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.
