MLB world reacts to seeing ace’s overwhelming stuff

Dylan Cease took the ball for the Chicago White Sox for Thursday’s Opening Day game against the Houston Astros. The defending champions didn’t have a lot of luck.

And looking at what he was throwing, it’s not hard to see why.

Home plate umpire Bill Miller had a camera on his helmet. That camera showed a brutal two-pitch sequence against Yordan Álvarez. The first pitch was a blazing 98-mile-per-hour fastball. That was backed up by a knuckle curve at 81.

Seeing those pitches from the umpire’s perspective it became clear why hitting a star pitcher like Cease is such a hard thing for even the best hitters to do.

Dylan Cease, 98mph Fastball and 81mph Knuckle Curve (home plate views).

Hitting is hard. pic.twitter.com/esqgYkNagU

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 31, 2023

Marcus Stroman, who himself was rather dominant in pitching the Chicago Cubs to an Opening Day victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday, was impressed.

Sheeeeeeeesh.

— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) March 31, 2023

He was not the only one.

😮‍💨

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) March 31, 2023

Gah that fastball just gets ON YOU https://t.co/VBTH9zd2a2

— Greg Dutra (@DutraWeather) March 31, 2023

I’m firm in my conviction that hitting a major league pitch is the hardest thing to do in any sport on the planet.

— Jeff Lazarus (@jlazarus001) March 31, 2023

Pull up this video next time you’re at a bar and some macho dude’s like “heh I could hit a home run, no problem” https://t.co/BarJFyp1PX

— Ben Palmer (@benjpalmer) March 31, 2023

I'm going to go look at all my PC Cease autos. Love watching him pitch. When he's on, untouchable https://t.co/H6OWLxlVDN

— ISO Sports and Collectibles (@Iminsearchof) March 31, 2023

Cease went 6.1 innings and allowed only one run on two hits. He also struck out 10 hitters, tying a franchise record for Opening Day.

[Rob Friedman]