Gerrit Cole earns $8,600,000 star's credits for reshaping his understanding of pitching analytics

New York Yankees closer Devin Williams recently credited Gerrit Cole for opening him up to a new perspective on certain pitching analytics that he hadn't considered before. Williams admitted that he does not delve too deep into the analytical side of pitching, but Cole shared a few pointers for him, and he was highly impressed with what the latter had to say.

Devin Williams is regarded as one of the best relief pitchers in the game when he is healthy. He made his major league debut with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2019 and won the National League Rookie of the Year the following season. Williams was traded to the New York Yankees for his final campaign, reaching free agency in the offseason, and has signed an $8.6 million pre-arbitration deal with the team.

While attending the Yankees spring training camp in Tampa, Florida, Devin Williams was interviewed by MLB Network on Thursday. He discussed some of the tips that he has picked up after becoming teammates with Gerrit Cole.

"Honestly, I didn't really have much to say, but listening to Gerrit talk about," Williams said. "There's like a different bunch of analytical ERAs and how they calculate that. Just listening to him talk about it was kind of eye-opening to me."

"You're in the deep end if you're listening to Gerrit. I don't really get that far down the rabbit hole, but he had a lot of interesting things to say."

Williams has earned the nickname 'Airbender' for being able to induce prodigious movement on his changeup, which is widely regarded as the best pitch in the MLB.

Just wasn't able to command it today: Gerrit Cole on his rough outing against the Twins

Gerrit Cole was the unianimous choice forthe 2023 AL Cy Young Award (Image Source: IMAGN)

Gerrit Cole had a rough outing at work as the New York Yankees lost 8-4 to the Minnesota Twins in their Grapefruit League contest at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Thursday. Cole lasted 2.2 innings and gave up six earned runs from five base hits, including two home runs.

"Just seemed to be missing and then throwing it down the middle," he said on YES Network after the game. "Just repeated a lot of the pitches, trying to find some sort of a groove, but just wasn't able to command it today."

Talking about the positive aspects of his fame, Cole said:

"The movement was good. The velocity was good. The location was poor, and just a lot of bad counts. So, it didn't come down to just the fastball either. There was some offspeed early. That put us in the hole and then some bad-quality fastballs on fastball counts."

Cole had one of his least productive seasons in 2024 after starting the season on the IL due to elbow inflammation. The injury had sidelined him for more than two months, and he only made 17 starts during the regular season, although he was excellent for the Yankees during the postseason.