Dylan Cease’s Development Excites Cubs

Dylan Cease (Photo by Bill Mitchell)

Best Player

Since Theo Epstein took over the organization, the Cubs have drafted and developed a parade of hitters. But believe it or not, two of the best stories in the system involve pitchers.

Dylan Cease, the 100-mph righthander the Cubs were able to draft in the sixth round out of high school in Georgia in 2014 because he was recovering from Tommy John surgery, has been dominant in his first year with the kid gloves off.

Twelve starts in at low Class A South Bend, he went 1-2, 2.47 with 71 strikeouts and 23 walks in 47.1 innings. That included six innings of no-hit pitching in his third start (lifted at that point at 92 pitches) and four innings of no-hit pitching in his third start back from an ankle injury on June 25.

“He’s picked up where he left off,” farm director Jaron Madison said of the 21-year-old’s return from the injury. Madison lauded Cease for unusual-for-his-age command of his velocity and a plus curveball.

Expect Cease to get at least a taste of high Class A Myrtle Beach before his season innings limit runs out.

Biggest Leap Forward

Righthander Dillon Maples was a big-arm overdraft in the final draft of the previous regime, taken in the 14th round in 2011 out of a North Carolina high school. He had been so disappointing since then that leaving him unprotected in the Rule 5 draft was a no-brainer.

But after a strong finish at South Bend as a closer last season, he took off at high Class A Myrtle Beach this year, with a 2.01 ERA, 44 strikeouts and a .188 opponent average in 31.1 innings, which earned him his first promotion to Double-A Tennessee.

“We’ve got a lot of tough (40-man) roster decisions this offseason,” Madison said. “He’s one of them.”

Maples, 25, still has the elite velocity—he touched 100 mph this season—with a excellent breaking ball.

“He’s always had potential and always shown signs and shown flashes of what he could do, but he could never put the pieces together to have success,” Madison said. “He’s really just taken off and excited everyone that’s seen him so far. Except for the hitters.”