp a couple weeks ago. ?I mean, I didn?t really think about that. It?s still the same game, and I have to do the best I can.??
Polite, respectful ? and arriving from the Cubs with a lofty status level of his own ? Cease doesn?t come off as brash or one insulted by second billing in any context. He was considered the Cubs? best pitching prospect by some when the deal, which also brought Jimenez and lower-level prospects Matt Rose and Bryant Flete to the Sox, was made July 13. Cease is currently ranked as high as 47th by Baseball Prospectus.
The Sox are very high on Cease. They view him as a potential front of the rotation starting pitcher.
?He?s a smart kid. I love his temperament,?? Sox player of development Chris Getz said. ?When he gets on the mound, he?s fearless.??
Cease, 22, also has a great arm. He is scheduled to get on the mound for his first Cactus League start Monday when the Sox play the Athletics in Mesa, Ariz., after he finished the Sox? 5-4 win over the Rangers last Tuesday with 1 1/3 scoreless innings. He touched 98 mph in that one.
A starter all his pitching life, that bullpen cameo at Camelback Ranch had an odd feel, but Cease rolled with it. He prefers starting, but he knows there?s a debate out there about whether his fastball ? which has topped 100-mph ? as well as his big curveball, will play as a starter or reliever.
?I don?t put too much stock in that,? he said. ?That?s all a side story. I?m just trying to execute my pitches to the best of my ability and wherever that leads me it will lead me.?
Cease had Tommy John Surgery in high school, which probably cost him being a first round pick in 2014. The Cubs drafted him in the sixth round but paid him well over slot $1.5 million, but various health roadblocks, including recovery from the surgery and ankle and shoulder issues in 2017 have limited his workloads. Cease?s 92 1/3 innings between the Cubs? and Sox? low-level Class A teams are a personal high, so there is work to be done to prove he?s a starter. When he?s pitched he?s been good ? 217 strikeouts over 162 innings with a 2.89 ERA.
Getz said Cease?s delivery holds up as a starter.
?I think he?s a starter,?? Getz said. ?But that said, with guys as talented as him you have options. He has an electric fastball, a pretty good breaking ball and he has a pretty good changeup, too, which we?re going to use more this year for his development. And he?s playing with a slider, too. So we?re going to to do everything we can to exhaust him as a starter.
?If you put a guy like that in the pen, it?s fair to assume the stuff plays even further and you have an elite back end of the bullpen type. To have guys like that is valuable to the organization.??
Getz said Cease has enough attributes to be a success in either role but has a ceiling as ?a front-end starter.?
Cease is pegged to open the season at high-A Winston Salem, and if he progresses could be seen in a Sox uniform by late 2019.
?This guy just hasn?t pitched,?? Getz said. ?Last year that was our focus. He was around the 100 [innings] mark so we?re going to incrementally go over that mark if his health holds up. And he has come in physically looking very strong. He looks like a different guy than he did last year. He?s just maturing.??
Before embarking on his first full season in the minors as a White Sox, Cease knows what he wants to get done in his first major league camp.
?Definitely fastball location and throwing the offspeed for a strike,?? he said. ?If I leave here being comfortable with throwing my changeup and curveball for a strike and moving my fastball in and out, up down I?ll be really happy. And I?ll build from there during the season.??
? If you think of Dylan Cease as ?the other guy? the White Sox received in the Jose Quintana trade, don?t worry. There?s no insult taken.
?I?m pretty close with Eloy [Jimenez] so I?m happy for him,?? said Cease, a Cubs farm system comrade and the first player to be hugged in the Sox clubhouse when Jimenez, the No. 4 prospect in baseball per two publications, arrived in camp a couple weeks ago. ?I mean, I didn?t really think about that. It?s still the same game, and I have to do the best I can.??
Polite, respectful ? and arriving from the Cubs with a lofty status level of his own ? Cease doesn?t come off as brash or one insulted by second billing in any context. He was considered the Cubs? best pitching prospect by some when the deal, which also brought Jimenez and lower-level prospects Matt Rose and Bryant Flete to the Sox, was made July 13. Cease is currently ranked as high as 47th by Baseball Prospectus.
The Sox are very high on Cease. They view him as a potential front of the rotation starting pitcher.
?He?s a smart kid. I love his temperament,?? Sox player of development Chris Getz said. ?When he gets on the mound, he?s fearless.??
Cease, 22, also has a great arm. He is scheduled to get on the mound for his first Cactus League start Monday when the Sox play the Athletics in Mesa, Ariz., after he finished the Sox? 5-4 win over the Rangers last Tuesday with 1 1/3 scoreless innings. He touched 98 mph in that one.
A starter all his pitching life, that bullpen cameo at Camelback Ranch had an odd feel, but Cease rolled with it. He prefers starting, but he knows there?s a debate out there about whether his fastball ? which has topped 100-mph ? as well as his big curveball, will play as a starter or reliever.
?I don?t put too much stock in that,? he said. ?That?s all a side story. I?m just trying to execute my pitches to the best of my ability and wherever that leads me it will lead me.?
Cease had Tommy John Surgery in high school, which probably cost him being a first round pick in 2014. The Cubs drafted him in the sixth round but paid him well over slot $1.5 million, but various health roadblocks, including recovery from the surgery and ankle and shoulder issues in 2017 have limited his workloads. Cease?s 92 1/3 innings between the Cubs? and Sox? low-level Class A teams are a personal high, so there is work to be done to prove he?s a starter. When he?s pitched he?s been good ? 217 strikeouts over 162 innings with a 2.89 ERA.
Getz said Cease?s delivery holds up as a starter.
?I think he?s a starter,?? Getz said. ?But that said, with guys as talented as him you have options. He has an electric fastball, a pretty good breaking ball and he has a pretty good changeup, too, which we?re going to use more this year for his development. And he?s playing with a slider, too. So we?re going to to do everything we can to exhaust him as a starter.
?If you put a guy like that in the pen, it?s fair to assume the stuff plays even further and you have an elite back end of the bullpen type. To have guys like that is valuable to the organization.??
Getz said Cease has enough attributes to be a success in either role but has a ceiling as ?a front-end starter.?
Cease is pegged to open the season at high-A Winston Salem, and if he progresses could be seen in a Sox uniform by late 2019.
?This guy just hasn?t pitched,?? Getz said. ?Last year that was our focus. He was around the 100 [innings] mark so we?re going to incrementally go over that mark if his health holds up. And he has come in physically looking very strong. He looks like a different guy than he did last year. He?s just maturing.??
Before embarking on his first full season in the minors as a White Sox, Cease knows what he wants to get done in his first major league camp.
?Definitely fastball location and throwing the offspeed for a strike,?? he said. ?If I leave here being comfortable with throwing my changeup and curveball for a strike and moving my fastball in and out, up down I?ll be really happy. And I?ll build from there during the season.??
