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Blue Jays' Dylan Cease: Flashes more diverse pitch mix
Rotowire
Cease has more confidence in his changeup this season and seems committed to broadening his arsenal, Mitch Bannon of The Athletic reports.
The right-hander has been essentially a two-pitch pitcher during his big-league career, throwing his two-seam fastball and slider over 40 percent of the time last season with the Padres, but in his first outing for the Blue Jays on Saturday, neither pitch reached that mark while his knuckle curve, two-seamer, changeup and sweeper all sat with usage rates between 7.8 percent and 10.0 percent. The changeup was especially impressive, as he's firmed it up a bit to give it more velocity and arm-side run but less vertical drop. The result was eight whiffs on eight changeups that averaged 83.7 mph, as batters sold out to try and meet his usual high-90s heat. "I'm going to keep fine-tuning it," Cease said. "Trying to find a little more consistency with command, but I like where it's at." With batters having more to think about than ever before when facing Cease, he struck out 12 batters in 5.1 innings -- setting a franchise record for Ks in a Blue Jays debut in the process.
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Blue Jays' Dylan Cease: Fans 12 in no-decision Saturday
Rotowire
Cease didn't factor into the decision in Saturday's 8-7 extra-innings win over the A's, allowing one run on three hits and two walks over 5.1 innings. He struck out 12.
Signed to a seven-year, $210 million contract this winter, Cease looked to be worth every penny in his Toronto debut as he fired 61 of 90 pitches for strikes and blanked the A's for five frames before running out of gas in the sixth. It's the most strikeouts in franchise history for a pitcher making his Blue Jays debut, breaking the record of 11 set by David Price in August of 2015. Cease will have plenty of motivation to stay locked in when he takes the mound for his next start, which lines up to come on the road next week against the White Sox -- the team he made his MLB debut with in 2019.
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Blue Jays' Dylan Cease: Blanks Tampa in final tuneup
Rotowire
Cease struck out six over five scoreless innings Sunday, allowing three hits and two walks in a Grapefruit League game against the Rays.
The Blue Jays' big offseason signing fired 50 of 83 pitches for strikes in his final game of the spring. Cease has been impressive in camp, posting a 0.93 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 12:3 K:BB over 9.2 innings, and he'll head into 2026 looking for his sixth straight 200-strikeout campaign in his first season with Toronto.
Blue Jays' Dylan Cease: Fans three in spring debut
Rotowire
Cease allowed one run on one hit and one walk over 1.2 innings during the Blue Jays' split-squad game against the Phillies on Saturday. He struck out three.
Making his Grapefruit League debut for Toronto, Cease threw his first pitch of the day at 98.3 mph, and he topped out at 98.9 mph with his four-seamer. The right-hander did serve up a second-inning solo shot to Bryan De La Cruz, but otherwise it was a strong first outing in a Jays uniform as he tossed 19 of 33 pitches for strikes. Cease will slot in at the top of the rotation after the 30-year-old right-hander signed a seven-year, $210 million deal over the winter. He's topped 200 strikeouts in five straight seasons, posting a 3.72 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 11.3 K/9 during that stretch while averaging about 32 starts and 177 innings a year.
Cease has been working on changing the shape of his four-seam fastball and adding a changeup to his arsenal, Mitch Bannon of The Athletic reports.
The right-hander has always had premium raw stuff in his high-90s fastball, which averaged a career-high 98.1 mph in 2025, and plus slider, but his actual results have rarely matched the scouting reports. Adding a change or splitter could help improve his numbers against left-handed hitters -- last season with the Padres, Cease had a 4.00 K/BB and 31.4 percent strikeout rate against RHP, but just a 2.36 K/BB and 28.0 percent K rate against LHP. Until he begins using any new pitches in game action, however, there's no reason to expect something radically different than the pitch mix that saw him use his four-seamer and slider 83.1 percent of the time last year.
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