Why Dylan Cease Viewed the Blue Jays as Perfect Pitching Fit
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Back in November, the Toronto Blue Jays made the first major splash in free agency by bolstering their starting rotation with the addition of 29-year-old right-hander Dylan Cease to a seven-year, $210 million mega-deal that represented the biggest free agent contract in franchise history.
For the Blue Jays, the addition of another front-line starter helped stabilize a rotation at risk of losing two of its own (Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer ) to free agency while also announcing that it would be aggressive in pursuit of another trip to the World Series.
For Cease, the money was nice, but the biggest appeal was the opportunity to join an organization with a proven track record for developing pitchers.
“For me, it’s the business,” said Cease, on what motivated him to join Toronto. “How are they going to develop and help me be the most consistent player I can be? And then, does the team have a good chance of winning every year? And the Blue Jays pretty easily checked all of those boxes.”
Organizational Track Record for Pitching Success
The Blue Jays' reputation for pitching development highlights the impact of pitching coach Pete Walker and his staff.
Since being promoted to the role in late 2012, Walker has played a critical role in developing Toronto's pitchers and enhancing their arsenal. Under the eight-year MLB journeyman, Robbie Ray enjoyed a career-best Cy Young season, Yusei Kikuchi produced a career-low 3.86 ERA, Ross Stripling delivered a standout 2022 campaign and, most recently, Trey Yesavage broke out as a rookie phenom and playoff hero.
In an interview on TSN's Overdrive radio show, Cease didn't mention Walker by name, but he did admit to being impressed by some of the suggestions and tweaks that he and the development team offered as part of the pitcher's free agent discussions with the club.
“It’s honestly really impressive,” Cease said. “They show you how if you change your grip with this pitch, you can get this kind of movement. [...] They can tell you ‘Hey, we can add this pitch, do this or that, or we think we can improve what’s already there, or we can help you change your mechanics, things like that.”
Even beyond the aforementioned examples of Walker's influence, Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman offers a strong blueprint for how Cease could benefit under his watchful eye.
Gausman was actually one year older than Cease when he signed in Toronto ahead of the 2022 season. Four years later, he has produced three of his lowest career ERA seasons under Walker, while also enjoying four healthy seasons, all of which ranked among his career top-six in most games started. In 2025, he pitched a career-high 193 innings (and then 30.2 more in the postseason) at the age of 34.
The Blue Jays haven't always had the most talented or deepest rotation of starting pitchers. They have, however, had a first-class pitching coach in Walker and an elite pitching development system. Now, after a standout playoff run that ended in a Game 7 World Series loss, it seems that the rest of Major League Baseball has taken notice.
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Ben Fisher is a long-time sportswriter and baseball lover, dating back to 2008, when he was a member of the media relations team for the Toronto Blue Jays. He has covered a wide range of sports for a seemingly endless array of publications, including The Canadian Press, Fansided and The Hockey Writers. When he isn't writing about sports, he can be found coaching his equally baseball-obsessed sons' Little League teams.