March 5, 2020

Gerrit Cole had a fantastic two seasons as a member of the Houston Astros and parlayed that success into a record-setting nine-year, $324 million contract with the Yankees this offseason. Cole was nothing short of dominant last season, setting new career bests in wins, strikeouts, ERA, and WHIP. Cole was particularly elite in the strikeout department, punching out 326 batters in 212.1 innings. A look at his advanced metrics backs up Cole's 20-win campaign. He led the league with a 16.8 percent swinging-strike rate and his 39.9 percent strikeout-rate was 4.5 percent higher than the next closest pitcher. When batters did make contact, it was often weak as he was in the top-fourth percentile of the league in expected batting average, expected slugging percentage, and expected wOBA on contact. Cole now heads to New York with a massive contract and high expectations. A repeat of last season's numbers would be a lot to ask, but the right-hander should be among the top pitchers in the game despite a move to an extreme hitter's park in New York. Cole will continue to rack up the strikeouts, and should be expected to pitch to a sub-three ERA, a sub-one whip, and rack up plenty of wins backed by a strong Yankees lineup. He should be drafted in round one as one of the first two pitchers off the board in fantasy drafts.--Mike Schwarzenbach - RotoBaller