Notes: Cole on Lou Gehrig Day; Judge in CF

Growing up a Yankees fan, it was only natural for a young Gerrit Cole to select a Yankee as his subject for an elementary school report. Cole chose Lou Gehrig.

At the time, Cole’s familiarity with the Hall of Famer was centered on Gehrig's on-field accolades: two Most Valuable Player Awards, a hitting Triple Crown, six World Series championships and seven All-Star appearances.

Cole’s father helped him understand the tragic side of Gehrig’s legacy: his battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease that Cole described as “complicated and sad.”

Later in life, Cole had a closer look at the impact of ALS when fellow big leaguer Stephen Piscotty lost his mom, Gretchen, to the disease in 2018. The Piscottys are longtime friends of Cole’s wife, Amy, and her family (including Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford).

On Wednesday, MLB’s inaugural Lou Gehrig Day, Cole spoke of how his appreciation for Gehrig continues to grow.

“What we learned from Gehrig is some of the virtues we all try to aspire to [have]: humility, sportsmanship, hard-working, perseverance, winning-type of guy,” Cole said. “Obviously, a magnificent player. … I’m humbled to play for an organization that had him. We see his number and his jersey in our locker room.”

Wearing the pinstripes Gehrig once wore makes the day even more special for Cole. The right-hander has had that type of connection with some of baseball’s all-time greats in other places, too.

Cole attended UCLA, which is Jackie Robinson's alma mater. While attending the school, Cole met members of Robinson’s family, who’d come to watch the Bruins play on Jackie Robinson Day.

In the Majors, Cole first played for the Pirates, the club for whom Roberto Clemente spent his entire career. Cole heard stories about Clemente from Tom Walker (father of then-teammate Neil Walker), who played against Clemente in 1972.

Cole’s connection to these legends, however faint, is not something he takes for granted.

“It gives you a sense of responsibility,” he said. “I mean, we should all try to represent and emulate the characteristics that these magnificent players demonstrated. But when you’re wearing the same jersey as them, there’s another connection that makes you undeniably closer to that legacy.”

Judge starts in center
Late on Tuesday night, Aaron Judge peeked into manager Aaron Boone’s office. Their conversation was brief.

“Hey, you ready for this?” Boone asked.

“Let’s do it,” Judge said.

For just the second time in his MLB career -- the other came on March 31, 2018 -- Judge was penciled into the lineup as the starting center fielder.

Right field has long been his post (403 of his 404 outfield starts have come there), but Judge played center throughout his three seasons at Fresno State. In fact, Cole remembers seeing Judge out in center during a UCLA-Fresno State series back in their college days.

“I’m probably just as excited as you to see how it transpires,” Cole said. “He’s obviously about as talented as it comes on the baseball field, so there’s no job or no task that’s too big for Aaron. I assume he’ll come through this with the Superman cape that he tends to wear every time he plays.”

Added Boone: “I just think he’s equipped athletically and fundamentally to go over there and handle it.”

Judge has the support of his Yankees coaches and teammates, but his outfield metrics don’t jump off the page. He’s roughly league average in sprint speed (53rd percentile), but well below that in Outs Above Average (35th) and outfield jump rate (22nd), according to Statcast.

With Aaron Hicks expected to miss the rest of the season after undergoing left wrist surgery, Brett Gardner is the only experienced center-field option on the roster. So could Judge see semi-regular time in that spot?

“We’ll see,” Boone said. “I’m not necessarily committing to anything, but I could definitely see it being in play moving forward, from time to time.”