New Blue Jays Ace Focused on Mechanics, Mentality After First Spring Start
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The Toronto Blue Jays made some pretty big splash moves during the offseason. They brought in Japanese slugger Kazuma Okamoto to fill out the lineup and even added Tyler Rogers, a rock-steady submariner to the bullpen.
Their biggest move, though, was bringing in an ace caliber pitcher in Dylan Cease. Cease and Toronto agreed to a seven year, $210 million dollar pact and he was the highest paid pitcher from this class of free agents.
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Cease has been a consistent pitcher in that he's started at least 32 games in each of the past five seasons, but the results have been up and down, especially when it comes to the free passes.
Toronto's new ace made his spring training debut on Saturday and although he already impressed, he's not focused on the numbers and outcomes just yet. First, he has to work on the stuff in his control in order to become the pitcher he wants to.
Cease Is Looking To “Fine-Tune” Before Season
Altogether, Cease's spring debut went well. In 1.2 innings, he struck out three, walked one and only allowed one hit, a solo home run. He threw 33 pitches and hit 97.5 mph on a ball that struck out Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper swinging.
Dylan Cease looking sharp in his first inning of #SpringTraining action for the @BlueJays 🔥 pic.twitter.com/z4VRY3KvV9
— MLB (@MLB) February 28, 2026
Despite the good results, the new Blue Jays' pitcher has his mind elsewhere.
"This is about fine-tuning and finding the feel in high intensity... you figure out what creates the best shapes and the best command," Cease said, according to MLB.com's Keegan Matheson.
In that quote, Cease talks about "aiming higher" when throwing an offspeed pitch in the dirt. In the regular season, a pitcher would want to do that in the pregame bullpen, but it's different right now. Cease hasn't faced live hitters in a game scenario since last season and it takes some innnings to get right.
The right-hander wants to find "the feel" in high intensity, and with that comes shaking off the rust and finding your arm slot. According to the former Cy Young runner up, his mechanics are 80% of the way there and he is "really optimistic," according to Matheson.
HIs mechanics are maybe the most important thing to his success and his new manager knows it.
"Delivery is a big thing for him. Staying in his delivery is a big thing," manager John Schneider said.
Staying in and repeating his mechanics makes Cease a better, more consistent pitcher. And consistency has been his biggest struggle. The immense upside is there, he finished second in the Cy Young in 2022 and has led the league in K/9 twice, including 2025.
But when he's not consistent with his mechanics, he can struggle with walks. He has a career 3.8 BB/9. He hasn't been able to match that high of 2022, but he finished fourth in Cy Young voting in 2024, so the upside is still there.
"You always want to make a good, strong first impression," the right-hander said.
Well, he's already gotten that out of the way. Now, in order for the Blue Jays to feel good about his contract, Dylan Cease needs to be more like his 2022 and 2024 self over the next couple of seasons while the Blue Jays make another World Series push.
