Gerrit Cole’s Dominance Is An Early Highlight For The New York Yankees

Gerrit Cole made some unique history Wednesday afternoon when he pitched in cold weather for the second straight time to start his fourth season with the Yankees.

The moment occurred when he and catcher Jose Trevino took longer than the allotted 15 times and since it was a full count, Cole was charged with a walk via a pitch count violation. Unofficially he is the first starter whose outing ended on a pitch count violation and it seems Cole could merely laugh at the unique occurrence where he looked like an NFL quarterback being called for a five-yard delay of game penalty for letting 40 seconds expire on the play clock.

“We’ve just
just
got to call a mound visit there,” Cole said. “It’s a bit unfortunate. It was my first one so pretty poorly timed but we’ll learn from it.”

Taking too long to scroll for a selection on a PitchCom device and not calling the baseball equal of a timeout when the play clock goes to zero is about the worst thing to happen to Cole so far.

He looks more like the pitcher whose 257 strikeouts led the majors and not like the pitcher whose 33 homers allowed were the most in the AL and second in the majors behind Josiah Gray of Washington. He also seems a long way from the pitcher who twice punched the dugout roof in his emotional start of Aug. 20 against Toronto when the Yankees were in the midst of their summer swoon.

Cole’s early results are a continuation of what he achieved in the postseason, notably his two starts in the ALDS against Cleveland. Before allowing three runs in Game 3 against Houston, Cole allowed three runs in 13 1/3 innings and struck out 16, including his stellar
stellar
seven-inning showing in an elimination game in Cleveland before the Yankees won that series in five.

“Well he’s Gerrit Cole,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He walks out there with a lot of equipment but I feel like he’s been in a good spot since Day One of spring training and he’s carried it right into the season.

“He had a little bit of everything going today. I thought his fastball was really good, command-wise. He was sharp, and he’s throwing the ball real well.”

Cole being in a good spot is good news for the Yankee pitching, who is awaiting the returns of Carlos Rodon from a forearm injury and Luis Severino from a lat strain. Rodon is feeling well enough to face hitters soon and Severino is feeling better to start playing catch in the outfield but until those returns happen, the Yankees want to see more of this from Cole.

So far the eye test shows good things from Cole, whose 19 strikeouts through two starts are his second-best total, two behind the 21 he racked up in 2021 when he produced 62 in his first six starts as the Yankees took until May to go over .500 for good.

Now Cole has a miniscule 0.73 ERA with wins over aces Logan Webb and Aaron Nola. It is his second-best ERA through two starts, topped only by the 0.64 through his first two outings with Houston in 2018.

“He had a little bit of everything going today,” Trevino said. I thought his fastball was really good, command-wise. He was sharp, and he’s throwing the ball real well.”

Cole’s early success is being helped by an ability to get ahead of 33 of the 45 hitters to step in the batter’s box against him. And it is being helped by opposing hitters being 1 of 12 against him on a 2-2 count

“Getting ahead is always a good answer for avoiding the situations when you have to throw (a strike) on someone else’s terms,” Cole said.

Cole is pitching on his terms now, often pitching in favorable counts to throw better pitchers and avoid the act of turning around and watching a home run sail over the fence.