Gerrit Cole brought the heat in more than one way, using his New York Yankees intersquad debut as a chance to prove that he’s a lunatic.
In case you forgot, Gerrit Cole is an absolute madman with a baseball in his hand.
Even in an absolutely meaningless game, Cole was showing visible frustration with any pitch that wasn’t picture perfect. And that visible frustration was accompanied by the dominant performance New York Yankees fans are hoping to see in 2020.
Cole threw 67 pitches over five innings, striking out six and allowing only a homer to Miguel Andujar.
https://twitter.com/KyleNYY/status/1280639293632008192?s=20
Of course that lapse in dominance was immediately explained. Due to the new COVID-19 rules regarding ball use, Cole ended up with an unsatisfactory ball and gave up the homer on his first pitch with it.
Gerrit Cole cant reuse a ball he likes due to corona, has to use a ball he doesn't like and gives up a homer , a breakdown pic.twitter.com/GR9M4b798R
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) July 7, 2020
All kidding aside, Cole showed everything that made the Yankees break open the piggy bank. Even for his first outing of “summer camp,” he located well, worked efficiently, and struck people out.
And most importantly, he showed Yankee fans that he won’t settle for anything short of perfection under any circumstances.
“I was trying to win. Unfortunately we lost.”—Gerrit Cole after giving up 1 run on 1 hit in 5 innings.
Of an intrasquad game.
— Sweeny Murti (@YankeesWFAN) July 8, 2020
Michael King’s outing was also noteworthy in this intersquad game. He only threw two innings but showed off a nice pitch repertoire. Like Clarke Schmidt, King doesn’t really have a spot on the 2020 team. But should injuries plague the team like they did in 2019, King and Schmidt will serve as fantastic depth on a championship-caliber team.
Regardless, Gerrit Cole is as fantastic as advertised and I’m looking forward to watching him dominate the league for the next four months.
