Gerrit Cole and Ron Guidry, together in the Yankees’ record books again.
The incumbent Yankees ace has made a habit in recent years of putting himself in the same conversation as the former Yankees ace, and it happened again Wednesday night.
Cole won the AL Cy Young award by earning all 30 first-place votes, joining Guidry as the only two Yankees pitchers to win it unanimously.
“I think it’s fitting,” Cole said on a conference call after the award was announced. “Ron has helped me out a lot, getting me acclimated to the pressures and the role and the organization and the style with which to pitch to maximize my contributions to the team. He was a great Yankee, a captain, accolades up and down and continues to represent the organization in that first-class way whenever he comes around. He’s a great example for all of us.
“Like I said before and other times I’ve been mentioned with Ron, it’s very special. It’s a tremendous honor and I strive to make him proud too, so I hope he’s proud of that as well.”
Last year, Cole broke Guidry’s single-season franchise strikeout record, finishing with 257 to Guidry’s 248 in 1978 — the year the left-hander won his Cy Young.
Then this season, Cole surpassed Guidry’s franchise record for double-digit strikeout games. Guidry had 24, while Cole finished this year with 26 in his Yankees career.
Cole and Guidry have spent plenty of time talking about their craft, particularly in spring training, where Guidry serves as a guest instructor.
On Wednesday, Cole credited Guidry as being one of the voices who encouraged him to attack hitters earlier and more often this season, which he credited in part for elevating his game.
“It started with talking with Ron in spring training [about] using the whole strike zone,” Cole said. “It started with Andy [Pettitte], even dating a little bit back to previous seasons, just pounding me about changing speeds with the curveball. Curveball, curveball, curveball, change speeds, slow guys down.
“Then on the daily grind, [pitching coach] Matt’s [Blake] there every day, Kyle’s [Higashioka] there every day, Trevy’s [Jose Trevino] there every day whether he’s playing or not, Benny’s [Rortvedt] there every day. We’re in the flow of the game, we’re in the flow of the series. I think everybody kind of contributed in some unique way on how we were going to try to execute that in general.”