After his latest starts against the Los Angeles Angels and Boston Red Sox, Dylan Cease sits second in the AL in terms of strikeouts (49), just behind Gavin Williams (53) and his additional start.

Cease recorded his second double-digit strikeout game against the Angels last week (12), and the first came on opening weekend against the Athletics (12), setting a franchise record for a Blue Jays debut. Given the dominance of Cease to start the season, the right-hander is gaining some traction on the AL Cy Young voting leaderboards. It’s not unfamiliar territory for the veteran starter, although he’s never won the coveted honour.

The Jays starter finished second in Cy Young voting in 2022 behind Justin Verlander, and is on that pace to start the season. What is the thing that makes him stick out from other pitchers?

Cease’s pitching arsenal has been dominant as his fastball has hit up to 99 mph, the most out of any Blue Jay starting pitcher in over 15 seasons. His newly adapted changeup has already generated 63.2% of whiffs from opposing batters and also has the highest putaway percentage of 38.5%.

For comparison, Tarik Skubal, the two-time reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, boasts a 26.8 putaway percentage on his changeup. In terms of fWAR, Cease ranks fifth in the league (1.3), and he leads all big league pitchers in K/9 (14.07) while sitting second in FIP (1.81).

Cease’s major issue is with the number of pitches he throws in a game, which has only allowed him to go six innings just once through his six starts this year. The Georgia product has pitched between the five and six inning area three times this year, and his shortest outing was a 4 1/3 affair against the Chicago White Sox, where he battled command issues for most of the outing.

Of course, with Cease throwing 90+pitches before getting to the sixth inning, it is something that the Blue Jays are trying to work through as they can modify and help ease his workload of dealing through the lineup second and third times through. In 2025, Cease was only able to pitch into the seventh inning twice, but managed to pitch past the seventh seven times, and even threw a no-hitter back in July of 2024.

The biggest thing going forward to try to make Cease an elite starting pitcher is to help him generate outs on fewer pitches and reel in the command, as he’s issued 17 walks and boasts a 4.9 BB/9 on the season. These walks and the high strikeout numbers drive up the pitch counts and contribute to his shorter outings.

The optimistic thing is that Cease is no stranger to hitting triple digits in his pitch count, as he has exceeded 100 pitches on a multitude of occasions over the seasons. With the right maintenance and with Pete Walker’s influence in his ear, Cease can improve on his strengths and provide a great case to be a 2026 Cy Young Finalist.

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