First impressions can be very important. When a team acquires a new, high-profile player, everyone is always eager to see how he will perform, right away. The Yankees have a particularly notable new player who will be making his team debut on Thursday -- Gerrit Cole. After 326 strikeouts for the Astros last year and a runner-up Cy Young finish, who knows what’s in store for 2020 and beyond, as Cole plays out the largest contract for a pitcher ever by total value.

What’s on the table for his Yankees debut? Cole hasn’t had fewer than 10 strikeouts in a regular-season game since Aug. 1, 2019. That’s worth pointing out because the only Yankees pitchers to reach 10 strikeouts in their team debuts are Bob Turley in 1955 and Dennis Rasmussen in 1984. And no Yankees pitcher has ever had more than nine strikeouts on Opening Day (1991 Tim Leary).

Want to think even bigger, beyond Yankees history? Two pitchers in the Live Ball Era (since 1920) have thrown a no-hitter in their team debuts: Hideo Nomo for the Red Sox in 2001 and Wilson Alvarez for the White Sox in 1991, according to research by MLB.com's Jason Bernard. Cole has yet to throw a no-hitter in his career, so that would be quite the introduction to his new team.

Here’s a look at how 11 notable Yankees acquisitions performed in their pinstripe debuts in recent memory. The only Major League debuts considered were those of players to sign from professional teams in other countries.

Giancarlo Stanton: 3/29/2018 at TOR
Acquisition: via trade from MIA, Dec. 2017
NYY debut stat line: 3-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI

When the Marlins traded Stanton to the Yankees, he became just the third reigning MVP to change teams in the subsequent offseason, and only the second to be traded, along with Alex Rodriguez. His 59 home runs in 2017 were the most by any player to be traded in the following offseason.

To say he had a lot to live up to is an understatement. But his first game with the Yankees felt like a continuation of his 2017 campaign: he hit two homers, becoming the third Yankees player in the Live Ball Era to hit multiple home runs in his Yankees debut (2016 Chris Parmelee, 1960 Roger Maris). He went on to hit 38 homers in his first season in the Bronx with 100 RBIs.

Masahiro Tanaka: 4/4/2014 at TOR
Acquisition: signed as FA from Japan for $155M
NYY debut stat line: Win, 7 IP, 3 R (2 ER), 8 K

Tanaka came to the United States with significant success in Nippon Professional Baseball already under his belt. He’d won two straight Sawamura Awards, given yearly to the top starting pitcher in the league, and was a reigning Japan Series champion. In his 2013 season with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, Tanaka had a 1.27 ERA in 212 innings.

His Yankees debut came in the team’s fourth game of the season, in Toronto. Tanaka recorded eight strikeouts, including two of slugger José Bautista and one of Edwin Encarnación. He posted his first 10-strikeout performance in his Yankee Stadium debut five days later. Tanaka had a 2.77 ERA in that first season with the Yankees, which consisted of just 20 starts due to elbow inflammation. He was an All-Star for the first time as a rookie and got Rookie of the Year votes, too.

A.J. Burnett: 4/9/2009 at BAL
Acquisition: signed as FA for $82.5M
NYY debut stat line: 5 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 6 K

Burnett was one of two big pitching signings for the Yankees entering 2009, along with CC Sabathia. Burnett was on the heels of an AL-leading 231-strikeout season with the Blue Jays. Together, the two were part of the top of a rotation that would lead the Yankees to their first championship since 2000.

Burnett’s Yankees debut came on the road in Baltimore in a 11-2 Yankees win. He went on to post a 4.04 ERA in 33 starts, throwing 207 innings, second-most on the team. He pitched five games in the playoffs for the Yankees that year, three of which the club won en route to the title.

CC Sabathia: 4/6/2009 at BAL
Acquisition: signed as FA for $161M
NYY debut stat line: 4 1/3 IP, 6 ER, 5 BB

Sabathia had won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award, then was traded from the Indians to the Brewers at the Trade Deadline for the playoff push, with free agency on the horizon. He was the most coveted pitcher on the free-agent market heading into 2009, and the Yankees went out and got him with a $161 million contract, putting an eventual championship team in place.

Sabathia’s first outing for the Yankees, on Opening Day, wasn’t exactly vintage CC -- he allowed six runs and walked five batters. But in his second start of the year in Kansas City, he threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings. He went on to lead the Majors in wins in '09, finish fourth in Cy Young voting, and win a World Series title with the Yankees that year.

Mark Teixeira: 4/6/2009 at BAL
Acquisition: signed as FA for $180M
NYY debut stat line: 0-4, BB

As the Yankees assembled their 2009 champion squad, it wasn’t just about the pitchers. Adding Teixeira was another key piece, and yet another instance of the Yankees getting one of the most valued free agents on the market. After being traded at the Deadline in both 2007 and '08, Teixeira signed an eight-year deal with what would be the final team of his career.

Teixeira went hitless in his Yankees debut, but he picked up a hit and RBI in his second game and hit his first homer in his third game. He was an All-Star in 2009 for the second time in his career and won both his third Gold Glove and Silver Slugger. In October, he won his first title, too.

Randy Johnson: 4/3/2005 vs. BOS
Acquisition: via trade from ARI, Jan. 2005
NYY debut stat line: 6 IP, 1 ER, 6 K

The Yankees made a splash in the winter following the Red Sox’s first World Series title in 86 years, acquiring a future Hall of Famer. The Big Unit was not far removed from his four straight NL Cy Young Awards from 1999-2002, and had just finished second for the award in 2004, in a season where he turned 41.

Johnson was the Yankees’ Opening Day starter in his first season in the Bronx, and the Yankees faced none other than the defending-champion Red Sox to start it all off. The Yankees may have dropped the 2004 ALCS to the Red Sox, but with Johnson in tow, they won the first regular-season rematch. In 34 starts for the Yankees in 2005, Johnson had a 3.79 ERA and 211 strikeouts.

Alex Rodriguez: 3/30/2004 vs. TB (Tokyo Dome)
Acquisition: via trade from TEX, Feb. 2004
NYY debut stat line: 1-4, 2B

Rodriguez ended up on the Yankees in one of the most famous trades in baseball history, going from the Rangers, where he’d signed the first $200 million contract in baseball history, to the Bronx, where he’d sign another. He’d just won his first career MVP Award and had hit 40-plus homers in six straight seasons.

As if there wasn’t enough fanfare already, Rodriguez’s debut came during a Yankees/Devil Rays Opening Series played in Japan. He hit a double off Devil Rays starter Victor Zambrano in the sixth for his first hit in pinstripes. He hit his first home run for the Yankees in the team’s third game, which came on April 6, also against Zambrano, back in St. Petersburg.

Hideki Matsui: 3/31/2003 at TOR
Acquisition: signed as FA from Japan for $21M
NYY debut stat line: 1-4, RBI

Matsui was a star in Japan, winning three MVP Awards and three championships over a 10-year career in Japan’s Central League. He hit 332 homers with a career slugging percentage of .582. After the 2002 season, he announced he planned to play the following season in the United States, and after having multiple suitors, signed with the Yankees.

Matsui’s first career Major League plate appearance came against Roy Halladay in Toronto in the first inning on Opening Day, and he knocked in a run with a single off the future Hall of Famer. His biggest introductory impact came a week later, when he hit a grand slam in his first career game at Yankee Stadium, becoming the first Yankees player to hit a grand slam in his first game at Yankee Stadium. Matsui went on to finish second in American League Rookie of the Year voting, hitting .287 with 16 homers and 106 RBIs.

Mike Mussina: 4/5/2001 vs. KC
Acquisition: signed as FA for $88.5M
NYY debut stat line: 7 2/3 IP, 0 R, 3 K

Mussina had already made a name for himself pitching in the AL East, with a 3.53 ERA in 10 years in Baltimore. When he hit free agency, he was a top target on the pitching market, and the Yankees got their man. He joined a rotation that already included Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and Orlando Hernández.

Mussina was already on his way toward Cooperstown through his 10 years in Baltimore, with five All-Star selections and a number of years appearing on the Cy Young ballot. In New York, it was more of the same, starting with his first game, in the Yankees’ third of 2001. Mussina turned in the first of eight scoreless starts that season, one he’d finish with a 3.15 ERA.

Roger Clemens: 4/5/1999 at OAK
Acquisition: via trade from TOR, Feb. 1999
NYY debut stat line: 6 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 8 K

The Yankees were already reigning champions in the offseason before 1999, but they were still looking to get stronger, and Clemens helped that in a big way. He’d won back-to-back Cy Young Awards in 1997-98, then had demanded a trade after the season, before rescinding that demand later in the offseason. Ultimately, he headed to New York in a deal in Spring Training which sent David Wells, who had thrown a perfect game the year prior, to Toronto.

Clemens allowed three runs in Oakland on Opening Day, walking five batters in an eventual Yankees loss. He had a 4.60 ERA in his first year in the Bronx, but ultimately turned in better seasons, playing five consecutive seasons in a Yankees uniform, then another to finish his career.

David Cone: 7/29/1995 at MIN
Acquisition: via trade from TOR, July 1995
NYY debut stat line: 8 IP, 2 ER, 9 K

The 1995 Yankees were on the verge of the postseason, but needed that one additional piece. Enter: Cone, in a July trade with the Blue Jays. He’d amassed a 3.38 ERA so far in the season with the Blue Jays and was a season removed from his AL Cy Young Award in 1994.

Cone was reliable and solid for the Yankees from the beginning, going eight innings in his team debut and coming just one strikeout shy of 10 -- the record in a Yankees debut. He had a 3.82 ERA for the Yankees down the stretch, guiding the team to its first playoff appearance since 1981.