Inside The Padres

Padres' Mike Shildt Heavily Praises Dylan Cease For 'Devouring Innings'

San Diego has enjoyed everything Cease has brought to the table so far.

Matt Levine

The San Diego Padres pulled a power move just a few days before the regular season started, trading for right-handed ace Dylan Cease. Cease had been on the trade block all offseason but the Chicago White Sox were waiting for the right deal to pull the trigger. San Diego had been looking for more help in its starting rotation, and certainly got it by acquiring Cease.

So far, Cease has been everything and more for this team. He has posted an ERA of 1.99 over 22.2 innings of work while striking out 27 batters. Other than his first outing, Cease has pitched at least six innings each start and has struck out seven hitters.

Padres manager Mike Shildt heavily praised the performance so far from Cease while appearing on MLB Network Radio. The veteran manager knows he can trust the right-hander to go deep into games, "devouring innings."

"You just talk about a guy that just devours innings and takes the ball. So he's just been tremendous. You know sometimes, I'm sure we all do this occasionally — at least I do it — you stop from what you're doing from managing a game and go 'wow that's filthy.' His slider is nasty. His fastball's got such life on it, and when he's commanding and being consistent with his pitch in the zone, it's pretty special."

Cease has given the Padres a new ace-level starter to work with, something they were lacking after moving on from former left-hander Blake Snell. The righty has been seen as one of the better arms in the league over the last few years, so the Padres getting him following a down year was a steal.

The Padres are going to need Cease to continue going strong if they want any shot to compete going forward.

More Padres: MLB Insider Praises Padres' Highly Touted Prospect

Published
Matt Levine
MATT LEVINE

Matt earned a Master of Science degree in Sport Management from Louisiana State University in 2021. He was born and raised in the Los Angeles area, covering all Southern California sports in his career.