Last week, new Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dylan Cease said that he believes that his new team can help him get better over the course of his seven-year contract. He told the ‘Foul Territory’ crew that they provided him a pathway to improvement during the courtship process, though of course, $210 million guaranteed dollars doesn’t hurt either.

Given that Cease is already one of the best strikeout pitchers in baseball, it’s clear that the best way for him to improve is to better his control.

So how can the Blue Jays do it?

Simply put? They’ve done it before.

Left-hander Robbie Ray has always had the same profile as Cease: A hard-throwing, durable, strikeout-heavy pitcher with control issues.

However, the Blue Jays got the best out of him in his lone full season with the organization (2021). Ray went 13-7 with an American League best 2.84 ERA that year, leading the American League in innings with 193.1. He also struck out an MLB-best 248 en route to winning the Cy Young award. More importantly, he had only 52 walks, which is the lowest mark of his career over a full season.

For comparison: Ray walked 49 batters in just 127.2 innings in 2015, then walked 71 in 174.1 the next year. He walked 71 again in 162.0 innings in 2017 and then 70 in just 123.2 in 2018. He walked 84 in 174.1 in 2019 and then led baseball with 45 during the COVID 2020 season.

After his Cy Young year? He walked 62 in 189.0 innings with Seattle. He led the National League (73) in 182.1 innings this year with the Giants. In Toronto? He threw the most innings of his career and had the fewest free passes.

The Blue Jays clearly figured out a way to get him in rhythm, and he delivered for them.

And it’s not just Ray, left-hander Yusei Kikuchi features the same profile as Cease, and the Jays also saw improvement from him, though it took a little longer. He had 58 walks in 100.2 innings in 2022, but improved to just 48 walks in 167.2 innings in 2023. He had only 30 in 115.2 innings before getting traded at the deadline in 2024.

He earned himself a hefty contract with the Los Angeles Angels before the 2025 campaign, in part because of the improvements he made in Toronto.

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How about Cease’s issues?

Cease has been remarkably durable, making 32 starts or more in each of the last five years, but his control has held him back. He’s led his league in walks twice in his career and issued 71 in 168.0 innings this past season for San Diego.

He had 79 in 2023 which is the most of his career, but didn’t actually lead the league.

His high-strikeout rates and high-walk rates clearly lead to high pitch counts and shorter outings, putting a major stress on the bullpen and stress on the bases. If Toronto can improve that, they’ll have one of the best pitchers in the American League as they look for another AL East crown.

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