"Grow it back": Padres fans divided over Dylan Cease's clean-shaven transformation

On April 11, 2025, at a spring training session at the Peoria Sports Complex in Arizona, San Diego Padres pitcher Dylan Cease made a stunning change to his appearance. The man who generally wears a beard showed up without it, and that’s got a lot of guys scrambling for reaction.The surprise makeover was a matter of much discussion, with people having two extreme opinions on his new look.
Dylan Cease's new look sparks reactions
Dylan Cease shaving his beard surprised everyone. The pitcher, who had seen the full beard on him before, showed up for the training session clean-shaven, and it immediately set off waves of reaction on social media. Fans reacted with a mixture of feelings ranging from shock to disappointment.

Dylan Cease is officially beardless! 👀

(via _jacksonmerrill_/IG) pic.twitter.com/vEpFxvsyMj

— MLB (@MLB) April 11, 2025

One of the fans posted, "Grow it back."

Grow it back

— Carp608 👺 (@nyccarp608) April 11, 2025

while another simply said, "Looks a lot better."

Looks a lot better

— Mooch 🇺🇸 (@MoochFrmNY) April 12, 2025

Other fans were a bit more critical, with one writing, "Bro looks like he is about to go maniac."

Bro looks like he about to go maniac 😂

— richard trolly (@lbcarloss) April 11, 2025

The response demonstrated how attached the fans felt to Cease's original look.
Dylan Cease's teammates share their thoughts
about his new look. Outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. and third baseman Manny Machado gave the bearded Cease a thumbs up. Tatis Jr. opined, "I think he looks better with the beard," while Machado contributed, "The beard gives him character."

But not everyone on the team concurred. Rookie Jackson Merrill was honest in his view, saying, "Absolutely not, all that needs to be said." Utility man Tyler Wade concurred, saying, "Yes, absolutely. Dylan, please. For the love of God, shave it."

Cease himself addressed the reactions, saying, “I’m gonna do the opposite of whatever everyone else says to do, so hopefully they say to not keep it.” This playful approach indicated that Cease was aware of the buzz his appearance was generating and was willing to have fun with it.

Even with attention given to his looks, Cease's pitching continued to impress. In last week's win over the Cleveland Guardians, he blew 10 batters out of the way over seven innings while giving up one hit in his lone appearance to lead both teams to a single-inning, combined game and eventual 7-0 Padres victory.

Such a performance made it clear that beard or not, Cease is still an intimidating figure to have on the mound.


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