DYLAN CEASE

• Position(s): Right-handed pitcher
• Bats / Throws: Right / Right
• 2025 opening day age: 29
• Height / Weight: 6-foot-2 / 200 pounds
• How acquired: Via trade with Chicago White Sox in March 2024
• Contract status: Agreed to a $13.75 million salary for 2025 to avoid arbitration; will be a free agent after the season.
• fWAR in 2024: 4.8
• Key 2024 stats: 14-11, 3.47 ERA, 224 strikeouts, 65 walks, 1.07 WHIP, .200 opponent average, 189⅓ innings (33 starts)

 

STAT TO NOTE

• .159 — The batting average off Cease’s slider in 2024, the lowest in the majors among qualifying pitchers. His slider’s whiff rate (44.7%) was also the best in the majors, helping the pitch amass a run value of 19, tied for second with the Astros’ Ronel Blanco and trailing only NL Cy Young-winner Chris Sale.

 

TRENDING

• Up — The AL Cy Young runner-up to Justin Verlander in 2022, Cease was looking for a rebound as 2024 rolled around after his WHIP rose from 1.11 to 1.42 in 2023 and his ERA rose from 2.20 to 4.58. The question was whether that would occur in the Windy City or elsewhere and Padres General Manager A.J. Preller answered that question as the team boarded a plane to South Korea, acquiring Cease for prospects Drew Thorpe, Jairo Iriarte and Samuel Zavala and big-league reliever Steven Wilson. Cease quickly moved from White Sox camp to the Peoria Sports Complex and then made his way to Seoul to begin to get to know his new teammates and pitching coach Ruben Niebla. Cease started an exhibition game ahead of the Seoul Series and then made his Padres debut gainst the Giants at Petco Park, striking out six batters over 4⅔ innings (3 R, 2 ER). He had a 2.45 ERA through his first nine starts, holding hitters to a .141/.214/.243 batting line over that stretch. Wavering command and the home run ball (1.98 per nine innings) helped push his ERA to 6.69 from May 20 through June 21, but electrifying stuff (see stat to note) always meant Cease was a small adjustment away from a gem. To that point, he struck out a season-high 12 batters over seven shutout innings on May 20 at Wrigley Field and hit double-digits five times over the course of the season. His masterpiece, of course, was the no-hitter he spun on July 25 in Washington, the first of his career and the second in franchise history. Cease struck out nine in that game and walked just three. He may have been more dominant in limiting a more talented Astros team to two hits over 8⅓ shutout innings in second-to-last start of the season, giving the Padres a legitimate “good problem” as they lined up their pitching for the postseason. Who goes first? The Padres settled on Michael King and hometown hero Joe Musgrove for the two wild-card games at Petco Park, leaving Cease to start Game 1 of the NLDS against the Dodgers. Cease was protecting an early 3-0 lead, too, but he gave that up in the second inning on a home run to Shohei Ohtani and coughed up five runs over 3⅓ innings in the no-decision. The Padres lost Musgrove to an elbow injury sustained in his wild-card game start, so they asked Cease to start Game 4 on three days rest and he allowed three runs in 1⅔ innings in a loss that evened the series and sent it back to Los Angeles for the decisive Game 5 that the Dodgers won. After the year, Cease, who topped 200 strikeouts for a fourth straight year, behind Sale, Zack Wheeler and Paul Skenes.

 

2025 OUTLOOK

• With one year left of team control, Cease is looking for a big year as he heads into free agency as arguably one of the top pitchers headed to the open market. The question is where he pitches. He’d be near the top of the Padres’ rotation, but his name has popped up in trade rumors this winter as Preller has a number of holes to fill and seemingly not a lot of wiggle room with this year’s payroll.

 

 

Roster rankings

• 5. OF Jackson Merrill
• 6. RHP Yu Darvish
• 7. INF Luis Arraez
• 8. INF Xander Bogaerts
• 9. RHP Robert Suarez
• 10. INF Jake Cronenworth
• 11. RHP Jason Adam
• 12. RHP Joe Musgrove
• 13. Adrián Morejón
• 14. RHP Jeremiah Estrada
• 15. RHP Matt Waldron
• 16. INF Eguy Rosario
• 17. RHP Randy Vásquez
• 18. RHP Bryan Hoeing
• 19. LHP Yuki Matsui
• 20. RHP Sean Reynolds
• 21. C Luis Campusano
• 22. RHP Jhony Brito
• 23. RHP Alek Jacob
• 24. OF Tirso Ornelas
• 25. RHP Ryan Bergert
• 26. RHP Henry Baez
• 27. LHP Omar Cruz
• 28. OF Brandon Lockridge
• 29. LHP Tom Cosgrove
• 30. RHP Stephen Kolek
• 31. RHP Juan Nuñez
• 32. RHP Ron Marinaccio
• 33. C Brett Sullivan
• 34. UT Tyler Wade
• 35. LHP Wandy Peralta