Dylan Cease’s no-hitter marks latest high point in his rise with the Padres

The truth is, it was probably only a matter of time before Dylan Cease threw a no-hitter.

Since 2021, Cease has recorded an astonishing 11 games of at least six innings with just one hit allowed. That is the most such starts by any pitcher in baseball over that span, and only five pitchers in MLB history have recorded more in their careers: Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Justin Verlander, Bob Feller and Blake Snell, all of whom ( except Snell, who is still searching for the first) have released several no no. Before this week, Cease’s closest call came two years ago against the Twins, when now-teammate Luis Arraez botched the bet with two outs in the ninth inning.

On Thursday afternoon in Washington, D.C., Cease finished the job. Despite an ultra-rare rain delay midway through the first inning that put his start in question before it even began, Cease took the mound about 90 minutes later than expected and proceeded to deliver the performance of his life: 114 pitches, the record of his career. in nine innings with three walks, nine strikeouts and, of course, zero hits allowed.

When the infield celebration ended, Arraez, fittingly, was there with the game ball for Cease to keep.

The wonderful performance was the latest in a series of especially excellent pitches from the 28-year-old right-hander. Two of Cease’s masterpieces came in the two games leading up to his no-hitter: He struck out 11 Braves in six scoreless innings in his final game before the All-Star break, then threw 10 punches in seven scoreless frames in Cleveland against the first-placed Guardians in their first match of the second half.

Add Thursday’s no-no and stop became the first pitcher of all time complete at least six innings with one or zero hits allowed in three consecutive starts.

More broadly, the no-hitter refocuses the spotlight on a pitcher who was widely discussed in the offseason as one of the most attractive trade targets available — until he was traded to San Diego in the rare March blockbuster. The timing of this deal resulted in an unusually chaotic start to Cease’s tenure with the Padres. Sure, he had a good idea that the White Sox would trade him before Opening Day, but what he didn’t know was that he would be traded to a team that was hours away from boarding a flight to the other side of the world. . .

In fact, on Wednesday, March 13 – the day the Padres were scheduled to depart for South Korea in preparation for the season-opening Seoul Series – Cease woke up as a member of the White Sox organization, still awaiting his destiny. Around 3 p.m. in Arizona, he found out he was being traded to the Padres. About an hour later, the deal was reportedand a few hours after that, it was official.

Although it was too late for Cease to do the Padres flight that nightthe organization told him that they would love for him to join the team in Korea and begin the process of getting to know you as soon as possible.

“I was willing to do it because I wanted to be a part of it,” Cease told Yahoo Sports last week in Cleveland.

It’s one thing to agree, but another to prepare for a transpacific flight on such short notice; the first flight suggested by the Padres would leave at 7 am the following day. At first, Cease couldn’t find his passport, which meant he would have to drive two hours to Tucson to get a temporary passport, making leaving at any time on Thursday extremely challenging. Luckily, he found it, so all he needed to do was pack his bags.

After a brief workout at the Padres facility in Peoria, Cease took a flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles before leaving Thursday night on a 13-hour trip to Seoul. Per Friday night, he began to get acquainted with his new teammates – none of whom he had previously had any connection with. As wild and unexpected a trip as it was, Cease says now that he’s grateful he was able to make it work, and it was worth it for how quickly he felt comfortable at his new club.

On the mound, however, it took Cease some time to adapt to his new surroundings as the regular season began. Although he continued to rack up strikeouts as usual, a rough stretch in May took him out of All-Star consideration and the national conversation. He wasn’t pitching badly, but he wasn’t excelling either.

Then Cease began to find his groove as the summer progressed, culminating in his three most recent sensational debuts. An ERA that stood at 4.24 on July 2 has dropped to 3.50 in just four starts, and Cease currently holds a comfortable lead atop the MLB strikeout leaderboard with 168 in 131 innings.

While the eliminations are no surprise, the strides Cease made under his command in San Diego stand out. For years, he’s racked up free passes — no pitcher has hit more hitters than Cease’s 259 from 2021 to 2023 — but he’s largely gotten away with it because his stuff is so good. This year, however, Cease has reduced his career 10.4% walk rate at the start of the season to less than 8%, a mark more in line with league average.

Now in his sixth big league campaign, Cease attributes his improved pitching to being around the block a few times and having a better understanding of what he needs to do in each game.

“I’ve had a lot of games where I haven’t necessarily had the best feeling, but I’m not really riding it, I’m still getting into the zone,” Cease said. “It’s the games where I have a good feeling that you get big kills and go deep and everything, but I think for the most part, that’s an experience-based thing, where I know how to adjust better, focus better. , whatever the case.

“And that allowed me to throw more shots and walk fewer faces.”

This excellent recent run also showcased the best speed we’ve seen from Cease as a big leaguer. Before this month, he had thrown a pitch over 100 mph only four times in his career: once in 2019, once in 2020 and twice in the only postseason start of his career, Game 3 of the ALDS 2021, in which it only lasted 1 2/3 innings. In the last three games, he has hit 100 six times — three times against Atlanta before the All-Star break and three times on Thursday in the no-no. Against Cleveland last week, their Heater averaged 98.2 mph and hit 99.7, a mark they haven’t reached since 2021.

The increase in velocity impacted Cease’s other primary weapon: a slider that ranked as one of baseball’s premier weapons. more effective individual sales pitches since its debut. Four of the six most difficult sliders Cease played in his career entered the last three entries of his no-hitter, including the last pitch of the game: a 91.4 mph bender that got CJ Abrams to line out to right field for the 27th out.

It was those two pitches — along with a sharp, low-80s knuckle curveball that he uses about 10 percent of the time — that got Cease to where he is today. He’s so comfortable with both that they often take the lead in usage in any given game, but they almost always account for more than 80% of his shots. He is one of the few modern aces, alongside the likes of Spencer Strider and Tyler Glasnow, whose fastballs and strikeouts are so crushing that a traditional off-speed offering is simply unnecessary, contrary to the long-held belief that a starting pitcher need such. weapon.

But that didn’t make Cease unwilling to expand his arsenal. A change of scenery is a natural opportunity to explore new avenues for improvement, and Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla has a strong track record of getting even more out of newly acquired arms. And so this spring, Cease began playing with a broomstick that was closer in speed to his traditional curveball (81-83 mph), but with significantly more horizontal movement. It was introduced in an effort to deepen his defense against same-handed hitters.

“The sweeper was specifically more right-handed, while the curveball was more left-handed,” Cease said. “But when I’m feeling good with my curveball, I feel like I can throw it to anyone.”

Cease’s new pitch had a real hit in May and June with some success, but has largely been shelved as of late, with him feeling pretty good about his three main pitches, especially the curveball, as he suggested. Still, it’s nice to have another alternative to mix as needed.

“We just fixed it… adding more weapons and more things for them to gear up and see what works,” Cease said. “Sometimes you have to figure it out as you go and see how hitters react.”

It’s clear how hitters have reacted recently: They haven’t been hitting. As such, Cease is likely to continue to rely on the strengths that have gotten him to this point, strengths that appear to be getting stronger and stronger as he gains even more speed and throws even more punches.

For a Padres team in contention for the NL wild card race, Cease’s remarkable campaign couldn’t have come at a better time. His next scheduled game is against the rival Dodgers next week at Petco Park, and by then, it’s possible the Padres have added another new arm to join Cease on the San Diego staff.

While there is still a long way to go for the Padres to return to the postseason, Cease is in an exceptional position to help them get there — and perhaps do something special once they get there. He has been everything they could have hoped for in March. After all the starters that came out of San Diego last winter, the Padres needed a new ace.

It took some time, but it looks like they have one now.