Cubs right-hander Dylan Cease (No. 86 in my top 100 for 2017) has had an injury-plagued three years since he signed out of high school in 2014. He had Tommy John surgery that summer (for an elbow tear he suffered before the draft) and has thrown just 68 innings in games the past two seasons. There’s enormous upside here if he stays healthy, and I like where his delivery is now, but he has quite a few areas to improve if he’s going to remain a starter.

Cease was 95-98 mph in the Cubs’ minor league intrasquad game on Saturday morning, holding that across three innings in his first outing of the spring. The fastball was firm without much movement or sink, which makes development of command particularly important in his case. He showed a curveball and changeup, both inconsistent and ranging from well below average to above average. The curveball was 75-78 with some depth to it, and the changeup was 81-85 with good deception at the upper end of that range. You can squint and see a top-end starter here, but he has work to do on all three pitches.