Yankees' ace Gerrit Cole wins first Cy Young award, and it's unanimous

NEW YORK – Given the Yankees’ desperate situation in September, Gerrit Cole charged into each of his starts as if it were “a playoff situation.’’

As captain Aaron Judge later assessed, “it hurts that we’re not putting up the kind of season behind him to have somebody like this – pitching the way he is – pitching in the postseason.’’

October was silent for the Yankees, but Cole’s body of work in 2023 was rewarded Wednesday night, with his first American League Cy Young Award.

The Yankees’ ace right-hander was the unanimous winner, receiving first-place votes on all 30 ballots cast by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

“It makes me very proud,’’ said Cole, following the announcement on MLB Network.

As the sixth Yankee to win the award, the first since Roger Clemens in 2001, “I take a lot of pride in going out and representing the Yankees organization and all the great players that have come before us,'' Cole said.

Cole was just the second Yankees pitcher to be the unanimous choice for the award, following Ron Guidry - a current mentor of Cole's - who won it in 1978.

Sparky Lyle (1977), Whitey Ford (1961) and Bob Turley (1958) round out the Yankees' roster of Cy Young Award winners.

“To be joining them is truly very special,'' said Cole. "And part of a greater dream that I had as a kid.’’

"He's a pitcher's pitcher''

In congratulating Cole’s “dominant’’ season, Yankees GM Brian Cashman praised his dedication “to being the best version of himself that he can be.

“He’s meticulous in scouting opponents and evaluating his performances, while continually immersing himself in new ideas to make himself even better.

“He’s a pitcher’s pitcher,’’ said Cashman in a statement, “and we are lucky to have him leading our rotation and leading by example in our clubhouse.’’

Late in the Yankees’ disappointing 82-80 season, Cole thanked his teammates for rallying around his pursuit of a Cy Young when the team's postseason hopes had faded.

“They continued to play hard, and I’m just so grateful for that. It creates a special bond,'' said Cole, in a year when the Yankees posted a 23-10 record in his starts.

Gerrit Cole’s Cy Young-worthy stats in 2023

Before this season, Cole had five top 5 placements in the Cy Young Award balloting, including two second-place finishes.

His closest vote was in 2019, a narrow runner-up finish to then-Houston Astros teammate Justin Verlander.

This year, Cole posted a 15-4 record and dominated several important categories, leading the AL in ERA (2.63), innings pitched (209), walks/hits per inning (0.981), hits per nine innings (6.76) and win percentage (.789).

Cole, 33, tied for the league lead with two shutouts and 33 starts, and his 222 strikeouts ranked third.

And after yielding a league-leading 33 homers in 2022, Cole gave up the third-fewest homers (20) among AL starters at 0.861 per game.

"He pours so much into this,'' said Yankees manager Aaron Boone, in a statement. "To see him finally awarded with this honor after years of coming close is incredibly exciting for all of us who share the clubhouse with him.''

Gerrit Cole's quest to improve

According to Baseball-Reference.com’s rankings, Cole’s WAR (wins above replacement) was tops among AL pitchers at 7.4, with Minnesota’s Sonny Gray, the Cy Young Award runner-up, a distant second at 5.3.

“The consistency, the contact management skills were a lot better this year,’’ said Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake, late this season.

“Using the cutter-slider variation helped him to keep the ball in the yard and be a little less predictable when he was going to throw the fastball.

Along with sharp command of his elite fastball, “using the curveball in more situations helped to minimize the big innings,’’ which Blake called “a huge part’’ of Cole’s success in 2023.

As part of Cole's quest toward "constantly trying to get better,'' he mentioned refining his off-speed arsenal and improving the command on his cutter as goals for 2024.

Aaron Judge on Gerrit Cole's season

As the playoffs went on without the Yankees, for the first time since 2016, it was natural to lament an empty October after one of Cole’s finest seasons.

Judge said it was a personal disappointment “that we weren’t able to back him up and have a better season and take a guy like that into the postseason with the stuff he’s done and the way he’s continued to tweak his arsenal.

“The way he attacks hitters… on a nightly basis is just fun to be a part of,’’ said Judge. “He’s the standard for what you look for in an ace.’’

Reliability is "part of his greatness''

A constant proponent of Cole’s 2023 Cy Young candidacy, Boone was mostly grateful for Cole’s ability to pitch every fifth day during a season when so many of his starters were injured.

“It’s part of his greatness,’’ said Boone, adding that Cole has “continued to evolve’’ in his 30s.

“Game to game, the ability to make the right kind of adjustments - depending on what the game was presenting,’’ has been a Cole hallmark.

“He’s obsessed with getting better.’’

Crediting the work of his catchers in 2023, Kyle Higashioka, Jose Trevino and Ben Rortvedt, Cole also mentioned his comfort level now in New York (since his $324 million free agent signing in 2019) and the support of his wife Amy and their two young sons as factors in his performance.

“It’s one of the things I wanted to do when I came to New York,’’ Cole said of winning the award. “The other thing, winning the World Series, we’re still working toward that, and we’ll take another step forward toward that next year.

“But it was nice to have a lot of the work validated – that just seems to be the word that comes to mind.’’

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Yankees' ace Gerrit Cole wins first Cy Young award