Dylan Cease might not win the American League Cy Young Award after his first season in Toronto. If he does, Cease will have a small reason to shout out San Diego Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla in his acceptance speech.

Cease should at least be a finalist for the award, given to the best pitcher in each league. Entering what could be the final start of his season for the Blue Jays, he’s 11-6 with a 2.40 ERA. Through Satufday, Cease was leading the American League in strikeouts (239, a career-high) and Fielding Independent Pitching (2.55, a career-low). He made his first career All-Star team in July.

A small but important part of Cease’s repertoire is his sweeper, a pitch he effectively uses as a changeup to right-handed hitters to keep them off his harder pitches.

Cease’s slider is arguably the best in baseball; it’s only resulted in two home runs and a .193 opponents’ expected weighted on-base average (per Statcast). He’s the rare pitcher who throws a sweeper — essentially a slider with more horizontal movement — in addition to a slider.

The six-pitch mix has allowed him to pitch 169 innings, already topping his total from 2025, when he went 8-12 with a 4.55 ERA for the Padres.

Cease signed a seven-year, $210 million contract with the Blue Jays in December 2025, ending his two-season run in San Diego. His first season in Toronto is going about as well as anyone could have expected — and he hasn’t forgotten the pitch he learned from Niebla in San Diego.

“The biggest thing that comes to mind is how Ruben taught me the sweeper and gave me that grip,” Cease said. “In terms of routine, when you’re around people for a couple of years, you learn from them and see how they go about their business. That’s influenced some of my decision-making. Maybe I’ll approach recovery a little differently because I saw one of the guys have success doing it. But the main thing I took from Ruben is definitely the sweeper.”

New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler (7.0) and Cleveland Guardians starter Parker Messick (5.8) are ahead of Cease in the WAR race among AL pitchers. Only Schlittler has a better ERA (1.94). Cease has done it without adding any new pitches since he left San Diego.

The impact Cease’s departure made on the Padres’ starting rotation is still being felt. The impact the Padres made on Cease is still bearing fruit, too.

Sign up for our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X/Twitter for the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow