Conversation With Bryan Hoch About Spring Training, Gerrit Cole Who Is The Newest Addition To New York's Starting Rotation And Aaron Boone Utilizing The Opener Strategy
If the season had started on time and we weren’t dealing with this epidemic called the Corona Virus in the United States and around the world the team that wears the pinstripes would be in the Bronx for a three game series that includes their home opener against Toronto with a day off in between before their finale on Friday against Toronto.
Unfortunately, the game on the diamond has yet to begin its season so I reached out to Bryan Hoch who covers the team that wears the pinstripes for mlb.com via social media which happens to be my favorite team and asked if he would be up for answering a couple questions about what his life is like as well as what life is like for the players at the moment while also asking him about the newest addition to the starting rotation Gerrit Cole who New York signed in the off-season to $ 324 million dollar deal for nine years.
Turns out he was up for answering my questions starting with what his life is like right now, what the players lives are like right now, what he thinks of the addition of Gerrit Cole to the starting rotation and if Aaron Boone will utilize the opener strategy if and when the season begins? He had this to say on those subjects.
The strangest Spring Training I've ever had. I'm still in Tampa. My family was here with me when baseball shut down, and we decided that it was safer to remain here rather than go home to New York. Many of the players were still using Steinbrenner Field for a while, but now it's down to the rehabbing guys - Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Luis Severino. My thought is that when baseball resumes, it'll happen here in Florida and not in New York, so this is still the right place to be. It's almost like the offseason, where most of my work is done by phone, but it's obviously much different.
Then of course I asked him about the new addition to New York’s starting rotation. Who is he? His name is Gerrit Cole. He was drafted in 2008 out of high school by the team that wears the pinstripes. However, he didn’t choose to go to the big leagues out of high school . Instead, he went to UCLA and was in the 2011 MLB Draft where the right -hander was selected first overall by Pittsburgh who is a member of the National Central where he spent his first five seasons with Pittsburgh starting in 2013 where he finished with a record of 10-7 with a 3.22 earn run average. In 2014 he finished with a record of 11-5 with a 3.65 earn run average in 2015 he finished with a record of 19-8 with a 3.60 earn run average. In 2016 though the right -hander had a down year finishing with a record of 7-10 with a 3.88 earn run average. In his final season in Pittsburgh Gerrit Cole finished a record of 12-12 with a 4.26 earn run average. Then in 2018 Gerrit Cole was off to a new division. What division? The American League West where he was a member of Houston. In his first season Gerrit Cole finished with a record of 15-5 with a 2.88 earn run average. In his final season in the American League West Gerrit Cole finished with a record of 20-5 with a 2.50 earn run average. “according to https://www.mlb.com/player/gerrit-cole-543037
This is what Bryan Hoch had to say about the addition of Gerrit Cole to the starting rotation.
The knock on the Yankees last year was that they didn't have the starting pitching to win a World Series. Well, you can't say that anymore. Cole is one of the best pitchers in the game, and he really impressed me this spring as far as how he instantly seemed to fit into the clubhouse environment. The stuff speaks for itself, I think you can make the case he should have won the Cy Young last year. The one-two punch of taking him away from the Astros and then adding him to New York makes the Yanks much stronger.
Lastly I asked about Bryan Hoch about Aaron Boone utilizing the opener strategy this season and this is what he had to say.
I figured they would to begin the year, with Chad Green and Jonathan Loaisiga possibly taking turns in that role. They'd talked to Green about that possibility before camp shut down. Now that it looks like James Paxton will be healthy to begin the year, they won't have to - if you have five legit and healthy starters, there's no need to use the opener. But chances are, having seen how 2019 went, there will be a need at some point. It's nice to know those guys are waiting and ready.