PHILADELPHIA — Gerrit Cole often looks like he has a subdued rage on the mound, and those emotions do pour out from time to time.
He’s not afraid to passionately voice his opinion to Clint Hurdle and Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage, and was even caught arguing with Hurdle during his start last Friday at PNC Park.
Though he has shown those emotions since making his major league debut on June 11, 2013, he's particularly frustrated in what has been a difficult season for him.
He’s allowed a career-high 19 home runs, his home run-to-fly ball ratio is at a career-high 17.9 percent and 33.8 percent of contact against him is classified as hard by FanGraphs, yet Searage is not alarmed.
The numbers, and sometimes the inability to control his emotions, are what Searage described as Cole continuing to learn in the major leagues.
“We have to make sure things don’t get to the extreme one way or another because of the type of person he is with his aggressiveness, competitiveness,” Searage told DKPittsburghSports.com. “We’ve got to be able to channel that a little bit better.”
It’s not that Cole doesn’t care. It’s the complete opposite. A bad start seems to linger with him into the next day. After allowing seven runs last Friday, he bolted from the clubhouse at PNC Park upon seeing television cameras enter the room on Saturday. He sits at his locker stall looking at scouting reports.
When he’s not on the mound, he’s watching baseball. Studying it, even. That includes games the Pirates aren’t playing in and with two teams they won't face this season.
Upon watching a teammate’s start, he’ll take extensive mental notes and offer detailed advice the next day on what he saw. It caught Chad Kuhl off-guard the first time it happened last July.
“I did not expect that,” Kuhl told me. “He’s just so approachable. Such an awesome resource. He has all this information and he always wants to give it. It's not like he sits over there and doesn't talk to anyone. He's just constantly locked in."
Therein lies the problem. Searage said Cole overthinks far too often. That leads to him straying away from the game plan to try to fool a hitter. He thinks like a coach and that can lead him to think he has all the answers at times.
He’s throwing his breaking pitches early in counts instead of establishing his 99-mph fastball. He and Searage have had heated discussions about the topic. The two are constantly going back-and-forth. As Cole continues to learn, so does Searage. Because of Cole’s personality, Searage said he was overbearing the past four seasons to try to control Cole’s emotions.
When the Pirates arrived for spring training, Searage asked himself how to best coach Cole. That meant pulling back.
“Keep things in simple terms, but also the voice is either going to be friendly or it’s going to be stern,” Searage said. “Or it will be a yell and he’ll yell back at me. It’s not personal. It’s two lions talking about the kill.”
On the surface, Cole’s numbers show a regression. He’s 7-7 with a 4.43 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. He allowed seven runs in three of six starts before Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park. There, he struck out eight after allowing a two-run homer in the first inning.
From a distance, it may seem Cole’s demeanor is a problem, but Searage said that’s far from the case. Instead, it’s the injuries that Cole suffered last season that have slowed his development on the mound.
Cole missed more than a month from June 10 to July 16 with a right tricep strain. He was twice placed on the disabled list for right elbow posterior inflammation, which finally cut his season short on Sept. 13.
Searage is starting to see signs of Cole returning to the same dominant form that had him finish fourth in National League Cy Young voting in 2014. The breaking pitches are as good as they’ve been and the same goes for his fastball.
Now, he’s working with Cole to channel those emotions into a dominant turnaround.
“He’s still learning at this level,” Searage said. “It’s important to keep that in mind.”
• Felipe Rivero was sprinting up and down the stands near the first-base dugout when a large group of his teammates arrived at Citizens Bank Park on Monday afternoon.
He won’t say it on the record, but Rivero is not pleased that he was left off the All-Star roster.
He’s made that much clear both with his actions and with this tweet:
Sometimes is better just laugh bout everything ?
— Felipe Rivero (@Rivero43) July 3, 2017
• Much has been made of Major League Baseball being on pace to shatter the single-season home run total. Players were discussing it openly in the clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park.
Some think it’s great for the game. Others are frustrated it’s skewing the numbers for pitchers. When I brought it up to Searage, he chuckled and said, “No comment. I’m not touching that one with a 10-foot pole.”
• Gregory Polanco’s average dropped to .246 after going 1-for-4 Wednesday night, but this is as jovial as I’ve seen him this season.
He’s confident a turnaround is close and that is partly because he has a former National League MVP helping him. Andrew McCutchen has been spending time in the batting cage with Polanco, offering some simple tips that helped him when he was at his lowest in late April.
McCutchen even watched Polanco take batting practice on the field Wednesday afternoon. The technical advice is nothing Polanco has not gotten from hitting coach Jeff Branson, but McCutchen has been there to urge him to trust the workout regimen.
Polanco said that advice alone has him feeling confident.
DEJAN KOVACEVIC IN PITTSBURGH
• Was Rick Sofield fired because he spoke up in Andrew McCutchen's defense?
That's what one source inside the Pirates told me this past week, and it's hardly inconceivable. Sofield had his struggles as a third base coach, but he was known as a superb outfield instructor, his other role. He also had a firm handle on all three of his outfielders' personalities -- Cutch, Polanco and Starling Marte -- especially the Dominicans. And as soon as he was gone, both of those guys went kablooey in different ways.
Where Cutch was concerned, Sofield placed a much higher priority on personalities in the outfield than the advanced metrics that clearly showed Cutch's defensive decline. He wanted very much for all three to stay put. Anyone who's known Sofield would know he'll speak his mind in any situation, which he did. And then he was gone.
And hey, look at what the outfield alignment will be when Marte returns!
JOSH YOHE IN PITTSBURGH
• It certainly sounds as though Rick Tocchet is on his way to Arizona. He has spoken with the Coyotes about the job and he is clearly their top choice. It's his if he wants it.
Tocchet seemed totally disinterested in the Buffalo opening last month, which led me to believe he really preferred to remain as an assistant with the Penguins indefinitely. But remember, he has a history in the desert. He likes it out there. And it's still a head coaching job.
• The Penguins believe there is a real chance that Matt Cullen is going to come back. It's not going to make or break them -- you can always find a fourth-line center and they really do like Carter Rowney -- but Cullen, of course, is special in so many ways. Quietly, Penguins' brass is hoping he returns.
Many people in the organization are far more confident that he'll return now than they were a couple of weeks ago.
• Anyone else notice what's going on in Washington right now? What a train wreck of an off-season for the two-time defending Presidents' Trophy winners. (What a title.)
The most powerful thing I witnessed all postseason was the Penguins' locker room after Game 7 in Washington. It was pure euphoria. They truly did respect the Capitals' talent. Now? I can't imagine the feeling is quite the same.
• Daniel Sprong has a fascinating personality. I can tell you that, fairly or not, he rubs some people the wrong way. He's not exactly modest. But it could be that he's totally misunderstood, too.
Honestly, I have no idea what to make of him. He's a remarkable talent, no question. I'd be very surprised if he doesn't emerge as an impactful NHL player. Yet I'm interested to see how he fits into the locker room as well.
MATT GAJTKA IN CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, PA.
• The Penguins' Thursday signing of 22-year-old University of Minnesota-Duluth forward Adam Johnson doesn't come as a surprise. After the conclusion of development camp last Saturday, new director of player development Mark Recchi mentioned him by name as someone who impressed him.
The 6-foot Johnson, who was going to be a junior, had 18 goals and 37 total points in 39 games last season.
• As for other standouts from development camp, there were the expected players in Zach Aston-Reese and Sprong, but I thought forwards Frederik Tiffels and Jordy Bellerive were especially obvious during Saturday's three-on-three scrimmage.
Could be a case of the quicker, niftier players looking better with more space to operate, but it's worth noting either way. Tiffels, a 22-year-old native of Germany who just played three years for former NHL head coach Andy Murray at Western Michigan University, will likely start the season in the AHL.
Bellerive, 18, has two years of junior hockey under his belt in the Western Hockey League, where he has 92 points in 135 games. He was draft-eligible this year but wasn't selected, so he'll be up for grabs again next June.
• I don't want to give the big man from Penn State, Nikita Pavlychev, short shrift. Even in the wide-open three-on-three sessions, the 6-foot-7 winger was nimble enough to hold his own.
• In fact, all three Nittany Lions at the camp -- Pavlychev, Chase Berger and Andrew Sturtz -- all seemed to put their best skates forward during their four days in Cranberry Township. Throw in a dazzling display of finishing by Robert Morris center Brady Ferguson and it was a fine showing from the local college programs.
• As for defensemen, there wasn't much of which to speak, although I think the Penguins got a good one in 17-year-old third-round draft pick Clayton Phillips.
Most of the blueliners drafted by the team over the past two years can move, and Phillips is no exception. However, it seems to me that he has a little more offensive flair than the rest. He's undersized, but strikes me as a skater with enough skill and mobility to rise above.