Notes: Cease working to fine-tune command

Since arriving at Spring Training, Dylan Cease has thrown one really good bullpen session at the White Sox Camelback Ranch complex.

So the right-hander would like to see how his stuff actually plays against hitters before his optimism goes off the charts. But after being dissatisfied with his results during the 2020 season, Cease seems primed to take that next step forward in ’21.

Ethan Katz, the new White Sox pitching coach, has played a major offseason role in helping Cease make that leap.

“It's been great working with Ethan,” Cease said during a Friday Zoom call. “The biggest thing was the core velocity belt and having some drills to do. It's been good to finally be able to work with him in person. Obviously, when he gets to be a little more hands-on, he'll have some more detailed stuff for me. But it's been really great.

“The biggest thing I worked on was just using my lower half properly, so that's where the core velocity belt came in. And Ethan sent me a couple drills to do. Basically, before every time I threw, I would throw this belt on and kind of try to get a feel with it.”

Cease, 25, finished 5-4 with a 4.01 ERA over 12 starts last season, but the 34 walks in 58 1/3 innings were unacceptable to him. His raw stuff never has been an issue, with catcher Yasmani Grandal talking Thursday of the White Sox No. 4 starter being Cy Young capable if they get him to where he needs to be.

“That's as big of a compliment as you can get from somebody,” Cease said. “I'm not putting any extra pressure on myself. I know what the expectations are. Right now I'm just excited to get out there every day and put in the work to hopefully be able to contribute.

“This is the best I've really felt in a long time. According to all the data and all the Trackman stuff, we're on par with where we need to be. Now it's just fine-tuning it and executing on a higher level.

“I think the biggest thing is just command, especially the fastball,” Cease said. “We've worked on not only getting it to carry and ride better, but the second part of the equation is being able to command it. Just commanding, basically.”

La Russa talks starting pitching
Over the course of a long season, White Sox manager Tony La Russa would like his starting pitchers consistently getting the team into the final third of the game.

“That's what you want, and then you deal with what you get,” La Russa said. “That's one of the reasons you build a bullpen that's got a lot of combinations, short guys, right guys, left guys, innings guys.

“I think the priority right now is -- and I think they've done a really good job -- if you take the starting pitching candidates on our staff, they are being stretched out and they're going to pitch five or six times during the exhibition schedule. So by Opening Day, you're talking they're ready to go deep.”

Spring Training action
Garrett Crochet, Jimmy Cordero and Jimmy Lambert threw side sessions for the White Sox Friday.

He said it
“It was one of those where I understood it. I didn't really earn a spot there. It is what it is, and all I could do was go into the offseason, talk to Ethan and figure out what needs to be changed.” -- Cease, on not being picked as the deciding Game 3 starter in the AL Wild Card Series against the A’s last season