Cole transformed by Astros analytics

NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole walked into a conference room after one of his first spring training workouts with the Houston Astros in February 2018 and was met by about 10 people.

“There was charts, video, matching charts,” Cole recalled. “It was all new then, but it’s pretty straightforward to me now.”

Cole transformed into perhaps the best pitcher in the major leagues after that onehour presentation, increasing the usage of his fourseam fastball and curveball, pretty much dropping his twoseam sinker and attacking the top

of the strike zone far more frequently.

With the Astros and Yankees tied at one game apiece in the AL Championship Series, Cole is 180 in his last 24 starts heading into his matchup Tuesday night against New York ace Luis Severino.

“It’s a blast. This is the big stage,” Astros manager AJ Hinch said. “It’s rowdy from the first pitch on. It will bring some adrenaline out of you.”

Houston may be known for oil, but this October it’s been Cole country. He is pitching his way into a postseason elite that includes Christy Mathewson, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Orel Hershiser and Madison Bumgarner.

Once upon a time, the Astros remembered May 22 for hitting into a triple play.

Now it’s notable as the last time Cole lost.

Taken first overall by Pittsburgh in the 2011 amateur draft, Cole was 5942 with a 3.50 ERA in five major league seasons when he was dealt to Houston in January 2018 for righthanders Joe Musgrove and

Michael Feliz, third baseman Colin Moran and outfielder Jason Martin. Since that spring training meeting, his regular season record is 3510.

Pitching coach Brent Strom did most of the talking during the discussion, joined by bullpen coach Josh Miller, minor league pitching coordinator Doug White, manager of major league advance information Tom KochWeser and Brandon Taubman, senior director of research and development and a former Ernst & Young derivative valuation expert.

“I just hadn’t dove into that whole realm much before. So I guess that was most surprising, that you could even like forecast what a pitch would project to be like against the rest of the league,” Cole said.

Hinch considers the presentation a trade secret, not surprising for an organization whose analytics team employed former NASA biomathematician Sig Mejdal, now with Baltimore.

“The preparation behind the scenes for what goes into

the meetings and the communication with our players is unmatched in my time in the game,” said Hinch, in pro baseball for about a quartercentury. “Selling them is about providing them as much information as you can in an environment that’s a twoway street and applying it onto the field, which is what the player is in charge of. So that’s about as much detail as I’m going to give you about our meetings because it’s something that we consider very important to the development of our players.”

Cole threw just over 8% of his pitches in the upper third of the strike zone during his last season with the Pirates and another 11.5% wide of the upper third or above, according the Brooks Baseball. This year he threw nearly 13% in the upper third plus 21% high and wide.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone marvels at Cole’s “ability to really pitch at the top of the strike zone with his highend fastball and really command it up there. Throw it at the top or expand just enough to get swings. And then a couple of electric breaking balls.”

Kathy Willens / Associated Press New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone speaks to members of the media during a news conference on Monday.