INTRA STELLAR!
Cole looks outta this world in Yank intrasquad game, giving up 1 run and striking out 6 over 5 sharp innings
Gerrit Cole was annoyed. While there is nothing normal about this spring or summer, the ballpark is empty, the guys in the other dugout were from the same team and the “umpire,” was the bullpen catcher, the Yankees new ace was not fooling around Tuesday night.
He went about his warm-up with intention and approached the intrasquad scrimmage at Yankee Stadium like a regular, normal start.
He took a moment, crouched behind the mound before stepping up to face Mike Tauchman and then he just let go. Cole threw five innings, allowing one run on one hit. He walked two and struck out six. He threw 67 pitches, 43 for strikes.
The one hit was an oppositefield, first-pitch home run to Miguel Andujar. The “Bombers,” squad, made up of backups and prospects, held that lead and beat the regular “Yankees,” 1-0.
For Aaron Boone and the Yankees, they weren't keeping score and it was a good night. After a threemonth hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic, their $324 million righthander was healthy and ramped up to right about where he left off.
For Cole there were some positives getting back out on the mound, working on his pitches and getting the competitive juices flowing. He can use this to gauge where he is in his preparations, obviously.
But Cole kept score.
“If there's an opportunity to
have a couple conversations with some of the guys on our side tomorrow, I most likely will do that. I haven't caught up with them this evening. So the ability to get feedback after the fact is always beneficial,” Cole said. “But in terms of approaching the game, it was just as easy. You know, there's two lineups and we were just…..I don't know, I was trying to win. So, unfortunately we lost.”
Cole and the Yankees have 15 days until they will open the season in D.C. against the World Series defending champion Nationals. Tuesday night was his first real chance to face live hitters in a game-like situation.
With a shortened spring training heading into a spring of a 60-game season, there's little wiggle room for setbacks. Cole says he feels like he's more than halfway to where he needs to be.
“I would say relative to maybe a normal spring training ramp up somewhere in the second half of it, but closer to the halfway mark, then the end, if that makes sense,” Cole said. “Few days to recover after the start will maybe give me a better gauge of exactly where we're at. We did push the total pitches and the ups (innings) today. We have an extra day built in somewhere along the line to make an adjustment because we aren't quite as sure as we normally would be. I'm doing it for the first time and I'm just trusting the Yankees guys and their prep. I've reached out to a few people who've gone through shortened spring training and they've given me some advice.
That in a nutshell is what the Yankees paid for when they signed Cole to a record-setting contract this winter. An immense talent, a fierce competitor and a precise pitching wonk who led the American League in strikeouts and finished second in Cy Young voting last season.
The interest and intelligence about pitching is what Yankees manager Aaron Boone noticed most working with Cole this spring and during the hiatus.
“Maybe partly his intelligence and his aptitude and his ability to, throughout his career, be able to make adjustments. From being the first pick to go in and being an outstanding pitcher with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but kind of evolving into an even greater pitcher when he went to Houston. The ability to change some things from a repertoire standpoint,” Boone said. “But when you really boil it all down, he has for elite pitches with an outstanding athletic delivery and a killer instinct and a desire to be great at his craft,” Boone said. You add those things all up and you've got, you know the game's best.”