Yankees’ Gerrit Cole named 2023 American League Cy Young finalist
Major League Baseball announced the 2023 Cy Young finalists for both the National and American Leagues on Monday, and unsurprisingly, Yankees ace Gerrit Cole has a shot to take home some hardware.
Cole is one of the three finalists in the American League, going up against Toronto’s Kevin Gausman and Minnesota’s Sonny Gray.
While the Yankees had a down year as a team, the talented right-hander put together another spectacular season, and he certainly seems to have a very strong chance of taking home his first career Cy Young.
Cole tied his career-high with 33 starts and pitched a total of 209 innings, both of which were tops in the league. He threw two complete game shutouts, won 15 games, and finished fifth in baseball with 222 strikeouts.
The right-hander’s stellar 2.63 ERA led the American League and finished second in baseball, only behind NL Cy Young award finalist Blake Snell. He also led all pitchers with a 7.5 WAR.
Simply, Cole was a workhorse atop the Yankees' rotation again in his fourth year in the Big Apple. He very much pitched and looked like one of the top starters in baseball all season.
We'll see if he's awarded for his efforts with his first career Cy Young on Nov. 15.
