Gerrit Cole has been with the Yankees for two full seasons and a COVID-affected season. The ace starter has been one of the league’s top pitchers. Cole remains no. 2 in strikeout rate, sixth in WHIP, and ninth in Wins Above Replacement after signing his massive deal with the Yankees. Gerrit Cole, who has pitched in fourth highest innings, was an All-Star in each of his three Yankee seasons when the exhibition wasn’t canceled because of the pandemic, and he finished in the top ten in Cy Young voting in all three.
However, many still remember the 2021 wild-card game in Boston and the notorious news conference when he was questioned about his usage of sticky substances. But it is wrong to claim that Gerrit Cole has been terrible.
However, fans still wait to see his real Yankee moment yet, especially in Yankee Stadium. Gerrit Cole had nothing to do with the fact that the stadiums were always empty during his first year with the team. But then, in 2021, he shut out the Astros with three hits in a complete game on the road. This was probably his best game as a Yankee and may have been his best moment ever. So was his masterpiece against the Angels, in which he struck out 15 batters. Last season, Gerrit Cole’s best start at home was either when he shut out a weak Cincinnati team for seven innings or when he beat a feeble Detroit lineup on June 3.
Gerrit Cole pitched well against Cleveland in 2022 ALDS despite Josh Naylor’s infamous home run against him. Cole’s swinging strikeout and majestic pitching at the end of the seventh inning of Game 4 in Cleveland, which was a must-win game for the Yankees, will never be forgotten.
Gerrit Cole reached back and threw three straight fastballs to finish the Guardians. However, he did this against Will Brennan, who had only played in 11 MLB games before the playoffs. It was a great example of Cole’s ability to carry the Yankees’ expectations on a big stage. It just so happened that it was against a minor leaguer who was trying to punch way above his class.
Rodon may fire up Gerrit Cole
One of the stories that came out of the Yankee clubhouse was that Gerrit Cole was shocked when he was taken out of Game 3 in the sixth inning. That is the last thing Cole remembers before 2023, a year in which he has a lot to prove. It is not impossible at all that the new left-handed pitcher Carlos Rodon will beat out Cole and become the real ace of the staff.
Rodon surpassed than Cole in many ways last year in WAR, ERA, and ERA+. Maybe his arrival will get Gerrit Cole fired up. Cole has been an excellent pitcher for the Yankees, but he needs some heroics in October to make the fans love him as they did with Andy Pettitte, CC Sabathia, and even El Duque.
Gerrit Cole is the only one who really knows how hard things are for him. If Cole spends another year in the Bronx without a ring, fans will start poking holes in his resume.
“I think it’s the hardest job in the league,” Cole told The Athletic during last year’s postseason. “I don’t think there’s a harder place to be the ace. I think it’s the most hunted job in the league and I think it comes with the most weight.”
Gerrit Cole has shown that he can handle being in the spotlight during the World Series. In 2019, he got the Astros close to a championship by holding the Nationals to three hits and one run in a win that put them one win away from their second championship in three years. The Astros went on to lose the last two games of that series, and Cole hasn’t been that deep into the playoffs since. This is one of the few things Gerrit Cole hasn’t been able to do in his long and successful career. He has never won a Cy Young Award or a championship, and in 2023, he would love to change that.
Can Gerrit Cole do that? What do you think? Leave your comment below.
