GERRIT WON’T
Yank ace likes MLB’s
TAMPA — So far, Gerrit Cole approves of the baseballs MLB altered for the 2021 season. After confirming that he had been working with the balls most of the spring, the Yankees ace said that he has noticed that there is more “consistency” with the balls, albeit in a small sample size.
“They confirmed with us shortly after I spoke here [last month] that we’re integrating all the new balls into our throwing and so we’ve been using them,” Cole said. “I haven’t thrown in a game where I’m really going through like four or five boxes of balls, but I would say that [I’ve] noticed that they’re consistent. I’m not seeing as much inconsistency in the seams. They’ve been relatively consistent.”
Cole said he is comfortable with the new baseballs and finds the grip to be good. That’s a good start. Among the issues that pitchers have been complaining about is how “bouncy” the balls were — leading to a record number of home runs — and there have been multiple complaints over the last four years about the seams, which resulted in more guys dealing with blisters and less grip.
Cole said that it was noticeable in the old baseballs.
“We were seeing seams that were like pulled apart, right? Like by the leather ... Or a large seam or maybe even like a deviation in the horseshoe like a wiggle. I don’t know how many I’d have to
go through to find something like that before. But I haven’t come across anything strikingly weird, which is new.”
Baseball manufacturer Rawlings, which MLB holds a majority stake in, has loosened the tension on the first of three wool wrappings within the ball. The company’s research believes this adjustment will bring down the “bounce” slightly. The ball is also 2.8 grams lighter, but the same size. MLB does not anticipate the weight change to impact pitchers’ velocity.
The Associated Press reported last month that MLB sent out a memo to all 30 clubs last month citing an independent lab that found the new balls will fly one to two feet shorter on balls hit over 375 feet.
MLB’s balls are hand-sewn by workers at the Rawlings factory in Costa Rica, which may have been why there were minor deviations in production.
Cole, who said last month he was glad that MLB was finally up-front about the changes in the baseball after years of players doing their own research, just wants to get back to throwing the baseballs and not talking about them.
“I hope I don’t have to keep answering questions about it but I mean because ... the landscape’s never been unfair, right? We’re all playing with the same thing,” Cole said. “I’m certainly not the only guy that has noticed stuff in the last few years. And in my short experience right now, I just haven’t come across anything strikingly weird, which, like I said, I have come across that before. So that’s a small sample size. That’s all I got for now.”
Cole spoke after throwing a live batting practice in a moderate downpour on Saturday. He threw 50 pitches to two Yankees hitters at the minor league complex instead of his scheduled start in Bradenton against his former team, the Pirates.
“I got a good amount of work in, pushed the line a little bit and made some good pitches,” Cole said. “So, good day.”
The Yankees made the change to control Cole’s work environment with a possibility that the game in Bradenton could be rained out or delayed and make sure he got to build up to the 50-pitch mark. At this point in spring training, Cole said the opposition didn’t matter as much as making sure the work gets done.
“I think that the adrenaline is not the same but, I mean, at this point it’s like it’s not that big of a change,” Cole said. “But right now, it’s just about pitches and we’ll settle into the game atmosphere (in the next start).” ole threw two simulated innings, sitting down for nearly 15 minutes as Justin Wilson threw to hitters, before returning to the mound.
C