Cole a finalist for AL Cy Young Award
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NEW YORK -- Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole was named a finalist for the 2023 American League Cy Young Award on Monday.
It marks the third time in his career that Cole will finish in the top three as one of the AL’s best pitchers. As a member of the Astros in 2019, Cole finished second behind teammate Justin Verlander for the award. Two years later, Cole was a Yankee when the Baseball Writers' Association of America voted him second behind Blue Jays left-hander Robbie Ray.
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The announcement of this year’s winner will be made on MLB Network on Nov. 15 at 6 p.m. ET. The other finalists are the Blue Jays’ Kevin Gausman and Sonny Gray of the Twins.
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Cole is hoping to become the first Yankee to win the award since Roger Clemens in 2001. While the Yankees had a disappointing campaign in 2023, Cole had a season to remember. Besides leading the team with a 7.5 bWAR, Cole led the AL in eight pitching categories, including ERA (2.63), innings pitched (209) and WHIP (0.98).
Cole put himself in the thick of the Cy Young conversation with a stellar seven-start stretch to close the season, going 5-0 with a 1.29 ERA (seven earned runs in 48 2/3 innings pitched) and 52 strikeouts. New York won 23 of his 33 starts overall.
“He’s the best pitcher in the game,” teammate Aaron Judge said after Cole’s last outing. “This is Gerrit Cole’s era, that’s for sure. He’s the benchmark for what an ace is supposed to be like, on and off the field.”
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Cole, who went 15-4, did more than just dominate in his last seven starts. His 2.63 ERA was the lowest by a qualified Yankees pitcher since Rudy May recorded a 2.46 mark in 41 games (17 starts) in 1980. It was also the fourth-lowest ERA by a qualified Yankee in the last 49 years, trailing only Ron Guidry (1.74 ERA in 1978), May and Catfish Hunter (2.58 ERA in 1975).
Cole allowed more than three runs just five times in 33 starts this season, yielding 27 of his 64 runs in those five starts. In his other 28 starts, he gave up just 37 runs for an average of just 1.32 runs per game.
After pitching his last game of the season -- a two-hit shutout of the Blue Jays on Sept. 27 -- Cole was grateful that his team played hard every time he was on the mound.
“In the 33 games that I was able to play this year, they showed up every single time,” Cole said. “After some of our collective hopes fell by the wayside, it motivated them to continue to play hard. … When I look back at it, I just think about the hard work from everybody. I’m just very grateful.”