Gerrit Cole is underrated, underappreciated, and heck, he may even be underpaid.
I didn’t tackle the money part on Sunday (that’s a story for another day, like maybe when he has to decide about his opt-out following next season).
However, a quick, unscientific poll of scouts and execs after his latest gem — a 2-0 shutout of the Twins that lowered his ERA to 0.95 — produced an expected result.
All five baseball people ranked him as one of the top starting pitchers in the game, of course.
But they still didn’t quite grasp the greatness.
One said top two or three, one said top three, two said top 10 and one, top 20.
All of them are correct in a sense, but in another, they are all wrong.
The most correct response could be found right inside the Yankees clubhouse.
“He’s No. 1, no question,” teammate Nestor Cortes said, mentioning how Cole works up a precise game plan, then executes it to perfection.
“I see it firsthand,” Cortes added in explanation for why he was the only one to get the question exactly right.
Cole responded upon hearing of Cortes’ response that Cortes is “a good teammate,” which is unquestionably true.
But he’s also right on the money.
Cole is really in the sweet spot of his career, and that may explain it.
He was my pick for AL Cy Young, and he should have been everyone’s.
Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw are all-time greats, but they are closer to the end than the middle (although at 40, Verlander suggested he can pitch into his late 40s).
Sandy Alcantara, Dylan Cease, Max Fried and Julio Urias are closer to the beginning.
Jacob deGrom has to be the most talented — at his best nobody can touch him — but he’s only led the league in MRI exams the last couple years.
Cole is the one that’s great and dependable and right in the middle of his prime.
According to the Yankees game notes, since 2020 (since he donned pinstripes), Cole is first in strikeouts with 626, first in strikeouts per nine innings at 11.69 and second in wins behind the Dodgers’ Urias with 40.
While I get that team notes can be three pages of cherry-picked stats, these are fairly telling.
If Cole was surprised by those numbers, he didn’t let on.
“I’m blessed, and I work hard at it,” Cole said.
He’s at his best right now, and the Twins paid the price.
His fastball sat at 96 or 97, a couple ticks off his top numbers, but his command was so precise the Twins never had a chance.
He walked only one and struck out all but Jose Miranda and Michael A. Taylor in the Twins lineup.
“He’s definitely one of the best pitchers in the league,” said Twins star Carlos Correa, a former teammate with the Astros who was not officially in this very unofficial poll. “He does his homework. He knows where to attack. He executes. He obviously has his stuff.”
Cole ranks high in all those categories, but the separator is Cole’s availability.
Not only does he never miss a start, there’s never even a hint that something could be amiss.
One of the reasons he ranks at the very top of all the statistical lists is his availability.
“We can always talk who has better stuff, who’s got the biggest strikeout ratio and all that,” Correa said. “But at the end of the day, being available is the most important thing. He always shows up every fifth day.”
He’s there, and he’s dominating.
There were times in the past he was thrown off by little things like the Billy Crystal delay on Opening Day a year ago.
But this year, with big changes — a pitch timer, increased offense and more base-stealing — he’s made quicker work of the competition.
He’s the first Yankees pitcher ever to post a sub-1.00 ERA and gather 30 strikeouts through the first four starts of the season, and certainly is the early leader for the Cy Young award.
Which he has never won.
He should have won in 2019, but Verlander, his Astros teammate, nipped him for the honor in what seemed like a make-good for past writer mistakes.
Both Houston writers voted for Verlander, and I would never suggest they did that because Cole was a free agent and on his way out of town.
When he signed with the Yankees, who beat out his hometown Dodgers and Angels, in December of 2019 he got a $324 million, nine-year deal — a record for a pitcher.
The other big starter who signed at that winter meetings was Stephen Strasburg, who’s barely pitched since re-signing with the Nationals for $245 million over seven years.
Cole, meanwhile, just keeps going, never missing a beat, and lately rarely missing his spot.
If you’re paying attention he’s right at the top.
“I think it’s fair to throw him in that conversation, absolutely,” Aaron Boone said. “I do think going into this year I think he’s probably been on some level underrated, underappreciated. He’s great. He’s a great pitcher I believe will end up in Cooperstown one day.”
We don’t need a poll to know that.
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