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Kevin Goldstein Gives an Emphatic Answer to Doubters of Pirates Gerrit Cole
By Tom Smith
Kevin Goldstein has a very clear opinion on Gerrit Cole. It’s one we like as well. We clicked on Baseball Prospectus at lunch and damn if Goldstein wasn’t clarifying his recent tweet on the Pirates first round pick.
Future Shock Blog [link]
Gerrit Cole, RHP, Pirates (High-A Bradenton): 4 IP, 4H, 1R, 1BB, 7 K.
Dylan Bundy fired three perfect innings in his pro debut. Archie Bradley was the buzz of the spring and Trevor Bauer nearly began the year in the big leagues. With all of that, suddenly the top pick in the 2011 draft seems like a forgotten man in some ways. Someone asked me recently on Twitter if the Pirates made a mistake in taking Cole, and that was before he even made his official pro debut. Gerrit Cole has monster stuff, with Baseball America reporting that he touched 100 mph last night, and should not be forgotten, or written off, or anything close to that. He has better stuff than any pitcher taken after him, and not enough people seem to realize that.