New York Yankees’ starter Gerrit Cole has been perhaps the best starter in MLB this season, and was also the greatest in 2019 back when he was with the Houston Astros.
A move to Houston before the 2018 campaign helped him unlock a new level of dominance.
He started throwing his four-seam fastball, one that can touch triple digits, up in the zone with more frequency.
Gerrit Cole, high Fastball (home plate view/tail) pic.twitter.com/q3jYDB8Ntb
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) February 16, 2020
That earned him more swinging strikes because of the ‘rise’ effect that his spin rate gave him.
The usage of the fastball up in the zone allowed his excellent secondary offerings to feast, including a mean slider, a fantastic curve, and a comfortably above-average changeup.
Since 2018, Cole has been looking like a future Hall of Famer.
The problem is that his career started in 2013.
Here is why Cole shouldn’t be considered a Hall of Famer… yet.
1. A Lackluster Beginning Of His Career (For HOF Standards)
Cole has only been truly dominant from 2018 to this point and, before that, in one out of five seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Here are his ERA finished from 2013 to 2017, his five seasons with the Pirates: 3.22, 3.65, 2.60, 3.88, and 4.26.
Back then, he averaged at least a strikeout per inning only in 2014.
Of course, poor coaching and player development departments played a role in that, as the Pirates failed to recognize Cole’s huge strikeout potential and had him pitching to contact for most of his tenure there.
In 2018, with his move to Houston, he had a 2.88 ERA with 276 strikeouts in 200.1 innings.
In 2019, he struck out 326 in 212.1 frames with a 2.50 ERA.
Justin Verlander won the Cy Young award that year, but Cole deserved it more.
Cole has also been good since he left Houston for New York, with a 2.84 ERA in 2020 and a 2.03 mark so far in 2021.
https://t.co/NW8eCne38x The #Yankees’ priciest players have earned their $ to help stabilize season. Are Chapman, Cole and Stanton also helping build Hall of Fame cases?
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) May 15, 2021
He has a long way to go to prove that he can dominate for several more seasons.
2. A Lack Of Totals
Naturally, since he is still perhaps in the middle of his career, Cole still doesn’t have the totals of a Hall of Famer.
He has a 3.14 career ERA in 1325.2 innings, with 1515 strikeouts.
Perhaps if he pitches his whole Yankees’ deal (nine years, with seven remaining after 2021) at a high level, he can shore up his Hall of Fame case.
As of now, he doesn’t have enough totals and his 3.14 ERA lacks a bit in comparison with the elite (Jacob deGrom, for example, has a career 2.54 ERA).
3. No Cy Young Awards
Another thing missing in Cole’s profile is more hardware.
The Yankees’ ace has no Cy Young awards, although he clearly deserved it in 2018.
That’s not to say he isn’t well on his way to winning it in 2021 if he stays healthy, but that needs to happen first before we can make it official.
Additionally, Cole didn’t win the Rookie of the Year award, and doesn’t have any other trophies.
He does have a top-10 MVP vote in 2019.
Gerrit Cole is among the elite of the American League pitchers and can certainly win several Cy Young awards in his Yankees’ tenure.
But as of right now, he doesn’t have a particularly strong case to be a Hall of Famer if he decided to retire today.
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