Former MLB player boldly implies Gerrit Cole is cheating

Former Dodgers outfielder Scott Van Slyke, the son of Andy Van Slyke, made a bold insinuation about New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole.

Cole is among the best pitchers in all of baseball, as he signed a nine-year, $324 million contract with the New York Yankees in the 2019-20 offseason. He’s earned every penny of that deal thus far, dealing again this season to the tune of a (through Friday) 1.37 ERA in over 52 innings pitched.

The 30-year-old hasn’t impressed everyone, however. Van Slyke, who played with the Dodgers from 2012-17, thinks Cole’s recent success is a little sketchy.

This is wrong on so many levels, starting with the obvious misspelling of Cole’s name. Cole threw 97 mph consistently as early as his time at UCLA, where he became one of the top draft prospects in all of baseball, eventually being selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates first overall.

Scott Van Slyke couldn’t be more wrong about Gerrit Cole

Even linking Cole to cheating is borderline defamation, especially because the evidence Van Slyke provides is nonexistent.

Former teammate Brandon McCarthy called Van Slyke out, and MLB prospect analyst Keith Law was quick to chime in as well, coming to Cole’s defense.

If Cole is cheating, it’s surely not for the reasons Van Slyke brings to the forefront. There is no increase in velocity.

Cole struggled at times in his early career with Pittsburgh. The Pirates had a tough time tapping into Cole’s potential, and sent him to the Houston Astros on a bargain of a trade. With the Astros, Cole became the pitcher we know him as today, and eventually parlayed that into a massive contract with the Yankees.

None of that is particularly sketchy, nor does it have anything to do with increased velocity.