Major League Baseball Draft 2011: Top Five Players - Part 1
The Pittsburgh Pirates have drafted Gerrit Cole from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Gerrit Cole was born on September 8, 1990 and stands at 6ft 4in and weighs 220 lbs. His stature compliments his style of play as a right-handed pitcher.
Cole came to the glare of publicity when he first got selected in the first round of Major League Baseball Draft in 2008 as a High School boy by the New York Yankees. He went on to become the first player attending UCLA who has been drafted in the first
round of the MLB draft.
As a high-school player, he was rated as the top high-school prospect and the fourth-best high school player in the nation. His accomplishments didn’t finish here as he went on to enjoy the respect of representing the All-USA High School first team, yielding
honours in the process. His performances are evident from his figures of 121 strike-outs in 75.2 innings, pitching at an ERA of 0.46.
As a freshman at the UCLA in 2009, he made 15 appearances with 14 starts. He established himself rather quickly and won the hearts of many with his accurate pitching. Cole conceded only 46 runs including 10 home-runs at an ERA of 3.49 in the 85 innings he
pitched. He completed a century of strike-outs, ending the season with 104, which was a freshman single season record.
In the summer of 2009, his reputation as a starter earned him a place in the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team. He represented the team in six games and pitched at a phenomenal ERA of 1.06. Cole lived up to his reputation and ended with the highest number
of strike-outs totaling 46.
His sophomore year at UCLA was fruitful and all the hard work that he had put in, paid off. His win loss ratio of 11-4 in 19 starts highlights how valuable his pitching was to UCLA. In total, he pitched 123 innings at an ERA of 3.37. His 153 strike-outs
earned him the third ranking in the nation for strike-outs.
The summer of 2010 saw Cole representing the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team for the second consecutive year. His performance stood out from the lot, pitching at an ERA of 0.72 and a win-loss record of 2-0. Achieving an ERA of 0.72 at this level does
deserve due respect. He managed 23 strike-outs in the 25 innings that he pitched in. His ever-increasing dependency with the pitching earned him the Number one prospect title for the second year running.
2011 saw Cole making 16 appearances for UCLA. His ERA of 3.31 was spread over 114 innings. During this span, he conceded only 46 runs and yet again striking-out 119 hitters, deemed to be a high number.
A quick snap-shot over Cole’s career figures removes all ambiguities over his potential as being the Number one prospect in the MLB Draft. He has amassed 376 strike-outs at an impressive ERA of 3.38. His win-loss record stands healthy at 21-20 and the strength
of his arm is evident from him pitching 322.1 innings.
Pittsburgh has not enjoyed a winning season since 1992 and with the prospect of Cole pitching for them; the Pirates are looking forward to a tremendous amount of success with him.
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