Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees has unanimously been named the American League Cy Young for 2023 by the MLB and the Baseball Writers Association of America on Wednesday night, November 15.
The 33-year-old won over other candidates for the honor, namely, Kevin Gausman of the Toronto Blue Jays and Sonny Gay, a free agent previously with the Minnesota Twins, CBS Sports reported. Cole is the sixth Yankee to win the prestigious award.
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It was a fitting recognition for the six-time All-Star, who posted a 2.63 ERA with 222 strikeouts across 209 innings and 33 starts, per the New York Post. Beyond that, Cole could get out of the toughest moments this season.
And that ability helped the starting pitcher in racking up one record after another this MLB season.
Here are some of his highlights:
1. Cole registers 2,000th career strikeout.
Cole made the MLB record books in May after getting his 2,000th career strikeout against the Baltimore Orioles. The 33-year-old did the trick in the second inning at Jorge Matteo's expense and became the 87th pitcher with 2,000 career strikeouts.
Cole got at that point in 1,714 2/3 innings. It was the third fastest of all time, with only Chris Sale (1,662 innings) and Pedro Martinez (1,711 1/3 innings) ahead of the California native.
"It's a pretty special accomplishment," Cole said after the game via SNY. "... Probably leaving the game tonight more thrilled about how we played as a team as opposed to accomplishing that."
2. Perfect MLB season start for Cole.
Before achieving his 2,000 career strikeout, Cole also entered the record books when he started in the Yankees' first 7 games of the season.
Cole and the Yanks won all those games, making the 33-year-old the first player since Bob Turley in 1958 to have a winning record and an ERA of 1.50 or less. The All-Star pitcher had an ERA of 1.35 during that stretch, per ESPN.
3. Cole breaks Guidry's record.
Two months later, Cole was at it again, breaking another record. This time, he recorded his 24th career game with 10 strikeouts in a no-decision game between the Yankees and the Colorado Rockies on July 16.
This allowed him to overtake Ron Guidry for the most in franchise history, per SI.com. Guidry's record stood since 1988 when the four-time All-Star retired from professional baseball.
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