Gerrit Cole, MLB’s #9 prospect for 2013, took a daring path to professional baseball. Cole was chosen in the first round of the 2008 draft (28th) by none other than his favorite team, the New York Yankees. He was reportedly offered a $4 million dollar signing bonus by the Yankees, but had already decided to attend UCLA instead, leaving a duffle bag of money on the table. If you or I walked away from a $4 million dollar salary (not bonus) out of high school, we’d be sent to the nuthouse. Absolute lunacy. But Gerrit Cole is not your Average Joe. No, because Gerrit Cole throws a baseball 100 miles an hour. In 2011, the Pirates drafted him FIRST OVERALL and signed a check for $8 million dollars before he put on a uniform!
Here’s a nice interview by FanGraphs of Gerrit Cole about his approach on the mound. If there’s one thing you take from him, its to get outs in early counts. Trying to strike each guy out (aside from in situations that it is necessary) is going to push your pitch count, and the way coaches manage our arms today, you won’t make it past the 5th inning. Ask any great pitcher their approach and I guarantee the first or second thing they say is to get outs early in the count—the other one being to work ahead in the count.
Cole, like Tyler Skaggs and Johan Santana, wears a Rawlings glove with a two-piece web. His colors are different than Skaggs, and thanks to WPW reader Gonzalo, we know it is a Pro Preferred unlike Santana’s or Skaggs’. Gonzalo helped us with a few pointers as to how he figured that out:
“The color seems brighter, like on a Pro Preferred. Look at the wrist, it has white fur, like the Pro Preferred’s do. And it also has an index finger pad, like every Pro Preferred has. Many pros get Pro Preferred’s with that pad either because they want it or because they didn’t ask for it to be removed. As opposed, Pro Shop Heart of the Hide gloves never come with the pad unless the pro asks for it.”
Gerrit Cole’s glove has black leather, light tan lacing and white stitching. The glove is identical to the glove in the feature aside from the white stitching.
The PRO1000-9JB model is available in black Heart of the Hide leather/lacing and with a finger-hood. Cole’s glove does not include a finger-hood. Aesthetically speaking, the Rawlings Dual Core PRO1175DCC looks almost exactly like Cole’s, but his does not have the Dual Core technology.
On his feet, Cole wears the Under Armour Heater IV 5/8 cleats, which are available online in his colorway—black/white (below). He wore yellow laces, too.
Here are the links:
Rawlings PRO1175DCC Glove (closest to Cole’s look)
I am pretty sure his gloves is a Pro Preferred instead of a HOH. The color seems brighter, like on a Pro Preferred. Look at the wrist, it has white fur, like the Pro Preferreds do. And it also has an index finger pad, like every Pro Preferred has. Many pros get Pro Preferreds with that pad either because they want it or because they didn’t ask for it to be removed. As opposed, Pro Shop Heart of the Hide gloves never come with the pad unless they pro asks for it.
Gonzalo you a bad man. I’m gonna e-mail you.
Gerrit Cole did not get an offer from the Yankees out of high school. It wasn’t even discussed. Gerrit made up his mind before there was an offer.
What was the glove Cole used in the postseason?