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Pirates right-hander Gerrit Cole will not make his scheduled start on Monday due to shoulder fatigue, manager Clint Hurdle announced. Hurdle declined to elaborate about the injury but did acknowledge it may be a DL situation.
Cole, 23, is one of the hardest throwers in baseball, regulary sitting in the 95-97 mph range with his fastball. According to the PitchFX data at Brooks Baseball, Cole did not show any sort of velocity drop in his last start:
That one little blip with the sinker in his previous start could easily be a PitchFX glitch or classification error. It's notable but not a huge red fag because his regular four-seam fastball showed good velocity.
But, regardless of what the PitchFX data says, the Pirates obviously have to be careful with Cole. He is their future (current?) ace and they've sunk a lot of time and money into his development since taking him first overall in 2011. Anything dealing with the shoulder is no joke.
In 12 starts and 76 2/3 innings this season, Cole has gone 6-3 with a 3.64 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. He has a 3.39 ERA in 194 MLB innings since making his debut last summer.
Charlie Morton will be pushed back from Sunday to Monday to start in place of Cole. Jeff Locke will make the spot start on Sunday.
