When Gerrit Cole, the American League starting pitcher in the 2023 All-Star Game, was asked in the clubhouse before the game he hoped he would one day start about the next item he wanted to cross off his baseball bucket list. It didn’t take him long to answer.
“Well, World Series,” the Yankees’ ace said with a smile, “Yeah, a championship.”
Cole classified the first half of the season for the Yanks (49-42) as “a mixed bag,” but said there have been “a lot of opportunities to learn” that could help reach their goals.
“Ultimately, you gotta play well enough to get into the dance, and then you gotta play your best baseball at that time. So you gotta take the experiences that you have throughout the season, positive and negative, and use them to your advantage, he said. “I think there have been some positive experiences so far, some guys have stepped up in other guys’ shoes.
“I think we’ve figured out kinda how to win in different ways, certainly, we’ve played a lot of small ball, we’ve played excellent defense for the most part and we’ve pitched really, really well, our bullpen is coming into its own, picking each other up.”
And the All-Star offered a vote of confidence in the struggling veteran bats in the lineup – Giancarlo Stanton (.203 average, 92 OPS+), DJ LeMahieu (.220 average, 79 OPS+) and Josh Donaldson (.152 average, 88 OPS+), without naming any names, of course.
“And some of the really, really great players that we have are just not gonna perform at this level for the rest of the year. They’re going to improve. You have faith in the offense. You have faith in these players based on their process, how they work, what their work ethic is, the type of teammates that they are and what direction they’re trying to pull the team in,” he said.
Despite the team sitting in fourth place in the AL East (8.0 games behind first-place Tampa Bay) and 1.0 game behind Toronto and Houston for the second and third Wild Card spots, when asked if he has lost faith in the Yankees making the postseason , Cole said, “No, not at all.”
“What are we six, seven games over .500 at this point? So, we’re in a position to strike, we’re in a position to also maintain and slowly continue to lay down a stronger foundation to when we get to the end of September,” he said. “It’s gonna be on us to adjust and continue to get better, we do need to get better, so that’s for sure.”
And headed into the final 71 games of the regular season, the veteran right-hander said his outlook remains “always positive.”
“The great thing about the Yankees is that they never stop trying to get better, there’s a track record of that going back, you know, to the 1920s,” Cole said. “That’s one of the blessings about being a Yankee is you’re never too far out of the fight if you’re not right there in the thick of it and you always know the organization is gonna advocate for the team and the fan base and you’re gonna get that support to be able to try to push it over the limit and get the championship every year.”
Earlier in his pre-start scrum with members of the media, the jovial mood in the clubhouse was quickly brought down when the AL starter – and sole Yankee representative in Seattle – was asked by a reporter about Brian Cashman’s decision on Sunday to fire hitting coach Dillon Lawsonthe first time the GM had fired a coach midseason.
“Obviously, Brian made the move that he made,” Cole said, before taking a long pause, “probably took a lot of thought and it’s the only time that he’s done that in his career as general manager.
“From my perspective, as far as Dillon, he put a lot of time in, he was grinding very hard. He was always a big advocate for his players, whether they be hitters or pitchers. He was a good team guy. I think he’s a very bright baseball mind we obviously benefited a lot from his development in the minor leagues.”
Cole added: “I’m sure he’s gonna get another job and he’s gonna make a lot of other players great.”