Oh man, you wouldn’t believe the rabbit hole I fell into today. I was messing around with some baseball stats, specifically looking at Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer, and let me tell you, it got interesting.
I started off just wanting to compare their overall performance, you know, see who came out on top in general. I pulled up their career stats, starting with Cole. This guy’s a beast! He’s got a crazy number of strikeouts. I mean, seriously, since 2018, he’s been leading the pack in strikeouts. One thing that blew my mind was that he was the first right-handed pitcher in Yankees history to lead all of MLB in strikeouts in a single season.
Then I dug into Bauer’s numbers. This dude’s no slouch either. I saw he was recently named pitcher of the year in the Mexican Baseball League. He got, like, 94 votes from the electing committee – that’s insane! It really shows how good he is, even if he’s not in the MLB right now.
So, after looking at their overall careers, I decided to narrow it down. I found this one game where they went head-to-head, back when they were both at UCLA. Bauer actually outperformed Cole in that game! It made me realize that while Cole might have the edge overall, Bauer definitely has his moments of brilliance. They were both on their college’s team. They can’t bear losing to each other.
Then things got a bit technical. I stumbled upon this thing called “Command+” that some guy named Eno Sarris came up with. Apparently, neither Cole nor Bauer scores too high on that. I guess it means they don’t always have perfect control over their pitches, or something like that.
But here’s where it got really fun. I started looking at specific aspects of their pitching. Like, Cole’s fastball is insane. In 2019, he had the highest average fastball velocity in the entire league! 97.1 MPH! No wonder he gets so many strikeouts.
I spent hours going back and forth, comparing their stats, reading articles, and watching some old game highlights. Honestly, I got a little obsessed.
- Cole is a strikeout machine, consistently leading in that area.
- Bauer has had major achievements, like being named pitcher of the year in the Mexican League.
- They both have a history, going back to their college days, where they were a “devastating 1-2 combo”.
- Neither is perfect, with both having areas where they could improve, like command.
Key Findings:
By the end of it, I felt like I knew these two guys personally. And honestly, after looking at their careers and how they’ve played, I gotta say, they’re both incredible pitchers. It’s tough to pick a clear winner between them. It really depends on what you’re looking for in a pitcher, I guess.
Anyway, that was my deep dive into the world of Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer. It was a wild ride, but I learned a ton. Might have to do this again with some other players sometime.
