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LAKELAND, Fla. — Gerrit Cole made his second — and final — Grapefruit League start on Friday. His next stop will be The Bronx, ready or not.
The Yankees’ ace believes he is prepared for the regular season, despite the small workload that was caused by the shortened spring training following the MLB lockout.
“I would rather have another [spring training] start or two [before the start of the season],’’ Cole said. “It is what it is. I’m in a good spot.”
“He looked good to me,’’ Kyle Higashioka said. “I liked what I saw.”
He threw 64 pitches and allowed a run on two hits and a pair of walks. Cole also struck out five over 3 ¹/₃ innings in a 6-2 win over the Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium.
Typically, Cole would have gotten his pitch count higher in his last outing of the spring, but this was not a normal spring.
Still, Cole said he didn’t do much differently this spring than most other years.
“It’s really the same progression I’ve done for 10 years,’’ Cole said.
He will enter the season with just 5 ¹/₃ spring training innings. He had 18 ¹/₃ innings a year ago and nine in 2020, although that was in preparation for a 60-game season.
And his preparation heading into Thursday’s Opening Day against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium won’t be any different than usual.
Asked if anything outside of a reduced pitch count — likely about 75-80 — would be impacted Thursday by the abbreviated spring training, Cole said, “I don’t think so.”
That’s due in part to his velocity being up to around 99 mph and Cole’s satisfaction with the precision of most of his pitches — including the changeup, which he noted was more refined Friday than in his first start.
The significance of this remains to be seen, but Cole’s spin rate was 2376 RPM in his wild-card start against the Red Sox. It was 2487 RPM on Friday, according to Statcast.
Cole said he also was pleased that he even got to see hitters from another team, since wet weather put the game at risk.
Cole and the Yankees had considered keeping him in Tampa to pitch a simulated game, facing Yankees hitters, which would have provided more flexibility.
But Cole considered it important to face another team.
“I got my pitch count where I wanted to and [had] a little bit of traffic, which was good,’’ Cole said. “You just want to get the adrenaline going a little bit because you end up putting more force into the ball.’’
What impressed Higashioka — as well as Cole and Aaron Boone — was the way Cole was able to throw all of his pitches — including a cutter, which he’s introduced a bit this spring.
“The stuff has been there,” Boone said. “The fastball profile has been there and I thought everything showed up today.”
“He was able to work his way out of a jam,” Higashioka said. “You always like to see how a guy can do that early in the spring.”
Since this is both early — and late — in the spring, it was even more important.
“I’d love to have [him make] one or two more [spring starts], just to get to a better [pitch count] number. … But I think he’s ready to go.”
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