 Garrett I gotta tell you and this this might make you feel uncomfortable. I love watching you pitch I hate not working the game on yes if I know you're pitching and I just I just think it's a clinic on pitching Do you enjoy pitching as much as I enjoy watching you pitch? Thank you very much it always It always feels good to hear your compliments like that So I appreciate it and I Hopefully I do I enjoy it quite a bit And especially you know on a night like last night is about 68 67 degrees Nice temperature Yankee Stadium clear sky. It doesn't get much better than that. I'll tell you that now Presumably Garrett you grew up watching, you know these studs guys who went up there and pitched eight nine innings Through a hundred pitches or more and those are the guys you emulated and just yesterday are my co-host and good friend Don the Greco sitting right here when he went off. He lost his mind because Jacob de Grom was pulled after 77 pitches on his first outing of the year Do you get frustrated as a fan of the game? Seeing pitchers not having to do sort of the same thing that you grew up watching What's your feeling on the sort of innings limits that we're seeing now? Well, I mean to be honest, it's all in the name of good health. So You know, I I don't think there's I don't think there's quite a lot of like malicious intent or any and certainly any intent to Take off your co-worker But I think that The game is different as opposed to ten years ago, certainly the pitchers that I grew up idolizing But at the same time, you know, I think every player should Try to strive to be the best that they possibly can and continue to push themselves and So, you know, will we see the 142 pitch no hitter from Edwin Jackson probably in the next 20 years We probably won't see a pitch count like that or or or anything close But you know, I think there are other aspects of pitching that bring me equal amount of joy I think, you know Specifically you mentioned the Grom. I mean we talked about Maddox's command Well, he had like a you know, he had a pretty wide plate and maybe a little bit of a batter's box to work with What we're working with is quite a bit tighter and and you know, Jacob can fire you know 100 odd some 100 odd pitches and and live within five or six inches the entire night I've seen him do it So I'd love to see him throw 140 of those but I'll still take the I'll still take the hundred and I'll take the 77 I guess in April if it means he's gonna still pitch in September Now one thing that I've noticed from you in the first two games Garrett is you've really employed the change up a lot There was that a game plan of yours during the offseason coming into this season or did you just feel you know I've got a really good feel on this pitch. I'm gonna throw it more Yeah, I spoke a little bit about that last night I think Andy asked me a question in the zoom room and I Had had games where it had been really productive for whatever reason in the past and I think as I Started to learn what my strengths were more. I I you know I just it wasn't always a logical choice and and were the course maybe the last year or so and Pandemic based on what not you know having to Mean I'm getting paid to deliver here So, you know, we're not out there in 60 games really trying to really trying to mess around And if we need to you know throw a pitch in the zone that you know Somebody's not expecting that may give us a better opportunity to have success on that pitch Then you know pitching predictably and I thought that I learned some things from having to force that you know into the equation and You know, I just has progressed through spring You know quality wise execution wise and then opportunities present itself and I think we're always just trying to evolve and and be forward-thinking so That was that was that's kind of the reason for the incorporation of it And and I expect it to I mean I expect it to just continue to evolve as the season goes along The one thing you haven't had a chance to do is pitch at Yankee Stadium with 250,000 people rooting for you. Have you thought about what that's going to be like when this pandemic's over? I have and I'm looking forward to it Now you've had it you had him rooting against you now to have room for you. That's gonna be much There's a silver lining in the game again, so maybe we all don't think that way, but you know, I I I expected the hostile environment when I stepped out of the dugout and and I certainly wasn't disappointed so We're talking with Garrett Cole Yankee ace here on the Michael K show I've been around this team for 35 years Garrett and seen free agents come and go and it seems like you have really embraced Your responsibility as the ace of this staff you have not shied away from it You seem like you enjoy the back-and-forth with the media and you you want to talk pitching and you break it down for people Do you feel that that is your responsibility because you're such a high-profile player on the Yankees? Well, I mean, I guess I never I Guess I never really thought of I maybe that question. It's more like I I've always thought it has been my responsibility since the beginning and maybe it's just getting more attention now I really haven't quite, you know changed so and if somebody, you know, I Would I love I love talking about it I love sharing and so if any and I'm a curious person so I understand if somebody, you know Wants to ask questions because they're curious. I know I I'm in a position now where you know I've pitched for a while that You know, I have some answers but not all of them or at least some experiences that I could share and you know, so But I've always I've always thought that that's part of your job And I think it's just you know, it's just kind of getting a little magnified now that we're now that I'm in New York