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On November 15, Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees was named the 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner. The result surprised few as, despite his team's lacklustre performance overall in 2023, he was nothing short of dominant.
This was the fourth year of Cole's nine-year, $324 million commitment to the Yankees. After finishing in the top 10 in Cy Young voting for each of the last three seasons, the 6'4" right-hander finally put up a performance worthy of the league's top pitching honor.
Given Gerrit Cole's statistics this season, it was hard to envision a scenario in which the 33-year-old was not named the Cy Young. Cole pitched to a 2.63 ERA over 209 innings, leading AL starters in both categories. Additionally, Cole went 15-4 with two complete games, and posted a league-best WHIP of just 0.981.
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"The choice was clear when it came to this year's AL Cy Young Award Winner, @gerritcole45" - MLB Network Radio on Xirius XM
In an appearance on MLB Network radio, analyst and former MLB utility man Eduardo Perez echoed the sentiments of many. According to Perez, who retired as a member of the Seattle Mariners in 2006, "there wasn't anyone close to (Gerrit Cole) in AL" when it came to Cy Young voting.
In 2021, Cole came within a hair of winning the AL Cy Young Award after going 16-8 with a 3.23 ERA, coming second to Robbie Ray of the Toronto Blue Jays. With his stellar performance this season, he has largely put voices who called his contract too onerous to rest.
"Gerrit Cole picks up his 11th strikeout then exits to a nice ovation in Tampa" - Talkin' Yanks
Despite tremendous personal success for Cole, the fortunes of the New York Yankees as a whole was not gleaming. Finishing with a record of 82-80, the rest of the Bronx Bombers' put up a 4.44 ERA, ranking them 18th out of 30 teams in the category.
Gerrit Cole is the pitching anchor for the Yankees to build on in 2024
Largely in the company of a broken rest of the rotation, Cole stuck out as a diamond in the rough in terms of Yankees starters this season.
With Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortes, and Frankie Montas all missing all or parts of the season, Cole's performance appeared all the more pronounced. The rotation is expected to be more stable in 2024, so fans will get to see if Cole can do it all again next season.
