Dylan Cease of the Toronto Blue Jays named the American League Pitcher of the Month for July; Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves named the National League Pitcher of the Month for July

Starting pitcher Dylan Cease of the Toronto Blue Jays, who started the 96th All-Star Game in Philadelphia for the American League, has been voted the American League Pitcher of the Month for July, and All-Star starting pitcher Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves has been named the National League Pitcher of the Month for July. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Cease earned his fourth career award after previously winning as a member of the San Diego Padres in July 2024 and twice with the Chicago White Sox (June & July 2022). It is the first award for a Blue Jays pitcher since his teammate Bowden Francis won in August 2024. Sale won for the sixth time in his career and second time with the Braves after winning the club’s most recent award in May 2024. He also won twice as a member of the White Sox (May 2012 & June 2015), and twice with the Boston Red Sox (June & July 2018). Sale is the 13th pitcher with at least six career awards and the eighth pitcher to win multiple awards in both leagues, joining Hall of Famer Randy Johnson, Cliff Lee, Jon Lester, Andy Pettitte, Hall of Famer CC Sabathia, Johan Santana and Blake Snell.

Dylan Cease, Toronto Blue Jays (@dylancease7)
Across five starts, the 30-year-old went 3-1 with a 1.00 ERA (4 ER/36.0 IP) while allowing 15 hits with 11 walks, 46 strikeouts, a 0.72 WHIP, a .125 opponents’ batting average and 11.50 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.
The Milton, Georgia native was the only pitcher to throw a shutout; led the Majors in opponents’ batting average and WHIP; ranked second among qualified pitchers in ERA; tied for second in innings pitched; and ranked fourth in strikeouts.
The right-hander threw his fourth career shutout on July 25th, going the distance at Boston as he permitted just one hit with three walks and matched a season high with 12 strikeouts. He took a no-hitter
into the sixth inning, and it marked the first one-hit shutout by a Toronto pitcher since Brandon Morrow on August 8, 2010. It was Cease’s first shutout with Toronto and he is tied with Max Fried for the most shutouts since 2021. Additionally, he joined Shelby Miller (ATL, STL & AZ) as the only active pitchers to throw a shutout with three separate franchises.
The runner-up for the 2022 AL Cy Young Award turned in two starts with double-digit strikeouts as he entered the All-Star Break after an 11-strikeout game at San Francisco on July 8th, taking a no-hitter into the ninth inning. Following his 12 strikeouts in his one-hitter at Boston, his seven starts of at least 10 strikeouts are second-most in the American League and third-most in the Majors behind only Cleveland’s Gavin Williams (8 GS of 10+ SO) and Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski (10 GS of 10+ SO). Since his debut in 2019, Cease’s 32 starts of at least 10 strikeouts are tied with his rotationmate Max Scherzer for second-most in the Majors behind only New York’s Gerrit Cole (50 GS of 10+ SO).
The sixth-round selection in the 2014 Draft (by CHC) became the second Blue Jays pitcher (third occurrence) to record at least 45 strikeouts in a calendar month with an ERA of 1.00-or-less, joining Roger Clemens, who had 61 strikeouts with a 0.89 ERA in July 1997 and 68 strikeouts with a 0.90 ERA in August 1998.
The 30-year-old right-hander had three strikeouts in the first inning of the Midsummer Classic, marking the eighth time in All-Star Game history that a pitcher had three strikeouts in the first inning. Cease joined Brad Penny (2006, NL); Hall of Famer Pedro Martínez (1999, AL); Dave Stieb (1983, AL); Hall of Famer Jim Palmer (1977, AL); Hall of Famer Warren Spahn (1949, NL); and Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell (1934, NL). He became the fourth Blue Jays pitcher (fifth occurrence) to start the Midsummer Classic, joining Stieb (2x: 1983-84); David Wells (2000); and Hall of Famer Roy Halladay (2009).

Chris Sale, Atlanta Braves
Across five starts, the 37-year-old went 4-0 with a 2.00 ERA (6 ER/27.0 IP) while allowing 18 hits with just four walks, 34 strikeouts, a 0.81 WHIP, a .186 opponents’ batting average and 11.33 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.
The Lakeland, Florida native tied for the Major League lead in wins; and among pitchers with at least 20.0 innings pitched, his 8.5:1 strikeout to walk ratio was seventh-best; and he ranked ninth in WHIP.
The 10-time All-Star is one of three pitchers since the franchise relocated to Atlanta in 1966 to post multiple undefeated months of at least five starts with at least 30 strikeouts and fewer than five walks. Sale also accomplished the feat in May 2024, joining Hall of Famer Greg Maddux (July 1997, August
1997 & June 1998) and Kris Medlen (August 2012) as the only Braves pitchers to achieve the feat in the last 60 years.
The 2024 NL Cy Young Award winner struck out 11 batters on July 23rd against San Diego, marking his third start of at least 10 strikeouts this season. He joined Hall of Famer Warren Spahn as the only left-handers in franchise history with a start of at least 10 strikeouts at age 37-or-older. The start marked Sale’s 94th career 10-strikeout game, surpassing Curt Schilling for seventh-most in the Modern Era (since 1901).
The southpaw, who won the 2018 World Series with Boston, recorded his 500th career strikeout with Atlanta on July 4th, joining his 1,244 strikeouts with Chicago and 945 strikeouts with Boston to become the 10th pitcher all-time with 500 strikeouts for three different franchises. Other pitchers to achieve the feat include: Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven, A.J. Burnett, Roger Clemens, Gerrit Cole, Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley, Zack Greinke, Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry, Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan and Schilling. He now has 2,722 career strikeouts, marking the seventh-most among left-handers all-time and is now 52 strikeouts away from surpassing Frank Tanana (2,773) for sixth-most. Additionally, Sale eclipsed 2,000.0 innings for his career in the fifth inning of his start last week against the Mets. His 2,201.0 career innings are the most among active left-handers and third-most among all active pitchers behind only Justin Verlander (3,571.1) and Max Scherzer (2,993.2).
The 13th overall pick of the 2010 Draft posted three scoreless starts, dealing 7.0 innings on July 17th against Texas and 6.0 frames in Game 2 of a doubleheader at Citi Field on July 29th, along with a rain-shortened start of 3.0 innings on July 10th at St. Louis. He registered six strikeouts against the Rangers and nine at the Mets as he held both opponents to just two hits and did not issue a walk. Sale has three starts of at least 6.0 scoreless innings in which he allowed two-or-fewer hits and no walks (also: April 1st vs. ATH), matching Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes for the most such starts in the Majors this year.

Others receiving votes for AL Pitcher of the Month included rookie Jake Bennett (4-1, 2.20 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 5 GS, 32.2 IP, 25 H, 4 BB, 21 SO) of the Boston Red Sox; Sean Burke (2-1, 1.14 ERA, 0.76 WHIP, 5 GS, 31.2 IP, 20 H, 4 BB, 45 SO) of the Chicago White Sox; Tarik Skubal (3-1, 2.03 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 5 GS, 31.0 IP, 22 H, 6 BB, 41 SO), who was acquired by the Los Angeles Dodgers from the Detroit Tigers on Saturday, and his Tigers teammate Troy Melton (2-0, 0.92 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 5 GS, 291. IP, 18 H, 12 BB, 35 SO); and All-Star Cam Schlittler (2-1, 1.93 ERA, 073 WHIP, 5 GS, 32.2 IP, 19 H, 5 BB, 42 SO) of the New York Yankees.

Others receiving votes for NL Pitcher of the Month included Eury Perez (1-2, 1.69 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 5 GS, 32.0 IP, 19 H, 8 BB, 31 SO) of the Miami Marlins; Matthew Boyd (3-0, 1.67 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 5 GS, 32.1 IP, 23 H, 9 BB, 23 SO) and Shota Imanaga (2-3, 1.53 ERA, 1.06, 5 GS, 29.1 IP, 25 H, 6 BB, 27 SO) of the Chicago Cubs; Brandon Pfaadt (4-0, 1.88 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 5 GS, 28.2 IP, 29 H, 3 BB, 16 SO) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; All-Star Jacob Misiorowski (2-1, 2.14 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, 4 GS, 21.0 IP, 13 H, 1 BB, 39 SO) and Logan Henderson (3-0, 2.57 ERA, 0.76 WHIP, 4 GS, 21.0 IP, 13 H, 3 BB, 24 SO) of the Milwaukee Brewers; Jared Jones (1-1, 2.00, 0.63 WHIP, 5 GS, 27.0 IP, 11 H, 6 BB, 33 SO) of the Pittsburgh Pirates; All-Star Chase Burns (3-0, 2.57 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 4 GS, 21.0 IP, 15 H, 12 BB, 16 SO) of the Cincinnati Reds; All-Star Foster Griffin (4-1, 3.48 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 5 GS, 31.0 IP, 32 H, 5 BB, 18 SO) of the Washington Nationals; and Kyle Leahy (1-0, 1.38 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 5 GS, 26.0 IP, 19 H, 4 BB, 24 SO) of the St. Louis Cardinals.