Sometimes a pitcher's performance changes, and you can't pinpoint exactly why. Maybe he's commanding his pitches better. Maybe he's repeating his delivery impeccably.
Maybe the ball is just bouncing his way. But other times, a change in performance is tied to a change in approach -- something deliberate that even the layman can observe. It's these changes that I find the most compelling, that I'm most inclined to believe have real staying power.
And recently, I've observed them in these five pitchers. This one is counterintuitive because we've all been conditioned to think that more velocity yields better results. Or perhaps the better way to put it is that each pitcher is calibrated to the velocity he needs to succeed at the highest level -- which varies from case to case, of course -- and so any slippage in that velocity has the potential for disaster.
Rarely does it go the other way, with a pitcher losing velocity and somehow improving, but that's how Dylan Cease's past seven turns have gone. Beginning with a one-hit shutout July 25 at Boston, the 30-year-old has a 1.57 ERA, 0.85 WHIP and 12.1 K/9. This is despite him losing 1-2 mph on the majority of his arsenal and even more than that on his changeup.
Those velocity readings are averages, though, and don't tell the whole story. What's typically happened in these seven starts is that Cease has eased up on his fastball early, throwing it 93-94 mph to lull hitters into a false sense of security. He'll then reach back for his old velocity to overpower them the second and third time through the order.
He hasn't spoken to the phenomenon, which means I can only infer what he's thinking, but it seems more like a choice than happenstance given the consistency of the approach and brilliance of the results. The Blue Jays have also worked to expand Cease's arsenal this season, varying his looks in a way that might further justify him using the lite version of his fastball early on. Whatever the case, it's put this perpetually enigmatic pitcher at the forefront of the AL Cy Young race.
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