Dylan Cease just solidified his spot in the 2026 All-Star game by stifling Red Sox lineup

Dylan Cease is an All-Star. While the rosters won't be announced for a little while, there is no doubt that the right-hander should be representing the Toronto Blue Jays at the mid-summer classic.

The turnaround for Cease has been remarkable. During his time with the Chicago White Sox and the San Diego Padres the 30-year-old showcased flashes of brilliance through his first seven seasons of Major League Baseball.

His strikeout rate was only been under double digits once (not including the 2020 Covid season) and that was during his rookie campaign when he posted a 9.99 K/9 rate in 2019. He's crafted together five straight seasons of 200 or more strikeouts and he routinely posted positive fWAR seasons in the mid-three to mid-four ranges.

The knock on him though has been that along with the strikeouts came a ton of unreliability and lack of command of the zone. Sure, it sounds like those things contradict each other, but from batter to batter coaches didn't know what they were going to get with Cease. His 3.81 BB/9 rate ranks first among starters with at least 800 innings pitched since his rookie season. He's also tied with Framber Valdez with a league leading 56 wild pitches and nobody walked more batters than him (430).

Those concerns were at the forefront when Cease signed his record setting deal this past offseason with the Blue Jays. Frontline starter stuff? Sure. But could he hone in on the areas that make him just as frustrating to watch? That remained to be seen.

Dylan Cease puts concerns aside and has posted some of the best numbers of his career

After Tuesday's (Jun. 16) start in Boston against the Red Sox, Cease has seemingly put those concerns to rest. It was his 13th start of the year and while it wasn't his best from a "stuff" standpoint as he walked four and gave up four hits in five inning pitched, he still managed to strike out seven hitters and didn't allow a run, while Red Sox hitters only managed to get a 78.9 mph average exit velocity off his pitches. That's the lowest exit velocity any team has managed against Cease this season.

While he'll never be perfect, he has proven that he has become a much more complete pitcher in 2026 under the tutelage of Pete Walker and the Blue Jays' coaching staff. He leads the AL with 110 strikeouts and while his 3.82 BB/9 rate is still higher than you'd like to see he's thrown just two wild pitches all year, while his Left On Base percentage of 78.3% is the best it's been since he posted an 82.3% LOB% in 2022. He hasn't topped 70% since that season indicating he's done a much better job of working around those walks.

Cease has also managed to become a more effective ground ball pitcher, getting 45.6% of the hitters to pound the ball into the ground which is the first time he's topped 40% in that category since his rookie season. His HR/FB% is also two percentage points lower than it was last year and it's just the third time in his career that it has been under ten percent at 9.8% while his HR/9 is a career low 0.62.

The Blue Jays have also managed to get some extra velocity on Cease's pitches as his average fastball velocity is sitting at 98 mph, the highest it's ever been in his career. Meanwhile he sports a 2.37 FIP and 2.51 xFIP - both career bests for Cease.

The xFIP leads all qualified American League pitchers, while the FIP ranks second and his 2.71 ERA ranks fifth. He leads the AL with a 13.56 K/9 rate and only two pitchers have a higher fWAR than his 2.6, that being the New York Yankees' Cam Schlittler (3.1) and possible Blue Jays trade deadline target Reid Detmers of the LA Angels (2.8). Schlittler's five home runs given up ties Cease for second least in the AL behind Ranger Suarez's of the Boston Red Sox who has only given up four home runs.

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