San Diego Padres ace Dylan Cease has quietly put together another great season after getting shelled last year to the tune of a 4.58 ERA last season with the Chicago White Sox prior to being traded this offseason.
He may have 11 losses, but Cease has steadily paced his Padres all year and has them right in the thick of the NL West race with a few weeks left in the season, and one stat showed just how good he has been in his young career up to this point.
MLB shared a stat on X that showed that Cease is now over 1,000 career strikeouts in fewer than 850 innings (830.1), something that among active starters, Blake Snell, Yu Darvish, and Robbie Ray have also accomplished.
Dylan Cease has been a strikeout machine 🤖
He looks to add to his total tonight against the Astros 💪
(MLB x @SageUSAmerica) pic.twitter.com/ZSAyhu1FWd
— MLB (@MLB) September 18, 2024
Just for clarity, it’s unclear what the criteria was to be included in this graphic, but the assumption is that this is the list of the fastest active players to reach 1,000 strikeouts because Billy Wagner did it in 752.2 innings.
Craig Kimbrel also made it to 1,000 strikeouts in 613 innings, nearly 200 fewer than anyone on this list, so perhaps this list is just for starting pitchers.
Regardless, Cease has been a horse for the Padres this season and is proving to be worth every penny the team paid to acquire him over the offseason.
He is currently 13-11 with a 3.58 ERA and ranks third in the league with 215 strikeouts, the fourth straight year he has eclipsed the 200 mark.
Cease also has a career-high 3.5 K/BB ratio this year, the best of his career.
NEXT: Luis Arraez Ended Impressive Streak This Season