Gerrit Cole is the Best Pitcher on Planet Earth

On Sunday afternoon, the New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 2-0 thanks mostly to the greatness of Gerrit Cole who blacked out and pitched a complete game shutout in an era where pitchers aren’t really allowed to go the full 9 innings because advanced metrics and medical science and blah blah.

Gerrit Cole with the “now you see it, now you don’t” knuckle curve for ANOTHER strikeout!

Good lord this is filthy 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ywTGQYqq9U

— Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) April 16, 2023

Here’s what Cole did to the Twins:

9 innings
2 hits
1 walk
0 runs
10 Ks
109 pitches

Just one of the most efficient filleting you’ll see today. And I know the Twins aren’t one of the better teams in the league but they are tied for first place in the AL Central and were swinging through Cole’s breaking ball like Lucy moving the football as Charlie Brown runs up to kick it.

Going into the season, I predicted Shohei Ohtani was going to win either the MVP or Cy Young. Ohtani leveled up at the World Baseball Classic and was coming back to the Angels as a god among men.

But I think Gerrit Cole recognized all of the Ohtani love and also leveled up to God mode.

Let’s look at where he ranks thus far this season amongst the other starting pitchers in the league:

0.95 ERA (5th)
4 wins (1st)
32 Ks (3rd)
0.74 WHIP (3rd)
28.1 Innings Pitched (1st)
4 quality starts (1st)
1.5 WAR (1st)

At 32 years old, Cole is in a fascinating position. The greatest pitchers of his generation—Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw—are all approaching the finish lines of their careers.

Then there’s a new wave of Aces like Max Fried, Alek Manoah, Dylan Cease and Sandy Alcantara—who have the attention of most MLB writers and the fans who consume their content.

It’s left Cole on this one-man island that frequently finds him on the outside looking in on the greatest pitcher conversations. Jacob deGrom is close in age but his greatness has been nullified by his brittle bones and residency on the injured list. Trevor Bauer is a pervert terrorizing the women of Japan right now. David Price, Dallas Keuchel and Jake Arreita or all out of the league.

Gerrit Cole is pitching his 11th year in the Majors and he’s better than he’s ever been in a season where none of his actual peers are coming anywhere close to what he’s doing on the mound. This is the exact time for him to establish himself as the best pitcher in the world and ultimately enhance his legacy.

It feels almost disingenuous to label Cole as ‘underrated’ at this point in his career but the man’s yet to take home a Cy Young award. For comparison’s sake, Roger Clemens had 3 before he turned 32 years old. (He won 4 Cy Young after turning 34. Steroids are a hell of a drug, man.)

Gerrit Cole just seems to be pitching as if he’s aware of the historical importance of this year. He’s looking around at his peers and realizing it’s now or never while the old guys age out and before these young guys become household names.

Plus, the Yankees pitching staff has been brutalized by injuries. The Yankees starting 5 is Gerrit Cole and 4 dudes who could easily be wearing minor league jerseys—and one of those dudes should be wearing a prison jumpsuit.

So not only is Cole establishing his own individual legacy but he’s putting the Bronx Bombers on his back and carrying them to a World Series.

We are witnessing a man will his way into a different stratosphere. The Yankees fan in me wants to delete this article before I jinx this season but the other part of me thinks Gerrit Cole will read this last sentence and throw another complete game shutout and then call me out for doubting him in the post-game presser.

Thanks for reading. Go ahead and sign up for the D, the daily Deadseriousness newsletter sent directly to your inbox every AM.