Dylan Cease isn't as vocal about his readiness for the major leagues as Eloy Jimenez.
The White Sox top-ranked prospect, Jimenez has been declaring himself big league ready for more than a year now. Cease sticks a little more closely to your standard baseball cliches, but it doesn't mean he's any less confident.
He's got plenty of reason to be confident following an exceptional 2018 campaign, one that earned him minor league pitcher of the year honors from MLB Pipeline. Cease had a 2.89 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 71.2 innings with Class A Winston-Salem, then got promoted to Double-A Birmingham, where he was even better, posting a 1.72 ERA with 78 strikeouts in 52.1 innings.
With Michael Kopech set to spend the entirety of the 2019 season in recovery mode following Tommy John surgery, Cease is the pitcher White Sox fans want to see on the South Side this season. And so it's another year of questions about when one of the organization's top pitching prospects will be making his major league debut.
The easy answer? Cease, who's yet to pitch above the Double-A level, is on almost the exact same track as Kopech was last season. Kopech made just a handful of Triple-A appearances at the end of his excellent 2017 season before spending the bulk of the year there last season. That's probably the prescription for Cease, too.
"It's extremely similar," general manager Rick Hahn said Friday of Cease compared to Kopech. "It's extremely similar to the point where if you rewind a year prior in each of their careers, I think going into last season Michael's career high in innings was somewhere in the 80s or something like that going into last year. Dylan's high in innings was somewhere in the 70s. The year before Michael debuted for us, we were able to get him up to the 130 level. Last year, Dylan wound up at the 120 level. And then it’s just sort of a matter of building him up and making sure they can get through a full major league season.
"From a stuff and upside standpoint, it’s extraordinarily similar. You know Dylan was named minor league pitcher of the year last year. The only thing, knock on wood, sitting here day that's holding him back is simply that innings base, that innings foundation. We've aired repeatedly over the course of the first two years in this process on the side of caution in terms of player development, and we're going to continue to do that. So with Dylan, we're going to make sure he continues to build up that base.
"As you've heard me say many times before, the good ones have a way of forcing your hand, and it won't shock me if some point over the course of the summer we'll be getting repeated ‘When is Dylan Cease coming up?’ questions."
It's important to remember, too, that Kopech faced some significant bumps in the road in the middle of the 2018 campaign, walking a lot of guys and going through a rough stretch. If Cease his able to more closely replicate what he did last year — obviously a challenge considering he's moving up a level — perhaps he arrives sooner than late August, when Kopech did.
"It’s possible," director of player development Chris Getz said Sunday. "Dylan had a great year last year, in terms of making strides, he probably is at the top. He’s a very level-headed kid. Very competitive. Has a very good understanding of himself. We’ll see how it goes in spring training. He’s ticketed to go to Charlotte and we’ll go from there. I have a lot of confidence in Dylan Cease."
And Cease has a lot of confidence in himself, too, even if he doesn't get there in the way you'd expect. He doesn't go the Jack Donaghy route.
No, instead, Cease has built confidence from doing the opposite: relaxing.
"Having that feel on how to be more consistent, it’s almost something you can’t put into words," Cease said Friday, talking about his biggest takeaway from 2018. "You do it over and over again and then one day you’re like, ‘Man, OK, that’s what it feels like to get out in front of my fastball or where I need to release my curveball.’ Little things like that.
"It definitely helps you relax. Whether I have a good bullpen, whether I’m feeling good or not, I know I can still go out and give something.
"You need to execute pitches. You don’t need to be the most confident guy in the world. You need to just execute pitches."
If he keeps executing them like he did last season, it shouldn't be long before he's pitching at the major league level. Cease isn't going to come out and declare himself ready for the majors like some other uber-confident White Sox prospects we know. But he's not shying away from that conversation, either. It's the White Sox decision when he comes up, and as Hahn mentioned in the quote above, the organization has taken their time with all their highly rated prospects. There truly is no rush.
But we should see Cease this summer. And whether he makes a declaration or not, he'll be ready.
"At the end of the day, I’m trying to make it up as quick as I can, just like everyone else, but I’m controlling what I can control," he said. "I’m trying to execute pitches, and I’m leaving it at that. And whatever happens happens.
"It’s above my paygrade. If I execute pitches, I think I can compete anywhere. So whether that’s a couple months in or the end of the year, whatever that is, I’m going to be ready to go."
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