Gerrit Cole is used to it by now. Watchful eyes have been trained upon him since high school. Coaches, teammates, opponents, scouts, fans … not a baseball season goes by in which Cole’s performances aren’t dissected and analyzed from top to bottom by hordes of onlookers.

As a former No. 1 overall Draft pick, Cole has deftly handled the weight of lofty expectations from Day 1. The Pirates expected him to emerge as a frontline starter, and he quickly did, making his first All-Star team and finishing fourth in the 2015 National League Cy Young Award voting as a 24-year-old. The Astros brought him aboard to fortify a championship-minded rotation, and he did, capping off his two-year stint in Houston with seven innings of one-run ball in Game 5 of the 2019 World Series that gave his team a 3-games-to-2 lead. After seeing the Nationals come back to win that Series and finishing runner-up to teammate Justin Verlander in the AL Cy Young race, Cole signed a nine-year contract with the Yankees that brought with it even greater pressure -- to be the ace of a historic franchise thirsting for a return to its days as a dynasty.

While a World Series run with the Yankees has yet to materialize, Cole has given the team just about everything it could have hoped for over his first four seasons in pinstripes. He has been a perennial All-Star who set the franchise single-season strikeout record with a major league-best 257 K’s in 2022. He’s a workhorse who never misses a start. And while those types of attributes might have been expected, Cole has also emerged as an irreplaceable clubhouse leader, a staunch supporter of his teammates who, along with captain Aaron Judge, is the face of the organization.

It has taken an immeasurable amount of dedication for Cole, now in his 11th big league season, to reach such heights, all while facing enormous outside pressure to perform. And yet, it all might have just been a warmup for his most significant role yet: fatherhood.

The 33-year-old rattles off some of the character traits that he hopes his sons, 2-year-old Caden and 8-month-old Everett, see in him: hard work, discipline, competitiveness, passion, effort, honesty, perseverance, respectfulness. “All the positive virtues of sports,” Cole says. “Why do your parents sign you up for sports in the first place? To learn to get along with your teammates and work hard and try something new; to deal with success and deal with failure. I’m trying to set a good example in all those areas.”

It will be years before Caden and Everett can fully appreciate their father’s efforts. For now, though, the Yankees are well aware of all that he provides.

***

As inevitable as death and taxes, baseball will break your heart. “It’s a game of failure,” Aaron Boone likes to remind people, and one of the hardest things is knowing what to say to a player who is going through a tough time on the field.

Luis Severino was once on Cole’s track, reaching 40 career victories and being selected to not one but two All-Star Games before turning 25. Injuries have been the main culprit in Severino’s struggle to return to form over the last five seasons, but the 29-year-old right-hander has been mostly healthy during a nightmarish 2023 season. Once a Cy Young candidate himself, Severino entered his Aug. 15 start in Atlanta with an 8.06 ERA in 63 2/3  innings. After surrendering a three-run homer to Marcell Ozuna in the first inning, he sat in the dugout once again shaking his head, wondering how things could be going so wrong.

Pitching coach Matt Blake offered encouragement, but Severino was mostly left alone to his thoughts. Then the YES Network cameras caught something that so many Yankees have seen firsthand: Cole approaching his teammate, iPad in hand, to try and help figure out a solution. The ace wasn’t scheduled to pitch during the three-game series, but he was still completely engaged, constantly looking for ways to have a positive impact on the outcomes.

“One thing about Gerrit that I’ve been seeing a lot is, on the days he’s not pitching, I feel like he’s more active -- in conversations with guys or game-planning or stuff he’s seeing with our pitchers,” says Judge. “It’s pretty impressive to see a guy that’s not only the best pitcher on your staff but also the guy that’s most concerned about what else is going on and how he can help guys. And it’s like, ‘Gerrit, you just got done throwing eight innings, striking out 10 guys -- you can rest today; let us take care of it.’ So, it’s just been a treat getting to see that side of him, where facing him over the years, I only saw the Gerrit on the mound and how impressive that is.

“He’s a special talent.”

The insight that Cole is able to dispense is rooted in years of experience and can run the gamut from minor in-game adjustments to more broad philosophical approaches. Whether it’s a veteran starter or a rookie reliever or even a position player, the Yankees are all ears whenever he speaks.

“Having him around is beneficial, not just for the starters, but for all the pitchers,” says closer Clay Holmes, who has known Cole since both were drafted by Pittsburgh in 2011. “Sharing a locker room with someone who has his experience, his knowledge, and at the same time is always willing to talk and help, it’s just an asset that makes everybody in here better. I think the great thing about Gerrit is that he doesn’t really try to be someone he’s not. He’s himself, and he’s open with everyone. Because of that, people obviously respect him, and people are willing to listen and see what he has to say.”

When Cole approached Severino in the dugout at Atlanta’s Truist Park, he was doing something that he had picked up from a pitcher sitting on the opposite side of the field. Cole calls Braves pitcher Charlie Morton “the ultimate teammate, really.” Now in his 16th season, Morton already knew his way around the big leagues when he helped the rookie Cole acclimate to life in The Show during their time together in Pittsburgh. Morton then did the same in Houston after Cole arrived there in 2018. After having breakfast with his former teammate during the Yanks’ trip to Atlanta last month, Cole reflected on his own leadership style and how it has changed since arriving in New York.

“I think there’s certainly an evolution in some aspects of it,” he says. “I don’t think that there’s a whole lot of things I’m doing differently or that my intent is any different. I’ve had the blessing of having some good leaders coach me and be teammates of mine while coming up and with other organizations. Learning from those guys and seeing how impactful some of those things could be, I just think that, as a teammate, you should be trying to figure out, on any given day, what you can do to help your club out. In that aspect, that’s always been a staple of mine.

“Going from a rookie to now being in the Major Leagues for 11 years, there are different opportunities that present themselves. We don’t have a veteran rotation, and haven’t really since I’ve been here, and so, my role in this situation is a lot different than having two Cy Young Award winners and guys throwing 200 innings in Houston with six, seven, eight years of service time apiece. There’s just different ways to lead in both of those situations. There’s a lot of opportunities here to help young guys, and certainly, giving back and being there for them -- both as a contribution to the game and its greater good but also within the confines of our team -- is just how I was taught to go about my business. I am always trying to get better at that. I’m not perfect, but I’m always on the hunt to figure out what aspect I can make a little bit better.”

For what it’s worth, Severino settled in after that first inning, putting up two scoreless frames before an error led to two unearned runs in the fourth. Cole would never credit himself for the turnaround, just as he won’t pat himself on the back for aiding Clarke Schmidt in his rebound from a tough start to the season. Seeing teammates unlock success after working with them is reward enough.

“I don’t really know how much credit I deserve, but there’s been a handful or more of guys over my career that I’ve been able to connect with in that way,” Cole says. “At the same time, there have been a handful of guys in my career that have been able to impact me in a similar way, so it’s kind of like a full-circle type of thing. To see guys have success when you understand the inner workings of their struggles or their challenges, whether physically or mentally or just trying to get to the next level, the personal relationship you develop as you work with people like that makes it rewarding. There’s the human element side where you’re just an advocate for somebody, and you’re just rooting for them to improve. It’s a cool opportunity to be a part of at this point in my career.”

***

Pitching at such a high level for as long as Cole has means that awards and career milestones have started popping up more regularly. A 5-0 start led to American League Pitcher of the Month honors in April, the sixth time in Cole’s career that he won the monthly award in either league. On May 23, in his 278th career game, he struck out Baltimore’s Jorge Mateo for career punchout No. 2,000. Only Randy Johnson (262 games) and Clayton Kershaw (277 games) reached that number faster. Six days later, he officially reached 10 years of Major League service time.

In July, Astros manager Dusty Baker was “shocked and pleased” that Cole was available to start the 2023 All-Star Game in Seattle. It was Cole’s sixth selection but his first start, and the first time since his All-Star debut in 2015 that he would even appear in the Midsummer Classic. Feeling “like a kid in a candy store” as he prepared to face NL stars Ronald Acuña Jr., Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts, Cole relished the moment.

“I just felt a boost of energy, and it was almost like it was a first-time experience again,” he says. “I didn’t take the opportunity for granted. I just thought it was something that I couldn’t pass up. To be, unfortunately, the only Yankee there, to represent the organization in the game itself meant a lot to me, as well.”

The late, great Bob Gibson was famously cold to opposing players, and the thought of fraternizing with non-teammates -- even for one game -- was anathema to the nine-time All-Star. “I hated having to talk to guys that I spent the rest of the season trying to kick their [rear end],” the Hall of Famer once said. “They were the enemy to me.” Though not quite as disdainful as Gibson, Cole can intimidate opponents with his icy stare and has little use for histrionics -- just recall his stone-faced postgame reaction in Cleveland last October to Josh Naylor’s “cute” home run celebration. But Cole harbors no such feelings at the Midsummer Classic.

“I make it a big emphasis to remain respectful on the field regardless of the competitive juices,” he says. “I’m not trying to be friends with the opposition, but we all are players, we all are in the same union, and we all are representing the same industry. We’re ambassadors for our team and trying to put on a good show in the middle of the year for the fans and the players that have elected us. So, I can understand where Bob Gibson was coming from, but I mean, I’m not Bob Gibson, so I’m not necessarily thinking exactly along those lines.”

Following his 1-2-3 inning in the All-Star Game, Cole picked up right where he left off, striking out 11 Rockies on July 16 to break Ron Guidry’s franchise record of 23 double-digit strikeout performances. On Aug. 13, Cole spun six innings of two-run ball at Miami, which actually raised his ERA from 2.75 to 2.76. Of greater note, it was his 100th start as a Yankee (to go along with 127 as a Pirate and 65 as an Astro), providing a checkpoint at which to stop and reflect upon what he has accomplished and how he has done it.

Statistically speaking, Cole’s first 100 Yankees outings were brilliant. His 760 strikeouts since first donning the pinstripes in 2020 were most in the Majors, and no American League pitcher won more games (46) or tossed more innings (611 1/3 ) than Cole. Of those 100 starts, 19 were scoreless, 44 saw him allow one earned run or none, and 67 -- two out of every three -- resulted in two earned runs or fewer. The key, Cole says, is being adaptable while remaining aggressive. From how he feels physically to the adjustments that the opposition constantly makes, nothing stays the same for long -- except his mental approach.

“You have to learn what you’re working with that day and how you’re going to make the best of it,” he says. “There are plenty of games where the run total is not high, but I wouldn’t consider all those games domination. I would say that, with what the game gave us that day, we took it and made the best of it. And I think that finding different ways to produce similar results is the key. At the end of the day, it’s about team performance and not personal performance. You’re just always out there fighting to give your team the best chance to win. Sometimes that requires deviating from your game plan, or putting an early run or an early couple of runs behind you and adjusting and settling in. There’s a lot of different things that can happen; you never know how the game’s going to play out. So, you have to be aggressive and adaptable at the same time.”

That mentality has served Cole well throughout his career, and particularly this season. As of mid-August, MLB partner FanDuel listed Cole as the heavy favorite to win the 2023 AL Cy Young Award, an honor that has somehow eluded the right-hander thus far.

“It’s almost like everybody’s just wondering when his first Cy Young is going to be because it’s kind of inevitable,” says Holmes. “It’s something that everybody knows he’s capable of. To have those expectations and be in contention every single year, that in and of itself is impressive. We’re obviously going to be very elated when he finally gets that first one.”

“It would be incredible,” says Judge. “I know he’s had a couple opportunities where he’s put up some great numbers over the years, and getting a chance to be along this ride with him and be out there competing with him and seeing how much work he puts in, how much he dedicates to his craft, to see him do it for the team that he grew up watching and loving would be a special moment, not only for him but his family as well.”

Cole admits that it would be a “humbling experience” to add his name to the short list of Yankees to take home the award since its inception in 1956. Only Bob Turley (1958), Whitey Ford (1961), Sparky Lyle (1977), Ron Guidry (1978) and Roger Clemens (2001) have done it. But he’s not focused on that. There are more urgent tasks at hand, greater goals to work toward, teammates to try and help -- and two young boys at home whose opinions mean more to him than those of any awards voter.

“My objective is to win the game and perform, but a lot of going through that process and going through the details and continuing to fight and all those types of things, some of that tank has been filled with the desire to set the right example for my kids,” Cole says. “I try to make them happy and do things the right way so that when my son asks somebody else about his dad, they’re matching up, or confirming, I guess, the lessons that I teach at home. I’m trying to be the same guy all the time and set a standard for them, so that it’s something to look up to.”

Just like their dad’s teammates, Caden and Everett are wise to pick up what Cole is putting down for them. He might be somewhat new to the expectations of fatherhood, but he knows how to handle responsibility. He has had eyes on him for a long time, and he rarely lets anyone down.

Nathan Maciborski is the executive editor of Yankees Magazine. This story appears in the September 2023 edition. Get more articles like this delivered to your doorstep by purchasing a subscription to Yankees Magazine at www.yankees.com/publications.