Gerrit Cole and Kyle Higashioka Were a Scout’s Dream Pairing

After Higashioka was drafted, the Yankees brought him to their stadium in the Bronx, where he met with team officials and players, including the veteran catcher Jorge Posada.

“I told Higgy, ‘It’s going to be pretty cool one day watching Cole and you on the mound,’” Keith said. “And he goes, ‘Hopefully it’s a long time.’”

It took a long time for the reunion to happen, though. Unlike Higashioka, Cole passed up the chance to sign for millions with the franchise he had adored growing up because he and his father believed it was more valuable to study at U.C.L.A. and develop into a better pitcher.

They were proven right when Cole was selected first over all in the 2011 draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Yankees tried to trade for Cole before the 2018 season, but the Houston Astros won out. With the Astros, Cole blossomed into one of the best pitchers in the sport, combining a fierce competitive drive and a potent arsenal on the mound with a sharp intellect.

All along, the Yankees loomed in the background. In 2001, when he was 11, Cole attended the World Series between the Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks with his father and was photographed holding a now well-known “Yankee Fan Today Tomorrow Forever” sign. Keith said he still remembered Cole, during a predraft meeting with him and his father, rattling off details from past Yankees seasons and showing off his bedroom, which was covered in team memorabilia.

“That’s always stuck with me,” Keith said. “I said then, ‘I hope one day Gerrit gets to live out his dream and we can get him, and Higgy is with us.’”

So Keith was delighted in December — and he told Cole as much in a text message then — when General Manager Brian Cashman, who referred to Cole as his “white whale,” lured him as a free agent with a nine-year, $324 million contract.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/sports/baseball/gerrit-cole-kyle-higashioka.html