On June 6, 2011, Gerrit Cole was selected as the #1 pick in the MLB draft. Two years and 38 minor league starts later, Cole is hours away from his major league debut at PNC Park against the defending champion, San Francisco Giants and Tim Lincecum (4 – 5, 4.75 ERA).
Since this is a big day for the future of the Pittsburgh Pirates, here is a little background on tonight’s starter:
Gerrit Allen Cole (Born 9/8/1990 in Newport Beach, CA) is a 2008 grad of Orange (CA) Lutheran High School, where he was a varsity letterwinner for three years. He was rated the fourth-best high school prospect by Baseball America following his senior season in which he went 8 – 2 with a 0.46 ERA and 121 K’s in 75.2 IN. He was drafted that year by the New York Yankees in the 1st Round (28th) but decided to attend UCLA instead.
During his career at UCLA, Cole went 21 – 20 with a 3.38 ERA, 5 CG and 376 strikeouts in 322 1/3 innings in his three-year career with the Bruins. During his final year with UCLA (His Junior season) Cole pitched back-to-back gems in which he had a perfect game through six innings.
On 3/5/2011, he had a perfect game broken up against Nebraska on a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh. He would go on to get a no decision in the 25 degree weather (9 IN, 2 H, 0 R) in a UCLA 1 – 0, 11 inning win. Six days later, he would take another perfecto into the seventh against Georgia where that would be broken up with a one-out double.
On June 6th of 2011, The Pirates selected Cole as the first pick in the Draft and signed with the team two months later on August 15th. He would debut in the Arizona Fall League that season and go 2 – 0 with a 3.00 ERA in five starts. (15 IN, 10 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 16 K’s).
He would begin his minor league career in 2012 where he shared time with High A Bradenton, AA Altoona, and AAA Indianapolis where he had a combined 9 – 7 record with a 2.80 ERA, 45 BB, and 136 K’s in 132 innings pitched. He also started Indianapolis’s second game of the first round of the International League playoffs where he gave up 8 runs (all earned) on 9 hits in 2 innings.
He began this year in AAA Indianapolis after being a non-roster invitee to spring training. In Indianapolis he went 5 – 3 with a 2.91 ERA, 28 BB, and 47 K’s. He was riding a 19 2/3 innings scoreless streak over the course of three games (5 2/3 IN, 7 IN, 7 IN) before being called up yesterday.
Cole is currently the eighth-rated prospect by MLB.com and has won various awards over his pitching career. He captured All-Freshman honors from Collegiate Baseball newspaper and was one of three Freshman to earn All-Pac 10 team honors in 2009. In 2010, he earned second team All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball and third-team honors from Baseball America.
First pitch is set for 7:05.
Follow Travis on Twitter @TBerardi_OVA
(Source: Pirate media relations staff and the 2013 Pirates media guide)
