After banner year, Cease a Cy finalist

CHICAGO -- Dylan Cease doesn’t need a 2022 American League Cy Young Award to validate his elite performance at the top of the White Sox rotation this past season.

But the Baseball Writers' Association of America voters clearly witnessed the same level of dominance as everyone else, including opposing hitters, from the right-hander. Cease was named one of the three finalists for the AL Cy Young Award as announced by the BBWAA on Monday night on MLB Network. The winners will be revealed on Nov. 16.

• All-time Cy Young Award winners

Astros World Series champion Justin Verlander and Toronto’s Alek Manoah join Cease as the trio competing for the coveted award. Verlander won the AL Cy Young in 2019 and ‘11, while also claiming the AL Most Valuable Player honors in ’11. He finished in the Top 3 of Cy Young voting during four other seasons. This is the first Cy Young votes received by Cease and Manoah.

Cease spoke of his respect for Verlander earlier this season, adding that he’s watched and studied the 39-year-old since Verlander’s 2006 full-season debut with the Tigers, when the 26-year-old Cease was 10.

“I think just missing the amount of time he did and to come back and essentially be a horse, and a guy a team can rely on, it’s unbelievably impressive,” Cease said during an in-season interview. “I have a lot of respect for him.”

Anyone who has watched Cease’s development with the White Sox probably shares a similar level of respect for the Georgia native. After he was acquired from the Cubs along with Eloy Jiménez in the Jose Quintana deal on July 13, 2017, Cease became part of the White Sox rotation with 14 starts in ‘19 and 12 starts in the pandemic-shortened ‘20 season.

It wasn’t until Cease recorded 226 strikeouts over 165 2/3 innings in 2021 that his name began to be mentioned among the AL’s best. In fact, Cease was an AL Cy Young favorite by a number of pundits entering this season.

Over 32 starts and a career-high 184 innings in 2022, Cease finished 14-8 with a 2.20 ERA and 227 strikeouts against 126 hits. His strikeout total left him second in the AL behind the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole (257), while Cease’s ERA and .190 average against checked in second behind Verlander (1.75 and 186, respectively). Cease’s 11.10 K/9 was behind only Cole and the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani.

A fastball regularly reaching 98 or 99 mph was an important part of Cease’s repertoire. But his wipeout slider proved to be the most valuable pitch in baseball with a -36 run value, according to Statcast.

“I relied extremely heavily on [my slider] this year,” said Cease who had a .128 batting average against with the pitch, per Statcast. “It was one of those where I was able to throw it multiple pitches in a row and multiple times through the order, and it still held up. For it to play like that, it’s really all I can ask.”

Cease was not selected to his first All-Star appearance in 2022, but he should be in line to make his first career Opening Day start on March 30, 2023, in Houston, taking the mound for manager Pedro Grifol’s first game. The ’22 season yielded a no-hit bid for 8 2/3 innings against the Twins at home on Sept. 3 before Luis Arraez connected off Cease for a two-out single in the ninth.

He also made 14 consecutive starts from May 29-Aug. 11 and allowed one earned run or fewer, becoming the first starter (non-opener) since 1913 to accomplish such a feat. Cease’s 78 walks ranked No. 1 in MLB, leading him to talk about more precise fastball command moving forward with even better days in his mind on the horizon after this Cy Young Award-worthy performance.

“I’m definitely going to look back at the end of the year and reflect on some of the more special games,” Cease said. “It was definitely a special year.”