It took Dylan Cease a while to develop into what he is today. When he came over in a trade with the Chicago White Sox, he was a very talented pitcher but he was also very raw. The Sox did a great job being patient with him and getting him everything that he needs to succeed on the mound. He should be proud of what he accomplished in 2021.
Cease is clearly a part of the White Sox rotation going forward. Projecting him with Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, Michael Kopech, and Dallas Keuchel sounds really nice right now. We can only hope they all reach their potential in 2022 because that could be a World Series level group. Cease taking another step could lead to him being in Cy Young contention.
He has all of the tools in the world to literally be that good. In 2021, he had a 3.91 ERA, 1.247 WHIP, and a 13-7 record. Those aren’t bad stats but they also don’t paint a good picture of how good he actually was this year. It took him about ten starts to really look like a star pitcher out there almost every time he was on the mound.
Cease also led the White Sox with 226 strikeouts which were also amongst the league leaders in the AL. All of these stats accumulated into his 3.0 WAR which is really good for what is really his first full season. It was very nice to see as the White Sox need to continue doing a good job at developing their young pitchers.
2021 Grade: A-
Dylan Cease deserves a grade of A- for a lot of reasons. For one, he came in and pitched very well as a full-time pitcher for the first time. He also did that on a staff that won their division by over ten games. Pitching at all isn’t easy in those circumstances so doing it well is even harder.
Cease also showed that he is someone that will be a part of things for a long time. He combined some great fastball work with awesome offspeed/breaking stuff which allowed him to strike out as many batters as he did. He should be very proud of this season.
2022 Outlook:
Dylan Cease is going to be a huge part of the 2022 Chicago White Sox. There were points in 2021 where he was their best starter so don’t be surprised if that happens again at times next year. He is going to remain a big part of the rotation that expects to win the AL Central crown yet again. Look for him to go into the season as the number three starter and potentially continue climbing the ladder.