Inside The Pinstripes

Gerrit Cole Looks 'Sharp' As He Takes Another Step Closer to Opening Day

New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole took a step closer to Opening Day, looking sharp against the Detroit Tigers. Cole gave up two home runs with five strikeouts

Max Goodman

LAKELAND, Fla. — As Tigers center fielder Nike Goodrum swung through a high fastball with one out in the fourth inning on Tuesday, the radar gun on the scoreboard in Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium flashed triple digits. 

It was Gerrit Cole's final pitch of the afternoon, a sizzling 100-mph heater for his fifth strikeout of the game.

In just over two weeks, Cole will be donning pinstripes at Yankee Stadium on Opening Day. While he understands he's still got some more ramping up to do, the ace feels good about where he's at this spring.

"I'm feeling good," Cole said in a Zoom call after coming out of the game on Tuesday. "Executed a lot of good pitches, [worked on] all four offerings and I'm throwing a good amount of strikes, staying within the delivery. So I'm feeling good."

Cole wasn't perfect on Tuesday, allowing two solo home runs in the second inning. Other than that, however, he was able to settle into a groove. 

"Certainly felt good enough to keep going, but at the same time, there's no rush," Cole said. "Aaron felt that was enough work and so we'll get after it next time."

Boone called Tuesday's outing another good step for the right-hander, shouting out each of Cole's four pitches. 

"Good day overall for him," Boone said. "I thought his four pitches were all probably as sharp as they've been. He hung the one slider for the home run, but otherwise, I thought he had a really good slider today. Flashed a good curveball, the life on the fastball was there of course and that changeup, which has been a good pitch for him all spring, I thought was [good] again." 

In the second, Cole struck out the side, but also surrendered the pair of solo shots. Detroit's first baseman Renato Núñez went yard to deep left on a fastball that Cole left over the plate with two strikes. Then, left fielder Jacoby Jones pounced on a slider hung over the middle, clobbering the 2-1 delivery off the batter's eye. 

Despite the homer, Cole said his slider was "improved" on Tuesday. 

"The slider wasn't where we wanted it," Cole said, referring to the hanger to Jones. "I would have liked to have executed that one better, but for the most part, we got a couple quick outs on it and we finished some guys off on it."

Cole is scheduled to pitch two more times before the calendar flips to April and the games begin to count. Even if he's still increasing his pitch count—the right-hander threw 61 pitches on Tuesday and is aiming to be ready to throw 100 on Opening Day—all the work Cole put in prior to reporting to camp is starting to pay off.

"I've been pleased with the work so far," Cole said. "When the regular season starts, it's kind of another level. You just put yourself in the best position to try to execute there. As far as all the prep up to this point, it's put me in a really good position."

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Max Goodman
MAX GOODMAN

Max Goodman covers the New York Yankees for Sports Illustrated and FanNation. Goodman has been on the Yankees beat for three seasons. He is also the publisher of Sports Illustrated and FanNation's Jets site, Jets Country. Before starting Inside The Pinstripes, Goodman attended Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and Master’s Degree in Sports Media, graduating in 2019. At school, Goodman was an anchor and reporter with NNN SportsNight and played on the club baseball team. While at Northwestern, Goodman interned with MLB.com as an associate reporter covering the Miami Marlins. He also interned with ESPN, working as an associate reporter on Mike Greenberg's Get Up. Goodman is from New York City. He grew up in Hell's Kitchen. Follow Goodman on Twitter @MaxTGoodman. You can connect with him via email by reaching out at maxgoodmansports@gmail.com.

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