Gerrit Cole Quotes

You feel like a stud out there when people swing and miss. As I've gotten older, I've preached to our young guys that strikeouts are sexy, but outs are outs, man, no matter how you get them. It's a lot cooler for me pitching in the seventh or eighth inning than it is going 5 1/3. Your manager likes it a lot more, too.

I was never a strikeout pitcher. Why should I throw eight or nine balls to get a man out when I got away with three or four?

Strikeouts are important. Anytime you can generate an out without the ball being put in play, there's nothing that can be done in those situations.

I think my job is to keep the ball down. I always say I try to go out there and get early contact, and strikeouts just seem to happen.

The only time I really try for a strikeout is when I'm in a jam. If the bases are loaded with none out, for example, then I'll go for a strikeout. But most of the time I try to throw to spots. I try to get them to pop up or ground out. On a strikeout I might have to throw five or six pitches, sometimes more if there are foul-offs. That tires me. So I just try to get outs. That's what counts - outs. You win with outs, not strikeouts.

Preparation is very important. The pitcher is going to do his job and prepare for you, so you as a hitter must do the same. I always watch videotape of pitchers before the game and even sometimes during.

If you can get an out on one pitch, take it. Let the strikeouts come on the outstanding pitches. Winning is the big thing. If you throw a lot of pitches, before you know it, your arm is gone.

Baseball's postseason shifts from game to game because of starting pitchers and the geography of the ballparks.

In my own case I have frequently faced the pitcher when I had no desire whatever to hit. I wanted to get a base on balls.

For me, the game starts with starting pitching.

I know when I get to 0-2, 1-2, when I'm ahead in the count, that I hold a distinct advantage over every single hitter. I have so many options because I don't have to work within the strike zone anymore.

All I really try to do is whatever hitter gets in there, I just try to get him out in as few pitches as possible.

I'm not trying to throw six or seven pitches just to be able to strike you out. I'm trying to do it in three or four. It's the homework and the process between starts that I really focus on to help me do that.

Once I get completely right mechanically and with command, maybe I only use two or three pitches to get through seven innings.

Yeah, strikeouts just kind of happen. It's not something I'm trying to do, I'm just trying to get outs as fast as possible.

If you asked a baseball pitcher from the '50s what a middle reliever was, he'd laugh at you. In the '50s, everyone pitched complete games.

I'm trying to make sure that I get to my 0-2, 1-2 counts. That's really how I would rather phrase it: I'm trying to make sure that I can drive the count into my favor.

I don't try for strikeouts, but batters just swing and miss. I'd exchange strikeouts for more innings. As a starter, my job is to go deep into the game. When you get strikeouts, you throw a lot of pitches and sometimes you come out early.

Believe me, I would much rather get three outs on three pitches than three outs on nine pitches, because that's going to make me that much stronger at the end of the game. My pitching philosophy is simpe. I believe in getting the ball over the plate and not walking a lot of men.

I always felt before Paul Brown, coaches just rolled the ball out onto the field.

When you are playing teams of this quality, you might get one or two good chances in 90 minutes; that is why it is so important that we take them.

You can't get too caught up in trying to pitch a complete game, because that's hard to do.

Honestly, I always told my coaches my whole career - we'll practice two-minute drills in practice, like, once a week and everything - I'm just like, 'Those are my favorite time of football.' I'm out there in total control, just getting everything lined up, getting everybody on the same page, and obviously, usually it's pass after pass after pass.

What I need as a player is just to get at-bats, I think.

I try to do two things: locate my fastball and change speeds. That's it. I try to keep as simple as possible. I just throw my fastball (to) both sides of the plate and change speed every now and then. There is no special food or anything like that, I just try to make quality pitches and try to be prepared each time I go out there.