By Dave Krider
MaxPreps.com
Gerrit Cole was a good – but not great – professional baseball prospect until several magnificent pitching performances during a series of showcases last summer leading into his senior year at California powerhouse Orange Lutheran.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound right-hander had planned to participate in a couple of major events, but mostly just pitch “five or six innings every week” for his travel team in the summer of 2007.
However, he kept getting calls from representatives of the Perfect Game National Showcase in Cincinnati, Ohio. “We said ‘no,’ ’’ he told MaxPreps, “but they kept calling. We were asked to go to the San Diego Showcase where I topped out at 95-96 miles per hour.”
The next day Cole was told he had been selected for the prestigious Aflac All-American Game to be held in San Diego later in the summer. He again was asked to participate in the nationals at Cincinnati and this time accepted the invitation.
“It was 100 degrees with tons of humidity on an artificial field,” he described. “I faced three batters and struck them all out. I topped off at 96 MPH. I knew I’d get up to 94 or 95, but I was blown away because I was consistently around 95. It was the first time I had pitched in front of 70 scouts.”
Cole then headed straight to Cary, N.C., to play with his Southern California Connie Mack League All-Stars in the USA Baseball Tourney of Stars (on his original schedule). “I was a little tired from travel and a little overwhelmed,” he admitted. “I didn’t do too badly, but it was not up to my expectations. We lost the championship game.”
Two and one-half weeks later he played for the Brewers at the Area Code Games (also on his original schedule) in Long Beach, Calif. He described his efforts as “great.” And great they were! In three innings, he threw 33 pitches, struck out four, gave up one hit and no walks. The most interesting statistic, though, was four broken bats.
The Area Code experience had to be cut short in favor of the nationally-televised Aflac game in San Diego. He again stood out with another perfect inning, which included a pair of strikeouts and one ground out.
The off-season schedule didn’t actually end until October when Cole competed with the Braves scout team – which joined forces with the Midland Braves – during the Perfect Game World Wood Bat World Series in Jupiter, Fla. His teammates included the likes of slugger Eric Hosmer and the nation’s No. 1 catcher, Kyle Skipworth. Needless to say, they won the tournament.
His experience in Jupiter, however, was one he’ll probably recount to his children and grandchildren some day. It was pouring rain and the field was a muddy mess – such a mess that every other game was postponed that day. Therefore, every scout and every other player was watching.
In one inning he faced three batters and struck out two during another perfect inning. Despite the treacherous footing, he was firing a blazing 96-97 miles per hour. It’s the stuff of legends and still the greatest thrill, he says, of his young career. Later in the week he fired three more scoreless innings, topping off at 97 MPH.
The smoke-throwing right-hander emerged from the summer as, arguably, the nation’s No. 1-ranked high school pitcher.
“It kind of opened my eyes to a whole level of baseball that I didn’t know about,” he admitted. “I got to meet an elite class of baseball players. It did a lot (for his confidence) and teaches you to handle a lot of situations – like big crowds, a lot of scouts, people trying to talk to you before and after games, teams trying to get into your head and playing on TV. It was fun.”
From the day he first set foot on a baseball diamond – as a five-year-old T-ball player – Gerrit Cole has been a natural. At age six, he moved to machine-pitch where a player stands near the mound to simulate a pitcher. He was a catcher and he began watching baseball games on TV at the urging of his mother, Sharon, who felt he wasn’t being taught much on the field.
Imitating a catcher he had seen on TV, Gerrit threw off his mask, called timeout and went to the mound for a conference – without taking into consideration the fact that the boy on the mound was not actually throwing the ball.
“He had a conference and I still don’t know what he said,” Sharon laughed. “We were cracking up.” It’s still the favorite family story.
Until he reached age nine, Gerrit was especially hard on his baseball gloves. He explained, “I was always bored in the outfield and liked to chew on my glove. I’d just chew my whole glove up. They’d get really slimy and you’d spit it out. We’d buy cheap gloves at the stores. Everybody chews on their gloves at that age,” he insisted.
Cole dabbled in other sports like soccer and golf, but by age 12 he decided to specialize in baseball. “I still golf in the off-season,” he admitted, “but no more school sports. The family and I noticed that I had a talent (for baseball). It was not off the charts, but I loved the game. Dad (Mark) said that I never would be excellent until I focused on one sport.”
It obviously was a good decision, because he twice belted walk-off home runs as a 12-year-old in Little League. On the first occasion, the pitcher started to give him an intentional walk with two runners on base. However, he swung at the first two pitches and missed, so the team decided to pitch to him. With the count at 2-2, he belted a winning three-run homer, which went approximately 240 feet. Later in the season another three-run homer (on a 3-2 pitch) soared over the scoreboard to defeat the same team.
Thirteen was a good age, too, because Cole’s Pony League team, the Tustin Titans, entered seven tournaments and won them all.
As a freshman at Orange Lutheran, he played frosh ball for half the year, then finished on the varsity JV. He hit two home runs for the freshmen and had a combined 5-0 pitching record, including a pair of one-hitters.
Orange Lutheran coach Mike Grahovac first laid eyes on Cole when he was a sophomore. Watching him throw in the bullpen during fall workouts, Grahovac recalled, “From the first time I saw him throw, I knew he was something special – the movement on his fastball and how hard he threw for a young kid.”
His sophomore year again was split. During the first half, he pitched 40 innings, allowed only one earned run and compiled a 5-0 record for the varsity JV. Then he was promoted to the varsity where he pitched 14 innings and finished with a 3-0 record as a closer. “I blew all three of my saves, but we ended up winning all three games,” he confessed.
Cole’s first varsity appearance as a sophomore was quite educational, because he was hit hard by the host team, Las Vegas Bishop Gorman. “Even though I threw 91, I can’t leave it right over the plate,” he learned. “That was what has driven me to another level of pitching. At that time, they were the best program I’d seen in my life.”
The summer before his junior year, Cole pitched in the Connie Mack state playoffs, striking out 14 in six innings against a San Diego team loaded with junior college players. Grahovac, who also coached his summer team, marveled, “He was only 15 and his last pitch was 91.”
From a skinny sophomore, Cole began filling out as a junior and was able to take over the No. 1 closer role on a veteran team. He pitched 29 innings, struck out 36, walked 11 and gave up only 12 hits while compiling a 0.92 earned run average. His record again was 3-0 and he had a pair of saves. He also played right field and batted .280 with a pair of home runs and 14 RBIs. He runs the 60 in 6.8 and was perfect in four stolen base attempts.
The two home runs were noteworthy because they came in the same inning during a rout of Rancho Santa Margarita Tesoro.
He had a pair of junior highlights against JSerra Catholic, based in San Juan Capistrano. The first time he pitched three innings of relief, striking out eight of the nine batters he faced.
Then, in the final regular-season game against JSerra, he just missed a no-hitter. He was scheduled to pitch only the first four innings, but was allowed to continue because of a possible no-hitter. With one out in the seventh inning, however, Shane Boras hit a soft line drive which eluded the third baseman for a single.
Later that year, the Cole family hired Shane’s father, Scott Boras, as Gerrit’s financial advisor.
Following his string of magnificent summer performances, Cole relaxed somewhat during his senior fall workouts at Orange Lutheran. One day, he and close friends Aaron Gates and Brandon Maurer were clowning around. Gates must have been the biggest pop-off, so Gerrit and Brandon decided to teach him a lesson. They each chewed a big wad of bubblegum and stuck it on a baseball, which they tossed to the unsuspecting Gates in center field.
“He caught the ball and gum went everywhere,” Cole gleefully related. “He heaved the ball into the dugout and it hit our coach. He got pulled. We (he and Brandon) had to get all of it out of the glove.”
Cole apparently deserves his role as the Lancers’ No. 1 “jokester.” He admits, “I like to keep a light atmosphere in the dugout and keep everybody loose. Nobody likes an up-tight dugout.”
His first start as a senior was no laughing matter, though, because he suffered his only varsity loss, 5-4, to Anaheim Esperanza even though he was charged with just one earned run. He gracefully accepted the fact that errors are part of the game.
His young teammates may have been especially jittery that day because, “The place was packed and there probably were 100 scouts,” Grahovac estimated. “We have at least 10 to 15 scouts at every game. I bet every single general manager knows how to get to Hart Park (Lutheran’s home field). He’s like a rock star on tour. Everybody wants to see Gerrit Cole.”
In reference to the “rock star” label, Cole acknowledges, “I know when I pitch, we get a big crowd and it’s a whole other level of intensity. I try not to pay attention to it, but I do try to feed off of it.”
Cole attacks this high intensity atmosphere with his own competitive fire. “I was definitely born competitive,” he believes. “I always was the kind of guy who didn’t want everyone to play (even in Little League). I was always nervous that we were going to lose (because of the substitutes). When I step on the field, I want to win the game.”
He’s dominating this spring with a somewhat altered arsenal because he now is throwing a slider in place of a curve. He explained, “The curve doesn’t suit my arm angle. It’s low and hard to wrap around it. I tend to throw a lot of hanging curves.” He still throws three types of fastballs (cut, two-seam sinker and four-seamer) and a circle changeup. His blazing fastball has reached 99 MPH several times recently and is consistent at 96-97. And, by the way, he also has superb control and a great pick-off move.
Now locked in as a starter, he prefers it that way. “I like pitching as a consistent starter,” he conceded. “It’s still fun coming on in relief – I want to be the guy throwing gas in the seventh inning. But it takes a toll on your arm. You’re in the outfield and then in the bullpen warming up. It’s not regular and you don’t know when you will pitch. You just can’t flip a switch.”
Cole’s finest performance this spring probably was a 4-1 victory over Santa Ana Mater Dei for the championship of the tough Trinity League. He struck out 11, walked one and yielded just three hits before an estimated 40 scouts. Grahovac pointed out, “In the seventh inning, he threw 11 pitches and the slowest one was 97 MPH.”
In the first round of the Southern Section Division I playoffs, the big right-hander struck out 10 and allowed just two infield singles as the Lancers eliminated Riverside J.W. North, 2-0.
His prep career ended on a sad note, however, with a 1-0 quarterfinal loss to Norco. He struck out 11, gave up four hits and no walks. He twice was clocked at 101 MPH and several times at 99.
Cole finished with an 8-2 record and 0.46 ERA. In 75.2 innings, he struck out 121 and walked only 18. At the plate he batted .310 with six home runs. He drove in a team-high 25 runs and stole seven bases in 11 tries.
The Orange Lutheran superstar continues to give back to the game he loves by helping to coach and umpire for younger players. His hobbies are golf and surfing. He carries a 3.9 GPA and particularly enjoys anatomy and history. He has signed with UCLA where he hopes to study law or medicine. His favorite television show is “House,” so medicine may have the edge.
Cole has chosen a surprising idol: former New York Yankees slugger Lou Gehrig. He explained, “I wrote a report about him in sixth grade. I think of what he had to go through (an illness with no cure). He truly played for the love of the game. He showed tremendous courage and perseverance.”
He left no doubt about his future goal when he stated, “My dream forever has been to play Major League baseball.”
Even though he will graduate at age 17, he has a very mature thought process. He admitted, “Right now I’m not ready to pitch in Major League baseball. I have to improve everything – the little things, like the mental side of the game, which will (eventually) get me there.”
Because of his youth, Cole has a tremendous upside.
Grahovac has no doubts about his star’s future. He affirms, “I played in the Giants organization and that kid is going to be in the big leagues.”