New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole has gotten himself into a few tumultuous positions in the past, notably when the Houston Astros were caught cheating by banging on trash cans to signal hitters of specific pitches.
Cole wasn’t a beneficiary of that strategy, considering he was on the opposite side of the ball, but he is still implicated as an accessory and has heavily used spider tack throughout his career before it was banned in 2021.
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Yankees’ Gerrit Cole certainly won’t be happy to hear these comments:
Toronto ace Alek Manoah spoke to Serge Ibaka on his “How Hungry Are You” show, being asked who the biggest cheater in the league was. Manoah didn’t hesitate to coin Cole, which isn’t surprising since the two had beef this past season after Manoah hit Aaron Judge.
“I made a pitch, obviously it hit Judge,” Manoah said. “Obviously, I looked at him and I said, ‘Man, I’m not trying to do that.’ I think he understood that. I think if Gerrit wants to do something, he can walk past the Audi sign (in front of the Yankees dugout) next time.”
Cole and many pitchers in the MLB used spider tack, so blaming him alone is a bit outlandish. At 32 years old, he still put together a solid 2022 season, earning a 3.50 ERA, 11.53 strikeouts per nine, a 78.2% left-on-base rate, and a 42.4% ground ball rate over 200.2 innings.
During the postseason, Gerrit recorded a 2.95 ERA, completely dominating for the most part. Nonetheless, while his numbers saw a slight reduction in efficiency, naming him, the biggest cheater is certainly uncalled for.
“He cheated. He used a lot of sticky stuff to make his pitches better. And he got called out on it,” Manoah said.
I highly doubt Cole will respond in any way to these comments but rather let his work speak for itself.