Over the past few seasons, Jacob deGrom has been arguably the best pitcher in major league baseball, and arguably the best pitcher of the two New York teams.
Since 2014, deGrom has won National League Rookie of the Year, two National League Cy Young awards, and finished fifth in National League Most Valuable Player voting once.
Now playing with the team who he loved growing up, can Gerrit Cole assert his pitching dominance and become the best pitcher in New York?
deGrom or Cole: Who is the ace of New York? pic.twitter.com/c1ElKw62v3
— MLB (@MLB) December 18, 2019
Gerrit Cole is coming off of his best pitching season in his seven-year career.
Cole led the American League in ERA with 2.50 and FIP with 2.64, and he led both the MLB and the American League in strikeouts with 326, strikeouts per 9 innings with 13.8, and ERA+ with 185. He was just barely beaten by Justin Verlander for the American League Cy Young and finished tenth in MVP voting.
With the way Cole pitched, it is very arguable that he should have won the Cy Young over Justin Verlander.
Gerrit Cole and Jacob deGrom have been two of the best pitchers in recent years, and the two of them will duke it out for as long the two of them are in New York.
Active players' career ERA:
Clayton Kershaw LAD 2.441
Jacob deGrom NYM 2.622
Chris Sale BOS 3.026
Madison Bumgarner SF 3.130
Corey Kluber CLE 3.160
Stephen Strasburg WAS 3.165
Max Scherzer WAS 3.195
Gerrit Cole HOU 3.216
David Price BOS 3.308
Justin Verlander HOU 3.329 pic.twitter.com/dpiYQd01J1— LIGER48 (@SOULFOOD48) December 18, 2019
Cole’s dominance has only come to light in recent years, and he already has one of the lowest ERAs of the decade. deGrom is up there as well, but Cole will come for the New York throne as soon as the 2020 season hits.
Jacob deGrom vs. Gerrit Cole in 2019
ERA: deGrom (by 0.07)
Park Adjusted ERA: Cole
WHIP: Cole
Strikeouts: Cole
K/BB: Cole
FIP: Cole
H/9: Cole
BB/9: deGrom (by 0.1)Credit to @captainderk for these stats.
— Tom Smith (@tom_smith717) December 11, 2019
In 2019, Gerrit Cole had, by the statistics shown above, a better season than Jacob deGrom. Cole has not pitched in pinstripes yet, but hopefully, once he does, he will have an amazing season once again.
Watch out deGrom. The Cole train is coming.
Featured Image: Mike Stobe/Getty Images