The White Sox shut down Dylan Cease on Friday after he posted a career high in innings pitched. Cease was traded from the Cubs last season in the same deal that netted the White Sox Eloy Jimenez and right-handed flamethrower showed why he was such an important part of the trade.
The White Sox have decided to shut down Dylan Cease for the season. He is not injured, but Sox have decided to limit his innings. He pitched a career-high 124 innings between Winston-Salem and Birmingham
— James Fegan (@JRFegan) August 24, 2018
Cease closes the 2018 campaign with an eye-popping stat line: 12-2 with a 2.40 earned run average spread over 23 starts with 160 punchouts. Opponents could only manage a .186 batting average and his WHIP was a solid 1.06.
And…for Cubs fans…this reality stings a little.
Had Cease not been traded to White Sox, he might have been starting today at Wrigley Field (in place of Alec Mills). No reason for Sox to push it but Cubs would have been sorely tempted by his emergence. https://t.co/yydRtZO5tg
— Phil Rogers (@philgrogers) August 24, 2018
Cease started the season in high-A Winston Salem and moved up to double-A on June 21 after logging a 9-2 record with a 2.89 ERA. But Cease served up better marks at double-A with a 1.72 ERA and four strikeouts shy of matching his high-A total in three fewer starts. Southern League lineups were confounded by Cease and only batted .168 against him. And over his final six starts Cease posted a 0.29 ERA fanning 48 batters in 30 2/3 innings.
A few weeks ago I asked Zack Collins who he would pitch if he had a one-game, must-win playoff and without hesitation, he named Cease as his guy. Who better to endorse someone than the catcher that has a front row seat to each of his outings?
Cease wasn’t named in the trade to send Jose Quintana across the Cubs without scrutiny. Back in 2014, Cease had Tommy John surgery and many wondered if his arm would hold up under the stress of a triple-digit fastball. Well, all signs indicate that it has as the hurler posted a staggering 38.6 percent k-rate at double-A and blew the doors off the competition.
Shutting down Cease was a smart move by the Sox given that he only managed 44 2/3 innings in 2016 and 93 1/3 in 2017. He is starting to reach the bottom reaches of a full professional season and caution is necessary. And there could be a hidden message for the future of Michael Kopech written in the tea leaves of this move. Savor every pitch of Kopech’s 2018 major league season. There’s no doubt the Sox will exercise similar caution with Kopech in mid-September.
