The inside story of Yankee scout Oppenheimer’s
Brian Cashman went with the Herman Melville classic ‘Moby Dick,’ the classic tale of hunting the elusive white whale when describing the Yankees chasing Gerrit Cole for the last decade. Damon Oppenheimer also choose a classic to describe the pursuit: classic rocker Tom Petty.
“He said the waiting was the hardest part and it was,” the Yankees’ vice president in charge of am- ateur scouting said Tuesday. “Now, I am excited to see him finally in a Yankees hat.” Oppenheimer has waited 11 years to see Cole put on the hat and pinstripes.
Oppenheimer and his scouts began this chase 11 years ago, long before Cole’s record-setting, $324 million, nine-year deal with the Yankees was imaginable. They were the ones that had Cole as the No.1 high school pitcher on their draft board in 2008 and saw the potential for him to grow into the monster ace who commanded that contract. Oppenheimer was the one who was in contact with Cole and his dad before, during and even after that draft, when the Yankees used their first-round pick (28th overall) on the Southern California native.
And Oppenheimer was the one who had to swallow his frustration when Cole decided to turn down the Yankees’ signing offer and head to UCLA, where he’d flourish into the pitcher that Oppenheimer and his amateur scouts projected he would be.
“You wish you could have that in your system, but you can’t fight timing and it wasn’t the right timing for him,” Oppenheimer said. “You have to give (UCLA coach) John Savage and everyone at UCLA credit, Gerrit
really developed there.
“And you have to ultimately give Gerrit credit,” Oppenheimer said. “I like to say the best coach is the player himself and Gerrit has done a tremendous job.”
Watching Cole over the past 11 years has not always been easy for Oppenheimer, precisely because he developed into everything that he and his scouts thought he could be. Cashman saw first