Things aren’t going well for Gerrit Cole right now. After giving up a home run to the first three batters against the San Diego Padres last week, the starter came under fire like crazy on Saturday against the New York Mets.
In fact, the Mets hit him more than any other team in his 296 career starts tracked by Statcast.
Mets hitters broke up no fewer than fourteen of his pitches at 95 mph or faster. Until this month, Cole had never allowed more than eleven hard-hit balls in a single start, but in three straight starts in September, Cole set a new record for hard-hit balls (12), tied his previous record (11) and set a new record (14).
And trying to explain his difficulties, Cole blamed the ABS system.
I think overall yes, it was a little tough. I think it’s hard to compare to previous years without ABS. I think, chase And swing and miss rates may go down. So we’re going to have to dig into it, trying to figure out how these numbers relate to the environment.
Admittedly, ABS is a game changer, but Cole isn’t entirely right. Walks increased by 6.7% and reached the highest full-season rate in fifteen years, but the strikeout rate remained stable.
What about the swings and misses on pitches outside the strike zone, as the 36-year-old claims?
MLB hitters swing at resins from hit more this year than at any time in the last decade. sway the rate increased from 31.5% last year to 32.9% this year. This figure increased for the first time in four years.
So Cole will have to find a real solution to his problem and not just blame the system that has been in place since the beginning of this season for EVERYONE.
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