Chicago White Sox scouting report on Dylan Cease
Building up his innings has worked the young fireballer into the Chicago White Sox future plans, perhaps as soon as 2019
With each of our top 10 prospect lists this offseason, we will have a scouting report on one player from that organization’s top 10 list. With our recent review of the Chicago White Sox, we will take a look at right-hander Dylan Cease, the White Sox #2 prospect.
Player profile
The Chicago Cubs used the top of the 2014 draft to go college-heavy and save money in order to pursue big arms in the early part of day 2 of the draft. Of the three big-armed high school picks from the 4th through 6th picks, Dylan Cease has been the one who has shown to be an elite arm after being selected in the 6th round out of high school in Georgia.
Cease only fell to the 6th round due to needing Tommy John surgery, and he didn’t make his pro debut until over a year after being drafted. He threw well in the Arizona Rookie League, posting a 2.63 ERA and 1.17 WHIP with a 15.8% walk rate and a 24.8% strikeout rate over 24 innings.
In 2016, Cease moved up to short-season A-ball Eugene in the Northwest League. Cease made 12 starts, tossing 44 2/3 innings, posting a 2.22 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, a 13.7% walk rate, and an impressive 36.3% strikeout rate. That performance got Cease ranked among the top prospects in baseball, rating #97 with Baseball America’s top 100 and #77 with MLB Pipeline’s top 100.
During the 2017 season, the Chicago Cubs made a trade with the Chicago White Sox for Jose Quintana, and Dylan Cease was the second piece of the deal to acquire him along with Eloy Jimenez. Cease spent the 2017 season building up innings in low-A ball between South Bend and Kannapolis. He made 22 starts, tossing 93 1/3 innings, allowing a 3.28 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP, posting a 11.3% walk rate and 32.5% strikeout rate. His big strikeout rate led to Cease being ranked #61 overall by MLB Pipeline and #47 by Baseball Prospectus in their annual offseason lists.
This season, Cease opened the year in high-A Winston-Salem, but it was apparent that he was ready for a move up. While his innings were brought back in AA, he showed very well at the level, with absolutely dominant stuff and even better numbers. Overall, he made 23 starts, tossing 124 innings, with a 2.40 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, a 10.2% walk rate, and a 32.5% strikeout rate.