So, I decided to spend some time really looking into Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer recently. It wasn’t for any big project, just kinda curious myself, you know? Been watching baseball for ages, but sometimes you just wanna dig a bit deeper than the highlight reels.
First thing I did was pull up their main stats side-by-side. Just the basics:
- Wins and Losses (though I don’t put much stock in those alone)
- ERA, WHIP
- Strikeouts per nine innings
- Walks per nine innings
Pretty standard stuff. You see the talent right away with both. Big strikeout numbers, obviously. Cole often looked a bit more consistent on paper year-to-year, maybe fewer wild swings than Bauer, but both have had dominant stretches.
Watching Them Pitch
Then I started watching video. Not just highlights, but trying to find full innings, different camera angles. I wanted to see the rhythm, the mechanics when things weren’t going perfectly. Cole just looks powerful, explosive. Like every pitch is max effort, trying to overpower the hitter. It’s impressive, really clean mechanics most of the time.
Bauer… he’s different. Always tinkering, you can see it. Different arm slots sometimes, messing with pitch grips, that unique stride. It felt more like watching a scientist in a lab coat sometimes, trying experiments. Sometimes they worked spectacularly, sometimes… not so much. He seemed way more variable, which kinda matched his reputation.
Thinking About Approaches
It got me thinking about how people tackle problems, not just in sports. You got the Cole approach: find what works, perfect it, execute it with power and precision. Stick to the plan. Then you got the Bauer approach: constantly question, try new things, push boundaries, even if it means failing sometimes. Always looking for an edge, even if it’s unconventional.
Honestly, watching Bauer’s older stuff, before all the off-field trouble really blew up, you could see the intense focus on the craft. He put in a ton of work on the data side, the biomechanics. People forget that sometimes. Cole feels more like raw talent refined through incredible work ethic, while Bauer felt like intellect trying to engineer success.
The Off-Field Stuff
And yeah, you can’t ignore the other stuff with Bauer. All the controversies, the suspension. It hangs over everything when you look at his career now. It definitely complicates how you view his whole approach, his personality. It’s a reminder that talent and performance on the field are just one part of the picture. Cole has had his moments with sticky stuff talk, but nothing like the scale of Bauer’s issues.
So, my little dive didn’t lead to some grand conclusion. Just reinforced that these are two guys with immense talent who got to the top in pretty different ways. One feels like pure power refined, the other like restless innovation. Both threw ridiculously hard. Just goes to show, there’s more than one way to do things, but character and off-field actions cast long shadows, you know?
