Gerrit Cole will make his American League-leading 27th start of the season Friday against the Rays, and while the Yankees are just about out of the playoff picture, the right-hander said he’s not going to slow down to preserve his arm for future years — when the Yankees will presumably have more to play for than in this lost season.
“If I was pushing 250 innings, maybe I would, but I need to hit my 205-210 [innings],’’ Cole said. “That was part of the challenge to get to that level in 2021 after 2020 [was shortened by COVID]. Not having that accumulation of workload throughout the year, it isn’t replaceable. You’ve got to repeat the same steps.”
So far, Cole is at 160 ¹/₃ innings, tops in the AL.
He finished the 2022 regular season at 200 ²/₃ and then pitched another 18 ¹/₃ in the playoffs.
Those postseason innings will almost certainly not be pitched this season, a fact acknowledged this week most succinctly by general manager Brian Cashman and Anthony Rizzo and it was a sentiment echoed by Cole, who was unsure when — or if — the Yankees had been eliminated from playoff contention Wednesday.
Still, he said he needs to be prepared for that extra workload in 2024, regardless of what happens the rest of the way this year.
“As long as we’re not in the danger zone — and we’re not even close — I’ll pitch,’’ Cole said.
But he added other reasons why he intends to take his turn every time through the rotation, regardless of the team’s place in the standings.
“There’s more to it than just that,’’ Cole said. “We’re here to play 162 games. That’s my full commitment. My full commitment is [making] 33 or 34 starts. I personally want to fulfill that. I want to fulfill that because I’m getting paid to do that.
“I want to play for the organization and the people showing up to watch me pitch, my teammates and my family. There’s a lot of different motivating factors other than physical. I still enjoy pitching.”
And he’s doing it at a very high level this season, with a 3.03 ERA that’s also tops in the AL.
It’s a performance that’s been largely wasted because of a lack of production — and health — around him, both in the rotation and the lineup.
“You can choose to be frustrated about it or choose to find the positives about it,’’ Cole said of the team’s disappointing season. “We have young guys here who are excited to get going. Those guys [Everson Pereira and Oswald Cabrera] worked hard to get here.
“As an older guy — not too old — I’m on the other side of it, so how do you view the glass as half full instead of half empty?”
He noted “the unique challenges this year that we haven’t faced in a long time and that I, personally, have not seen in my career.
How do you get better from those challenges instead of pondering your level of frustration?”
To that end, Cole said he’s kept his focus where it always is.
“You keep it simple,’’ Cole said. “It shouldn’t be too much different than any other year.”
On Tuesday, he said he worked on fixing the slider that plagued him in his previous outing and believes he identified a flaw and made the proper adjustment.
“As a professional, whether you’re in first place or eliminated, there’s a certain standard you should hold yourself to, regardless of the rest of your environment,’’ Cole said. “Certainly, if you’re in the hunt and dreaming about the World Series or the playoffs, obviously there’s some energy to be gained from that.
“You earned that and feed off that. That energy’s not here, so you have to find other ways in the game to bring that.”