Impact The right-hander has been essentially a two-pitch pitcher during his big-league career, throwing his two-seam fastball and slider over 40 percent of the time last season with the Padres, but in his first outing for the Blue Jays on Saturday, neither pitch reached that mark while his knuckle curve, two-seamer, changeup and sweeper all sat with usage rates between 7.8 percent and 10.0 percent. The changeup was especially impressive, as he's firmed it up a bit to give it more velocity and arm-side run but less vertical drop. The result was eight whiffs on eight changeups that averaged 83.7 mph, as batters sold out to try and meet his usual high-90s heat. "I'm going to keep fine-tuning it," Cease said. "Trying to find a little more consistency with command, but I like where it's at." With batters having more to think about than ever before when facing Cease, he struck out 12 batters in 5.1 innings -- setting a franchise record for Ks in a Blue Jays debut in the process.
3 HOURS AGO • ROTOWIRE
