Gerrit Cole Aims to Resolve Home Run Woes Before Yankees' Playoff Push
Yankees ace Gerrit Cole seeks to regain his dominant form in his final starts before the postseason, having allowed a career-high seven home runs in his last two outings.
New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is entering a critical phase of his return from Tommy John surgery, as he looks to resolve recent struggles with home runs before the playoffs begin. Cole, who missed all of last season after undergoing major elbow surgery, has allowed seven home runs over his last two starts, marking a career-high for any two-start span.
Manager Aaron Boone expressed confidence in Cole's ability to rebound. "I expect him to be right next time," Boone stated after Cole's most recent start against the Mets. Cole himself has maintained he feels physically sound, having accumulated 115 ¹/₃ innings this season. His pitch metrics, including fastball velocity which has averaged 97.1 mph and 96.9 mph in his last two starts, remain consistent with his season averages.
However, the effectiveness of his four-seam fastball has diminished recently. In his last four starts, hitters are batting .333 (16-for-48) against the pitch, a significant increase from the .185 (32-for-173) clip they held in his first 16 starts. More concerning is the drop in swings and misses on his fastball; in his last three starts, Cole has generated only eight whiffs on 69 swings, including none against the Mets. This contrasts with a 22.8 percent whiff rate on the pitch in his earlier starts of the season.
Former Cy Young winner and analyst David Cone suggested that Cole's struggles might stem from hitters not respecting his secondary pitches, leading them to sit on his fastball. "You got to get some protection for your fastball, and you got to do something about your secondary pitches and get your slider tunneling again on that same plane off of that fastball," Cone remarked on "The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman." Four of the seven home runs Cole has surrendered in his last two starts were on his fastball.
Furthermore, hitters have made hard contact on a high percentage of fastballs put in play during this recent stretch. Of the 22 fastballs Cole has thrown in play over his last two starts, 15 have registered at exit velocities above 95 mph. The average exit velocity on his fastballs has risen to 98.3 mph, compared to 92.7 mph in his first 18 starts, indicating hitters are seeing his fastball effectively.
Cole is scheduled to make his final two regular-season starts against the Diamondbacks and Rays. Prior to these recent outings, he posted a 3.29 ERA over 18 starts, positioning himself as a key playoff starter alongside Cam Schlittler and Max Fried. While these recent struggles are unlikely to cost him his rotation spot over Carlos Rodón, a strong finish would provide crucial reassurance heading into the postseason.