Chicago White Sox: Dylan Cease could have been better in 2021 debut

It was a failure feeling for Dylan Cease of the Chicago White Sox on Sunday night when he walked off the mound after another inconsistent performance. The righty was plagued by first-inning struggles and control issues during his first start of the 2021 season.

Cease entered his season debut with high expectations. After an offseason with Ethan Katz, he transformed his delivery. The fruits of his labor looked like they paid off in the Spring when he posted a 1.06 ERA in Spring Training. During his final tune-up against the Colorado Rockies, he struck out 11. He looked particularly dominant in doing so resulting in the buzz around him as a trendy dark horse for CY Young. His catcher Yasmani Grandal added to the hype when he said:

“I feel like if we get him to where we see him going, this guy could be a Cy Young finalist. He could possibly be a Cy Young winner. He’s got the tools to do it, there’s no doubt on that.”

His small sample size in Spring Training made it look like he had turned a corner, which made his first regular-season start against the Angels even more exciting. Unfortunately, Cease’s performance showed much of the same from the previous two seasons.

Cease has had problems in the first inning during his tenure as he owns a career 6.23 ERA in the first inning of games. That trend continues when he allowed two runs in the opening frame.  The first run came via a home run from Shohei Ohtani which was launched to left field and came off his bat at 115 mph. Cease has been prone to giving up a ton of home runs. In 2020 he was fifth in the AL in home runs allowed. He then proceeded to allow two consecutive singles and walked Jared Walsh to load the bases.

Walks have been another problem area for Cease. He gave up the most in the AL during the previous season with a grand total of 34. The walk to Walsh would prove to be costly because it moved a runner to third base. The next batter was Justin Upton who capitalized on this with a sac-fly. His lack of control resulted in an early exit. Cease was behind in the count all night and forced to execute some tough pitches on hitters counts.

He had to battle all night. He tried to keep the White Sox in it and minimized as much damage as he could. Unfortunately for him 92 pitches after 4.2 innings were enough for Tony La Russa who yanked him before he could finish the fifth inning.

It was a tough outing for Cease who allowed three runs on five hits with three strikeouts. He got the Angels to swing at 48 fastballs but only got them to miss on three of them. Despite his lack of feel Cease can be credited for keeping the White Sox within striking distance. The score could have easily gotten out of hand, especially in the first inning. He settled down and left with the game tied.

While the first result looked like more of the same, it is still way too early to come to any snap judgments about Cease. Becoming a good major league pitcher takes time and growing pains are all part of the process. It’s only his first start of a full 162 game season. The White Sox hope to see some more improvement during his next start against Kansas City.