'Game-like' mix sees Cole bring triple-digit heat

TAMPA, Fla. -- Gerrit Cole found his extra gears for the first time as a Yankee during Tuesday's Grapefruit League start, twice lighting up the radar gun at triple digits while offering his new club a tantalizing preview of what its next nine seasons of highlights could look like.

The only starter in the Majors to touch 101 mph last season, Cole fired a pair of 100-mph heaters while limiting the Blue Jays to a run over 3 1/3 innings in New York’s 4-2 Grapefruit League loss at George M. Steinbrenner Field, an outing that the right-hander evaluated as encouraging.

“I think we're moving in the right direction, just getting a little bit better every start,” Cole said. “This was a good bounce back from the last start. We were able to take some positives from the last start, even though it was a bit rough, and improve on some of those and clean up some of the mistakes that we made. The mix is getting more true, more game-like.”

Cole touched 100 mph for the first time in pinstripes during the third inning, a fastball that second baseman Cavan Biggio lifted to center field for the third out of the frame. Cole logged 100 mph again on his final pitch, inducing a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. groundout before exiting to a warm ovation from the crowd of 9,754.

Last season, Cole’s fastball averaged 97.1 mph and hit triple digits 19 times, by far the most of any Major League starter -- the next closest was Nathan Eovaldi of the Red Sox (five). Cole also hit 100 mph six times in the playoffs, topping out with a 100.3 mph heater to Aaron Judge in the seventh inning of Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.

“He's great. He’s going to be a guy we love handing the ball to,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It's really great having him. I look forward to that, especially during the season, a guy you can obviously really count on.”

Cole shrugged off a shaky effort in his most recent spring start, in which he surrendered four homers to Travis Demeritte and Miguel Cabrera, tallied on a pair of back-to-back blasts at the Tigers’ spring home in Lakeland, Fla. Facing most of Toronto’s young stars, Cole limited the Jays to a pair of first-inning singles, walking none and striking out six. He threw a wild pitch, tossing 36 of 55 pitches for strikes.

“I thought we attacked the zone well,” Cole said. “We made a lot of competitive pitches, kept the ball out of the heart of the plate for the most part and [were] able to put some good runs together -- two, three, four good pitches in a row. Last start, I felt like it was a little bit hit-and-miss trying to string some of those together, so it was nice to put a few sequences together today.”

With catcher Gary Sánchez sidelined by influenza, Cole had the opportunity to work with Kyle Higashioka, who will likely begin the season as Sánchez’s backup.

“It was a good opportunity to work with Kyle,” Cole said. “I thought it flowed really seamlessly.”

It marked Cole’s first Yankees game experience with Higashioka, but the Californians share a long history -- Cole, Higashioka and outfielder Aaron Hicks all played on the same Angels scout team as teenagers in the early 2000s.

“Great dude,” Higashioka said recently. “I mean, I had a really good time with him. I think we played against each other once on some Orange County, North-South All-Star team. I hit a line drive up the middle and he was like, ‘Oh my God, you crushed that one!’ He’s always been a really good dude to me, and I'm looking forward to being his teammate again.”