It was a special evening in Altoona, Pennsylvania on Wednesday night. No, there weren’t cowboy monkeys riding on dogs. It was the debut of the Pirates No. 1 pick in 2011 Gerrit Cole. Cole, the 6’4, 21-year-old from UCLA took the mound for the Curve as they were set to take on the New Britain Rock Cats. And Cole, who has much hype around him as a power-pitcher, came as advertised. Well, kind of.
In the first inning, Cole retired the Rock Cats one-two-three with two popups and a strikeout at 97 miles per hour. For his next three strikeouts however, Cole took a different approach as he struck out the Rock Cats on off speed pitches.
“I tried to establish the fastball early and just went to the change up because it was feeling good,” Cole said. “I have confidence in it to throw it with two strikes or behind in the count.”
Cole took a no-hitter into the top of the fourth, when Aaron Hicks, the second ranked prospect in the Twins organization, took a 3-2 fastball the opposite way for a double down the line. Hicks would come around to score on a Chris Colabello single. After the Curve enjoyed a long fourth inning offensive attack, Cole was set to take the mound for the fifth. With things going smoothly in his debut, of course something out of his control would go wrong.
As Cole took the field, one of the sets of lights went out, causing a 22 minute delay. Despite the delay and the lengthy fourth inning, Cole said it didn’t affect him.
“It was actually nice to get some warmup pitches in before they went out,” Cole said. “I just came in, threw on a jacket and tried to keep rolling.”
Although Cole said he was fine, he faced his first test of adversity in the fifth. He surrendered back-to-back singles and let up a second run on an RBI single by Hicks.
“They put the ball on the ground, especially the second time,” Cole said. “That’s what you want is for them to hit it on the ground. They might have been a little bit more aggressive the second time around, but that’s expected. I just need to make better pitches.”
Cole enjoyed his first night in Altoona, but did hint that he was a little bit nervous.
“I felt pretty good,” Cole said. “Some butterflies before hand, but they went away like they always do. It happens every game. It was kind of like any other start.”
Overall, Cole was impressive in his debut as he pitched five innings, allowing just the two runs on five hits, while striking out six and walking none. Cole topped out at 99 mph and displayed excellent control of the zone early on as he threw 15/20 first pitches for strikes. Add in the change up, slider and curveball, that’s what makes him the top prospect he is.
“I would hope so,” Cole said when asked if that’s what makes him good. “I think it’s a necessity because you have to keep hitters off balance. It’s not about velocity anymore, it’s about location and changing speeds.”
His new manager P.J. Forbes said that Cole is a grown man and has his own routine when he was asked if he did anything special to prepare him. Forbes said he showed up on time and was ready to work.
The Curve pitching coach Jeff Johnson said that he has one main goal for pitchers at this level.
“I want to teach them to develop their change up and have confidence in it,” Johnson said.
Johnson also said that with Cole being an experienced college pitcher, it has helped his growth so far.
One thing that helped Cole in his debut was the fact that the Curve put up eight runs on the board in the first four innings, including home runs by Quincy Latimore and Robbie Grossman.
“It gives anyone more confidence on the mound and allows a pitcher to be aggressive,” Cole said about the run support. “It keeps the pressure on them throughout the game.”
Needless to say, Cole didn’t fail to impress the Curve or the fans in his debut as they won the game 9-4. But it wasn’t just the arsenal that stuck out to Forbes. Forbes said when the Pirates selected him, they did a big background check. When a kid has the kind of arsenal of pitches and the character, it’s a win-win.
“You can’t necessarily teach that kind of mentality,” Forbes said. “You bring that with you and then you learn to use it.”
While it’s just one start in Double-A, the future looks bright for Cole and the Pirates. But don’t expect that to happen anytime soon. As Forbes said, that question is above his pay grade and Cole offered an interesting answer to the question.
“You might want to ask J.J. (Pitching coach Jeff Johnson),” Cole said.
That was of course, followed with a “good answer” by Forbes.
One start in, and he’s impressed already.
Photo credits: Associated Press
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