LOS ANGELES — John Savage waited and waited for “the bomb to drop.”
Mark and Sharon and Gerrit Cole kept saying that the latter wanted an education at UCLA. But with the Yankees using a first-round pick on the high schooler in 2008, the Bruins’ longtime baseball coach feared the teen might pick money over mind.
“We all know about 99.9% of the time, first-rounders sign. So it was a very unusual move,” Savage told the Daily News, referring to Cole’s choice to honor his commitment to UCLA. “They adamantly believed that Gerrit needed school and needed these three years. They stood by their word. So I felt pretty comfortable that he was going to come to school. But I mean, it’s the Yankees.
“If any other team would have drafted him, I would have felt a lot better. You don’t know until he steps into class.”
Savage added that Cole, a childhood Yankees fan, made “the best decision of his life” when he showed up at UCLA. That set him on a path to being chosen No. 1 overall by the Pirates in 2011, making his debut at age 22, and signing a record-setting contract with the Yankees before the 2020 season.
Now Cole, who stopped in Houston between Pittsburgh and the Bronx, is preparing to pitch in his second World Series.
The Yankees have tabbed their ace for Game 1 on Friday. Cole, a Newport beach native, will take the mound at Dodger Stadium, a 17-mile drive from his alma mater.
“He’s basically coming home to pitch in the first game of the World Series,” Savage said. “It’s a fairytale story.”
Added Cole: “It’s a dream come true. It’s a really wild experience, to be honest. It probably hasn’t sunk in all the way.”
With Cole preparing for one of the most important starts of his life — he owns a 2.98 ERA over 20 postseason outings — Savage noted that the reigning American League Cy Young received a Master’s in big game pitching at UCLA.
The coach, a Yankees draft pick himself in 1983, made Cole his Friday night starter from the get-go freshman year. Cole kept the job throughout his three seasons with the Bruins despite sharing a rotation with another future Cy Young winner.
“Just pure talent,” Savage said when asked why he gave such an important gig to a first-year pitcher. “I think the maturity certainly grew over the years. We had Trevor Bauer at the same time. Bauer was our Saturday guy and Gerrit was our Friday guy. So both those guys were unbelievable freshmen. Gerrit was put into that role – I don’t know about prematurely – but it was a heavy role. His talent spoke for itself. And certainly, we knew that he was going to be a franchise-type pitcher for three years. I think that really was a big part of his development.”
Just as Savage expected, Cole became a dominant force at UCLA. He ranks second in school history in career strikeouts (376), third in career games started (49) and fifth in career innings (322.1). He also pitched in the 2010 College World Series and the 2011 NCAA Los Angeles Regional.
Gerrit Cole (l.) and John Savage (r.)
While Cole lost some of those postseason games — including a College World Series contest against South Carolina — Savage believes that regularly pitching in the Bruins’ highest-profile games still serves Cole to this day.
“Gerrit was under the spotlight so much as an amateur,” Savage said. “It prepared him for his entire career. With him being the first pick out of UCLA –we know what comes with that – and then what he did with Houston and then what he’s done with the Yankees, I think it really has been a big part of who he is and how he’s evolved into the Gerrit Cole that the world knows.
“I mean, is [the World Series] comparable? I don’t think you can say it’s comparable, but in terms of evolving and developing and learning and growing into the guy that he is today, that role clearly had a major impact on his future and what he is today.”
While the Fall Classic is certainly a different stage than collegiate baseball, Cole agreed with Savage’s assessment.
“The challenge in big games is to make them really no bigger than they really are,” Cole said of what he learned about pitching in pressure-packed games at UCLA. “It’s the same game we’ve been playing all year. I feel like to a certain extent, I really enjoy these moments. Just personally, I think that may be part of experiencing a lot of them along the way, but also just the excitement that comes with competing against the best.
“I guess in UCLA, having pitched big games there and going through my career, it’s been a wealth of experience that I’ve enjoyed.”
These days, Cole is considered one of, if not the, most cerebral pitchers in baseball. He is constantly tinkering — he quickly got to work on ways to improve after winning his first Cy Young last winter — and regularly talks about his craft at a PhD level.
Even as an 18-year-old, Cole had a “very high baseball IQ,” according to Savage. However, the coach added that Cole is a lot different now than he was when he began his UCLA tenure.
“He learned how to work,” Savage said. “He learned how to stay healthy. He learned so many things about himself that I think he was certainly prepared to be a professional when he went out in 2011.”
With Cole, who also went to Orange Lutheran High School in the greater Los Angeles area, now set to start a World Series game in his own backyard, Savage plans on getting another up-close look at one of his program’s most successful players.
Savage hoped to attend Friday, along with some other folks from UCLA. The Bruins will work out earlier in the day before Savage and co. hopefully head to Chavez Ravine.
Savage is not a Dodgers fan, but he is facing a conflict in this series.
L.A. skipper — and Yankees villain — Dave Roberts also went to UCLA. Like Cole, he remains close with Savage, who has been in touch with both since this World Series matchup was set. Roberts and Cole each have spots in the Bruins’ Hall of Fame, putting Savage in a tough spot.
“I’m pulling for Gerrit and certainly happy for Dave, so excited for them both,” Savage said. “They’re both great Bruins. They’re both guys that have complete loyalty toward the university and were clearly great players here.”
