MLB 2022: 7 dark horse Cy Young candidates at this moment
By Sean Basile
The 2022 MLB season is in full swing, and numerous Cy Young candidates continue to emerge from relative obscurity.
We’ve got the usual suspects certainly on sight, but this article is devoted to the guys not enough people are talking about right now.
Here are seven under-the-radar MLB pitchers who are killing it right now, and who should be viewed more favorably in Cy Young discussions.
Numbers, stats, facts, and figures I’ll refer to here will be as of June 11.
Dylan Cease, Chicago White Sox
- 4-3 Record
- 3.14 ERA
- 89 Ks in 63 IP
- 32.5% K-rate
- 2.79 xERA
- 2.96 FIP
Cease was a dark horse Cy Young candidate of mine coming into the 2022 season, and I have to say I’m certainly pleased with what he’s done thus far. Outside of a couple blips on the radar against the Yankees and Red Sox, Cease has been virtually unhittable.
He currently sits in third place for punch-outs and, despite some clunky starts against the Yankees and Red Sox, he’s still cruising with a 3.14 ERA.
The walks are certainly still an issue for him. He’s walked 12.1% of his batters this season after getting off to a nice start in that department. But unlike past seasons, he has not let the walks bury his 2022 campaign.
His velocity is still sitting pretty at 96.6 mph on the fastball. Although the spin on all of his pitches has slightly dropped from last season, it is still amongst some of the most elite spin in all of baseball.
He’s down from 2,543 rpms to 2,498 rpms on the 4-seam, 2,880 rpms to 2,830 rpms on the slider, and 2,754 rpms to 2,679 rpms on the curve. However, as you can see, compared to the rest of MLB pitchers, that spin still sits higher than the vast majority of them.
Once the White Sox get their heads screwed on right and the team starts winning games at a rate we’re expecting them to, I feel confident in Cease’s ability to vault himself higher in the Cy Young discussions.