Dylan Cease Leads The MLB In Strikeouts
Dylan Cease has the stuff to be an ace for the 2022 Chicago White Sox.
Dylan Cease has the best pure stuff out of any pitcher on the White Sox. Last season, he took a major jump. In 2019, he had a 5.79 ERA. In 2021 he posted a career-best 3.91 ERA. He also recorded a career-best 13 wins and 226 strikeouts. Those 226 strikeouts not only were the most on the White Sox but the seventh-most in MLB as well.
Cease can attack with a multitude of weapons in his arsenal. He has a fastball in the upper 90s. His curveball has 61.7 inches of drop and opponents own a 50.1 whiff percentage against his slider.
His slider has emerged as the most devastating pitch of the bunch. The horizontal break is amongst the top 28 percent in baseball, while its location is in the top 31 percent. Cease also has a spin rate of 2880. That is the highest spin rate of any slider in baseball.
Even more astonishing is that Cease’s slider had a run value of -8. The run value measures the run impact of an event based on the runners on base, outs, and the count. For context, Corbin Burnes, who won the National League Cy Young in 2021, has a run value of -7 on his sinker which is his best pitch.
With Lance Lynn’s absence, someone will need to step up and eat innings. If Cease can take the next step and go deeper into games, there is no reason why he can’t lead the MLB in punchouts.