WASHINGTON — "I don't take it for granted," Gerrit Cole said, sporting a smile and his Astros cap, glancing across a narrow room at Nationals Park filled with reporters. Charlie Morton, a first-time All-Star, expressed a similar sentiment only two tables over, although an All-Star appearance was never really on his mind before this season.
"I really just wanted it to happen one time," Morton said, "and have the opportunity to to be here."
Morton and Cole, both members of the Pirates' rotation during the club's three consecutive playoff appearances, are reunited on the best staff in baseball and were selected to represent the American League in this 89th All-Star Game.
They're also bonded by how they arrived here. Morton and Cole are having career years by following basic advice from the Astros and turning away from the Pirates' pitching philosophy of throwing sinkers to pitch-to-contact.
"I’ve seen that opinion floated out there," Cole, an All-Star for the Pirates in 2015, said when asked of criticism surrounding his former employer's philosophy on sinker usage. "As far as I’m concerned, I had really good success while I was there. I tried to do my job. Always focus on giving your team the best chance to win, balance out the bullpen, especially early in my career when we had a lot of veterans on the squad that were dynamic and really pumping out 10-strikeout games. … As far as their philosophy, it’s their philosophy. It’s kind of none of my business. That’s kind of where I’m at right now."
Cole, traded by the Pirates to the Astros for four players this past offseason, ranks sixth among AL starters in ERA (2.52), fourth in WHIP (0.92) and second in strikeouts (177). He's allowing a career-best 5.5 hits per nine innings and opponents are batting just .180 against him.
It's a remarkable improvement from last season when Cole allowed a career-high 31 home runs with a 4.26 ERA. Lefties had a .794 OPS against him. The Pirates chose to trade him only two seasons removed from his first All-Star appearance and when he was under contract through 2019 at just 27 years old.
Upon arriving in Houston, the Astros' staff presented Cole with basic data on pitch usage and outcomes, particularly which pitches worked best in certain situations. Their conclusion was Cole needed to throw fewer sinkers, more elevated four-seam fastballs and more curveballs.
For the previous two seasons, Cole tried to slowly break away from a pitch-to-contact philosophy, decreasing his sinker usage in 2017 after an injury-shortened season the year before. The Astros steered him towards what he called a "aggressive, attacking, fill-up-the-zone mentality," rather than using Ray Searage's pitch-to-contact plan.
"Kind of realizing what my stuff is actually doing and what my strengths are," Cole said. "Kind of leaning towards what my strengths are. Attack with that. Having an aggressive, attacking, fill-up-the-zone mentality, although I’ve been walking people lately, which I'm not really thrilled about. That’s been probably the biggest thing in terms of pitch repertoire."
Left-handed hitters' OPS against Cole has dropped to .564 this season, and he's allowed only 14 home runs in 128 1/3 innings. It's the best he's pitched since 2015, when he was selected an All-Star and finished fourth in Cy Young voting. His sinker usage dropped from 16.48 to 4.03 percent since last season. He's also increased his curveball usage while using his changeup less.
Morton's rejuvenation is slightly different than Cole's discovery. Morton, now 34, was traded to the Phillies for minor-league pitcher David Whitehead in December 2015 after Morton posted a 4.81 ERA and 1.38 WHIP in 23 starts the previous season.
Morton pitched in only eight games with the Phillies. He underwent season-ending surgery on a torn left hamstring in April and they bought him out for $1 million the following offseason. The Astros were the only team that offered him a major-league contract, as he signed for two years at $7 million.
Their plan was as basic as the one given to Cole. Nearly sixty percent of the pitches Morton threw to lefties in 2015 were sinkers, and the result was an opponent slash line of .301/.389/.506. Meanwhile, that sinker helped him limit righties to a .239 average and .633 OPS.
The Astros told him to ditch the sinker in favor of more elevated four-seamers and his curveball, which has resulted in more strikeouts. The right-hander has thrown 41.4 percent four-seamers and 38.9 percent sinkers to lefties this season. It resulted in his opponents' batting average dropping to .201.
"In Pittsburgh, I was pretty successful against righties with my two-seam," Morton said. "I could throw it in a general area down and in to a righty and I’d have pretty good results. Against lefties, just throwing sinkers to lefties was an awful idea. Feeding sinkers was a really bad idea. … That was my identity: He just doesn’t pitch well against lefties. I think we found a way to get lefties out."
Morton posted a 1.19 WHIP in 25 regular-season starts last season and helped the Astros win the World Series by allowing two earned runs with 11 strikeouts in 10 1/3 innings against the Dodgers. "I can't remember — before last year — the last time anyone consistently told me to throw elevated four-seamers. They asked me to use all my stuff in different areas of the zone."
He's perhaps the league's most unlikely All-Star. In addition to tearing his hamstring, Morton's had a pair of hip surgeries and Tommy John. He was named to the AL's roster only three days ago, and he didn't want to dwell on his unique journey:
"This is the best I’ve ever thrown and if it doesn’t happen now I’m in trouble," he said of his selection. The Astros are 29 games over .500 and on their way to another division title. Neither is surprised with their individual results. Morton said he always had confidence in his weapons, while Cole thought his statistics were skewed last season by only "five or six bad pitches."
"I feel great," Cole said. "I feel the strongest I’ve been in my career. ... Changing leagues, some things have kind of forced my hand to be able to adjust. I keep trying to roll with the punches and do the best I can."