Gerrit Cole's desire to set a great example and 'pay it forward' makes him even more valuable to Yankees 

MINNEAPOLIS — Call Gerrit Cole what you will. Describe him any which way.

Pitching savant. Craftsman. The Cole Train. Pitching-obsessed. Ace. Pitching analytics master. Alek Manoah nemesis.

Any of it, of course, has to include 2023 American League Cy Young Award winner.

But never leave this out, either: old-school workhorse.

It is what Cole considers himself first and foremost: a throwback to the days of the-starter-stays-in-the-game-to-either-win-it-or-lose-it. He's as proud of the durability that has allowed him to surpass 200 innings in five of the last six full seasons as anything else in his career (he threw an MLB-leading 209 innings in 2023).

It is a number Cole has long seen as significant, and so it was not a surprise that every other presumed starter for the Yankees mentioned 200 innings as a goal at some point during  spring training.

And it certainly was no coincidence that Luis Gil, after allowing three hits in  six scoreless innings in a 10-6 victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field on Sunday, kicked off his answer to the media's first question by saying: “The really important thing about today’s game . . . [was] I was able to pitch six innings.”

Gil struck out a season-low three, which Cole said was and is partially by design. And not just for Gil.

“We have him pitching to contact right now pretty well. Really, all of us to a certain extent are,” Cole told Newsday after Sunday’s game. “We’re kind of making it a priority around here to throw innings and just giving the offense a chance to win every day.”

Going into Monday, the Yankees were fourth in the majors in innings pitched by starters (231.0) and ranked fourth in ERA (3.35).

Cole, rehabbing from right elbow inflammation that  likely will keep him out until at least July 1, still has been a constant presence, especially around the pitchers. He was on the first trip of the season to Houston and Phoenix and joined the club over the weekend in Tampa, where he stayed behind at the minor-league complex early this week to advance further in his rehab.

Much was made of seeing Cole’s hands-on windup-mechanics work with Gil during the latter's bullpen session Friday afternoon at Tropicana Field, but Cole has been doing things like that for a while.

There’s a reason why it wasn’t long into his first season with the Yankees in 2020 before Cole began being referred to as the club’s “co-pitching coach” by more than a few inside the organization, including in the clubhouse.

That's not meant as a slight in any way toward popular pitching coach Matt Blake. Cole just has a different perspective: that of a pitcher fluent in the analytics of what he always calls “the craft” of pitching — and desirous of as much of that information as possible (not all players are) — but with his on-the-mound experience teaching him something else.

“For me, they’re not an absolute,” Cole said of analytics during a spring training interview in 2020 (shortly before the sport was shut down because of COVID-19). “I certainly learned how to pitch in this game without them. My belief is while you’re out on the mound, you’re not going to reference the iPad or the analytics or have your pitching coach tell you what your spin axis or your spin rate is while you’re out there . . . The analytics are information. They’re there to help you better understand yourself, better understand the league . . . But in the end, we’re craftsmen and there’s a massive amount of human element to this game, especially in the most crucial of games.”

And so, when TV cameras focus on Cole’s in-game conversations with pitchers, the above provides some insight into what is being covered. Pitch sequencing, strategy for the second and/or third time through the order, maybe a suggested mechanical tweak, a feel for your pitches and the importance to “use what you have that night,” meaning not necessarily following what the metrics suggest because certain pitches, or a certain pitch, feels better or worse that game.

It. as well as his advice to pitchers in their work between outings, is part of what Cole has said before is simply him “paying it forward.”

When Cole, the first-round pick of the Pirates in 2011, made his debut with them in 2013 at the age of 22, veterans such as A.J. Burnett — who  contributed to the Yankees' 2009 World Series win with a critical victory over the Philles’ Pedro Martinez in Game 2 — and Charlie Morton mentored him in many of the ways he does now with Yankees pitchers.

The names of Burnett and Morton  inevitably come up when Cole is asked about the success he’s enjoyed in his career or passing on what he’s learned during it.

“Gerrit’s great. Saw it from the kid right away,” Burnett, now 47, said at Camden Yards earlier this month when the Yankees were in town.

Burnett, a Maryland native who lives in the Baltimore area, clearly was flattered and humbled when some of Cole’s comments crediting him were relayed. “He’s just great,'' he said. "The pitching. The preparation [between starts]. Great guy. Gerrit’s great at everything.”