The Chicago White Sox were incredibly average (they might have even been below average but they finished at .500) in 2022. However, not everyone on the team was a major disappointment.
Dylan Cease lived up to his end of the bargain and then some. We went into 2022 wondering what his ceiling might be and we were given a preview of how good he is. He can get even better but that’s a story for another day.
Cease finished with a WAR of 6.4 thanks to his absolutely incredible year that included an ERA of 2.20. All of these amazing numbers led to him becoming the American League Cy Young runner-up.
It took a magical comeback season for Justin Verlander of the Houston Astros to take the Cy Young away from him.
Now, entering 2023, Verlander is out of the AL as he signed with the New York Mets this off-season. If Cease can repeat the year he had, a Cy Young could absolutely be in his not-so-distant future.
The Chicago White Sox are lucky to have Dylan Cease in the mix.
With all of these accomplishments over the last year in addition to his projected greatness going forward, it is a complete joke that he was not named a top ten MLB starter by MLB Network. That is one of the biggest snubs of any player at any position with these lists.
Number one on the list is Corbin Burns of the Milwaukee Brewers. Justin Verlander came in second and Carlos Rodon rounded out the top three. Yes, the guy the White Sox should have kept made the list and was in the top three.
Max Scherzer, Sandy Alcantara, Shohei Ohtani, Max Fried, Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom, and Julio Urias were the rest of the players that made it. There are a lot of amazing pitchers there but that list is absolutely brutal.
Here is @MLBNow's full #Top10RightNow 👇
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) February 2, 2023
What do you think? pic.twitter.com/BOYcqLWZJh
No list is a perfect science and there will always be biases involved but Cease’s numbers in 2022 speak for themselves. It is a shame that he isn’t getting the recognition that he deserves after absolutely dominating the year prior.
If it is supposed to be the top ten right now with how they did in 2022 and how they project in 2023 as the basis, Cease should absolutely be on there and relatively high on the list. Just like the All-Star Game, he was snubbed. What will it take for him to get the respect he deserves?
It is up to Cease to go out there and prove that 2022 wasn’t a one-off. He has the stuff to be one of the better pitchers in the league. His junk pitches mix so well with his fastball and they are all still improving. Hopefully, we see in 2023 that he hasn’t even scratched the surface of his potential.