Chicago Cubs Name Dylan Cease Minor League Pitcher of the Month

SOUTH BEND, IN - The Chicago Cubs today named South Bend Cubs right-handed pitcher Dylan Cease the organization's minor league pitcher of the month for April.

Cease, 21, posted a 1.90 ERA (5 ER/23.2 IP) in five April starts for South Bend, allowing just one home run and 15 walks while striking out 37, good for an average of 14.1 strikeouts per 9.0 innings. He limited opponents to a .177 average (14-for-79), a .305 on-base percentage and a .278 slugging percentage. Cease allowed one or no runs with seven or more strikeouts in four of his five outings, and struck out a season-high 10 batters, April 29 at Fort Wayne.
Selected by the Cubs in the sixth round of the 2014 draft, Cease is 3-3 with a 2.24 ERA (23 ER/92.1 IP) in 28 career minor league games (25 starts). He has struck out 128 batters in 92.1 innings, good for an average of 12.5 strikeouts per 9.0 innings. He has walked 56, allowed just two home runs and surrendered just 5.2 hits per 9.0 innings. A 2016 Northwest League mid-season All-Star for Single-A Eugene, Cease entered 2017 ranked by Baseball America as the fourth-best prospect in the Cubs system.

About the South Bend Cubs
The South Bend Cubs are the Class A minor league affiliate of the World Series Champion Chicago Cubs. Over the past 29 seasons, the team has won five Midwest League titles, most recently in 2005, and has captured 12 division titles. In 2015, the team was named Ballpark Digest's Team of the Year and received the John H. Johnson President's Award, the highest award in minor league baseball. The team is owned and operated by Swing-Batter-Swing, LLC whose sole shareholder is Andrew T. Berlin of Chicago, Ill.