Long story short: Gerrit Cole not worried about home run issue

TAMPA, Fla. — Gerrit Cole is coming off perhaps the most interesting of his 10 seasons in the big leagues, a year in which he struck out a Yankees-record 257 batters but also allowed an American League-high 33 home runs.

But when the righthander compartmentalizes last season, only one thing comes to his mind.

“We got waxed,” Cole said Thursday of the Yankees’ four-game sweep at the hands of the Astros in the ALCS. “Any time you get waxed, it doesn’t feel good, whether you’re going to the salon or you’re on the baseball field.”

Jokes aside, Cole did spend some of his offseason evaluating his work in 2022.

Speaking after Yankees pitchers and catchers went through their first full workout of spring training, he characterized it as a “strong season” overall

 2⁄3 innings. The home runs allowed is not something he obsessed over.

“I keep thinking when Justin [Verlander] gave up 36 and won the Cy Young how many questions like this he got,” Cole said of his former teammate’s American League Cy Young Award campaign with the Astros in 2019, when he did allow those 36 homers but finished 21-6 with a 2.58 ERA and 300 strikeouts in 223 innings.

“I mean, some pitches were good pitches, some pitches were bad pitches. Some were bad sequences. I think overall, when I evaluated it [the homers], I tried to cut through the stuff that I could control and slightly improve on those kinds of things and try to stay vigilant about how a little tinker here or a different pitch selection there might be able to prevent some of those things.”

Cole continued: “The solo home runs really aren’t [concerning], it’s the late ones that kind of flip the game a little bit or the ones where there are two or three runners on base that kind of sting the most.”

Cole, whose previous season high in homers allowed was the 31 he gave up in 2017 with the Pirates, also said the long balls are a natural product of the kind of pitcher he is — a power pitcher who for the most part stays in the strike zone.

“I throw strikes with all five of my pitches,” said Cole, who along with free-agent signee Carlos Rodon, Luis Severino, Nestor Cortes and likely Domingo German will comprise what is expected to be one the AL’s top rotations. “Part of what makes me great is my low walk rate and those two things. So there’s a pretty good chance when you face me I’m going to be in the strike zone, and if you get a good pitch to hit and put a really good swing on it, sometimes those balls can go out.

“It’s not like I’m going to give up zero home runs this year. I’m always going to give up a certain amount of home runs. So I think just being a bit more vigilant in whatever it is that specific day that needs to be improved, try to get out ahead of it.”

As for the No. 1 storyline that captured Yankees fans’ attention in the offseason — the free agency of Aaron Judge — Cole said it was at times “uneasy” to watch. That was made even more so by the fact that his brother-in-law, Brandon Crawford, was part of the welcome wagon trying to woo Judge back to the Bay Area, where the outfielder grew up as a fan of the Giants. Judge eventually signed a nine-year, $360 million deal with the Yankees.

“Obviously, he [Judge] charmed the Giants; shocker, he charms everybody,” Cole said with a smile. “Brandon said the meeting went well . . . I tried to tune out the noise, but that was quite loud. So I was sweating it I think with the rest of us a little bit for a second there.”