A.J. Cole

Blue Jays, A.J. Cole Agree To Minor League Deal

By Steve Adams | November 25, 2019 at 1:24pm CDT

The Blue Jays have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander A.J. Cole, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reports (via Twitter).

Cole, 27, spent the 2019 campaign with the Indians, for whom he tallied 26 innings of 3.81 ERA ball with 10.4 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 1.38 HR/9 and a 30.8 percent ground-ball rate. Once regarded as one of the game’s top pitching prospects, Cole has yet to establish himself as a consistent MLB contributor but has demonstrated some intriguing traits since moving to the bullpen on a full-time basis in 2018.

Over his past 62 innings between the Indians and Yankees, Cole has worked to a 4.21 ERA with 11.3 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. He’s still been far too homer-prone (1.89 per nine) and may always struggle a bit in that regard thanks to his extreme fly-ball tendencies (32.2 percent grounder rate), but Cole could also stand to benefit a bit if next year’s ball is a bit less charged. The 6’5″, 238-pound righty averaged 94.2 mph on his heater between his time with New York and Cleveland, and both his swinging-strike rate (15.1 percent) and opponents’ chase rate on pitches out of the strike zone (33.2 percent) were sources of intrigue as well. Beyond all that, Cole’s spin rate on his fastball skyrocketed in 2019 and wound up ranking in the 82nd percentile of MLB hitters, per Statcast.

Cole will have to earn a job in big league camp with the Jays next spring, but the thin nature of the Toronto pitching staff should give him a decent chance at doing so if he performs well in camp. He’s out of minor league options, so once the Jays select him to the MLB roster, he won’t be able to be sent back down without first being passed through waivers. Even if he did clear waivers, as a player who’s previously been outrighted (twice, in fact), Cole would be able to turn down the assignment in favor of free agency.

Indians Outright Four Pitchers

By Jeff Todd | November 4, 2019 at 2:11pm CDT

The Indians announced today that they have outrighted four pitchers from their 40-man roster. Lefty Tyler Olson and righties Cody Anderson, A.J. Cole, and Danny Salazar all elected free agency in lieu of a minor-league assignment.

That’s a rather notable group of arms for the pitching-rich Cleveland organization to cast out onto the open market. Olson was still a bit shy of arbitration eligibility, but the three right-handers would have qualified. Anderson and Cole each projected to earn $800K, while Salazar could have anticipated a repeat of his $4.5MM salary.

Olson, 30, had shown a surprising leap in swinging-strike rate in 2018. While he still allowed more earned runs than you’d like to see, the club understandably believed he’d be a useful hurler — particularly as a lefty specialist. As it turned out, Olson fell back to earth with a big velocity drop. He ended the campaign with 30 2/3 innings of 4.40 ERA ball and 8.2 K/9 against 4.7 BB/9.

The 29-year-old Anderson has long struggled with health issues but was able to return to the bigs for the first time since 2016. Unfortunately, he was knocked around in 8 2/3 innings at the game’s highest level.

Cole delivered an intriguing stat line on the surface, with a 3.81 ERA and 30:8 K/BB ratio over 26 innings. He’s still 27 years of age, averaged just under 95 mph with his fastball, and has maintained about a 14% swinging-strike rate in a relief role over the past two seasons. It’s tough to argue with the Indians front office when it comes to pitching decisions, but it’ll be interesting to see whether Cole is claimed.

As for Salazar, the best-known name on this list, his time in Cleveland will finally come to a close. That was a foregone conclusion by now. The injury-riddled former All-Star did show intriguing strikeout ability in his minor-league rehab run and made it back to the majors for one outing. But he ended up back on the injured list thereafter and eventually asked to be excused from the organization while struggling in yet another rehab effort.

Indians Select A.J. Cole

By Ty Bradley | May 11, 2019 at 1:22pm CDT

The Indians have selected the contract of righty A.J. Cole from Triple-A Columbus, reports Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. Righty Cody Anderson will head back to AAA in his place, while infielder Max Moroff has cleared waivers and been outright off the 40-man roster.

Cole, 27, will presumably work out of an unsung Indians pen that’s been a surprising bright spot in 2019. Both Brad Hand and Adam Cimber have again been rock-solid, and under-the-radar pickup Nick Wittgren has quietly been among the AL’s best in a brief sample thus far.

In 148 big-league innings across four seasons with the Nationals and Yankees, Cole has shown an unyielding proclivity for the K, though it’s too often been offset by an icky gopher-ball itch. His 1.89 HR/9 ranks near the back of the league over that span, hitting rock bottom in ’18 with a disturbing 2.79 HR/9 over 48 IP with both clubs. In 17 innings with Columbus this season, Cole’d allowed just 2 homers, though his 35.3% grounder rate placed right in line with his career norms.

Minor MLB Transactions: 2/11/19

By Steve Adams | February 11, 2019 at 2:12pm CDT

Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the league…

Right-hander A.J. Cole cleared waivers, the Indians announced Monday. He’s been sent outright to Triple-A Columbus and will be in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee to Major League camp. Cleveland plucked Cole off waivers when the Yankees had designated him for assignment last month. The Indians will now have the luxury of trying to capitalize on the strong ability Cole showed to miss bats last season without dedicating a 40-man roster spot to that effort. Cole averaged 11.6 K/9 with a gaudy 15.9 percent swinging-strike rate and 34.3 percent chase rate in 38 innings of relief with the Yankees. The long ball was his undoing, though, as he surrendered a wholly unacceptable nine big flies in those 38 frames (2.13 HR/9).

Earlier Moves

The Rays have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Tyler Cloyd, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. He’ll be invited to Major League Spring Training when pitchers and catchers report this week. Cloyd, 31, didn’t appear in the Majors from 2014-16 but returned to MLB with a lone inning in 2017 before tallying 17 2/3 frames for the Marlins last year. He’s allowed 17 runs in 18 2/3 innings since returning to the Majors. Cloyd did post a solid 68-to-18 K/BB ratio in 85 1/3 innings with Triple-A New Orleans last year, although a susceptibility to home runs and a low strand rate led to a less encouraging 5.17 ERA overall with the Marlins’ top affiliate. The Rays cycled through 31 pitchers a year ago (which is less than it sounds like in today’s game) and could see that number rise in 2019 if they more aggressively employ their utilization of openers and bullpen-heavy games.

Indians Designate A.J. Cole For Assignment

By Steve Adams | February 4, 2019 at 3:14pm CDT

The Indians announced that they’ve designated right-hander A.J. Cole for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to newly acquired right-hander Nick Wittgren.

If Cole’s time with the Cleveland organization is up, his stay will have been brief; the Indians only claimed him off waivers from the Yankees back on Jan 11. He’d have been in line to compete for a bullpen job in Spring Training and may still have that opportunity, though he’ll first need to clear outright waivers. If another club claims Cole, that new team will have to open the season with him on the Major League roster or else once again expose him to waivers, as Cole is out of minor league options.

Cole, who turned 27 earlier this month, gave the Yankees 38 innings of 4.26 ERA ball after being acquired from the Nationals in 2018, pitching in primarily a multi-inning relief role. Along the way, he averaged a strong 11.6 K/9 and registered an enormous 15.9 percent swinging-strike rate with a very good 34.3 percent opponents’ chase rate on out-of-zone pitches. However, he was also immensely susceptible to home runs, as he averaged 2.13 homers per nine innings pitched with the Yankees. In all, between New York and Washington, Cole yielded a staggering 15 home runs in 38 innings.

That said, Cole was at one point considered to be among the most promising pitching prospects in all of baseball, and surely the strikeout rate, swinging-strike rate and chase rate could hold appeal to another team — particularly one that is thin on rotation depth and/or has multiple bullpen spots up for grabs. He’ll need to learn to keep the ball in the yard, but the level at which Cole missed bats in 2018 would be elite if he proved it to be sustainable; the 15.9 percent swinging-strike rate he logged as a Yankee would’ve ranked 12th in the game among qualified relievers last year.

Indians Claim A.J. Cole

By Jeff Todd | January 11, 2019 at 4:49pm CDT

The Indians have claimed righty A.J. Cole off waivers from the Yankees, per club announcements. Brandon Warne of Zone Coverage first tweeted the news.

Cole, who recently turned 27, had failed to catch on with the Nationals before landing with the Yanks last year. He carved out a role in the New York bullpen, where he worked to a 4.26 ERA in 38 innings over 28 appearances. The out-of-options hurler could function as a long man for a Cleveland org that is looking for ways to improve on the cheap.

There were certainly some positives last year, as Cole worked off of a mid-nineties fastball and logged 11.6 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 with the Yankees. He continued to struggle with the long ball, though, and has allowed nearly two per nine innings during his 148 career innings in the majors.

Yankees Designate A.J. Cole For Assignment

By Steve Adams | January 4, 2019 at 2:25pm CDT

The Yankees announced that they’ve designated righty A.J. Cole for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Troy Tulowitzki, whose one-year, Major League contract is now official.

The Yankees bought Cole from the Nationals last April, acquiring him in exchange for cash after Washington had designated the one-time top prospect for assignment themselves. Cole gave the Yankees 38 innings of 4.26 ERA ball from that point forth, pitching in primarily a multi-inning relief role. Along the way, Cole offered some signs of encouragement, as he averaged 11.6 K/9 and registered an enormous 15.9 percent swinging-strike rate with a very good 34.3 percent opponents’ chase rate on out-of-zone pitches.

However, Cole was also exorbitantly homer-prone, yielding nine long balls for an average of 2.13 homers per nine innings pitched. That’s been an ongoing problem for the 26-year-old in each of the past three MLB seasons, as he’s averaged a staggering 1.9 homers per nine innings in that time. In 148 innings at the big league level, Cole has a 5.05 ERA with 9.2 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9.

Yankees Acquire A.J. Cole, Designate David Hale

By Jeff Todd | April 23, 2018 at 10:35pm CDT

The Yankees have acquired righty A.J. Cole from the Nationals, per club announcements. Cash considerations will go to the Washington organization in return. To clear a roster spot, the Yankees designated fellow right-hander David Hale for assignment.

Cole, 26, had recently been designated by the Nats after a poor start to the current season. Originally a fourth-round pick, he was a part of two notable trades swung by the organization, first going to the Athletics in the Gio Gonzalez swap and then returning to D.C. (along with Blake Treinen and Ian Krol) in the three-team arrangement in which the Nationals sent Michael Morse to the Mariners and the A’s picked up John Jaso.

Entering the season, the Nationals planned to utilize Cole as their fifth starter. But he struggled in two turns through the rotation, leading the club to bump him to the pen in favor of Jeremy Hellickson. Cole ultimately made two relief appearances but failed to show signs of improvement. In his 10 1/3 innings on the season, he has allowed 15 earned runs and six home runs while compiling ten strikeouts against six walks.

Cole is out of options, so he’ll go directly onto the Yankees’ MLB roster, where he could work as a longman from the bullpen. He’ll replace Hale, who threw two scoreless innings tonight for the Yanks but had opened the year at Triple-A. In his three starts there, he worked to a 5.52 ERA with a 10:2 K/BB ratio in 14 2/3 innings. He has not seen the majors since 2016; in parts of four seasons in the bigs, Hale owns a 4.48 ERA over 178 2/3 frames.

Nationals Designate A.J. Cole, Select Carlos Torres

By Jeff Todd | April 20, 2018 at 4:43pm CDT

The Nationals have designated righty A.J. Cole for assignment, per a club announcement. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by veteran reliever Carlos Torres, whose contract was selected.

It has long been evident that this was a make-or-break season for Cole, who the organization long felt would be a major-league contributor. He was given a shot at a rotation spot out of camp but lasted only two starts and two relief appearances before the team was forced to make a move.

Cole’s once bright star had already ebbed over recent seasons, as he continued to spend more of his time at Triple-A than in the majors. He reached the highest level of the minors in 2014 and cracked the bigs in the following campaign, but has thrown only 110 total MLB frames.

A major factor in Cole’s lack of chances was the fact that the competing Nationals couldn’t simply give him innings without concern for how they went. Perhaps the leash would’ve been longer this year, though, were it not for the fact that the Nats have endured a tepid opening few weeks that have left them looking up at three teams.

With a need for fresh relievers, there just wasn’t more time to let Cole work through his early struggles. Make no mistake, they were pronounced. He paces the N.L. with a whopping six home runs allowed in just 10 1/3 innings and has coughed up 15 earned runs.

Torres, meanwhile, is a sturdy veteran pen arm who is capable of pitching multiple innings. The 35-year-old, who joined the Nats organization on a minors deal just before the start of the season, has thrown more than fifty MLB innings in every season since the 2012 campaign and has a 3.73 ERA in 449 total innings in that span. He has thrown five scoreless and hitless innings at Triple-A thus far in 2018.

NL Notes: Blackmon, Gyorko, Gregerson, Glasnow, Hellickson

By Kyle Downing | April 15, 2018 at 7:28pm CDT

Though recently-extended Rockies slugger Charlie Blackmon is a star outfielder, he spent his early career trying to make it as a pitcher. Kyle Newman of the Denver Post details Blackmon’s story, beginning with his high school tenure in Atlanta. After struggling to gain any significant attention early on, Blackmon began experiencing arm troubles in his junior year at Georgia Tech. The following season, however, saw him excel as a hitter en route to being drafted by the Rockies. He’s now set to earn nine figures throughout the course of his MLB career. There are some insightful quotes and tidbits in Newman’s article, including this quote from manager Walt Weiss: “I didn’t foresee the power — he’s made some adjustments, and there’s lightning in the bat now because his power numbers are pretty amazing considering the type of player he was when he broke in.”

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