Injured New York Yankees Ace Weighs In On Pitch Clock Controversy

The New York Yankees pitcher is not happy with either side of the pitch clock argument.

Sep 21, 2023; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole (45) reacts as he | Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Major League Baseball has an issue that is becoming more and more impossible to ignore. Pitching injuries are on the rise and people are trying to figure out why.

The most common theory is that the pitch clock rules are adding more stress to pitchers' arms, given that the rise came after it's introduction.

The MLB and the Player's Association are openly arguing about the pitch clock via released statements.

New York Yankees ace and reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, Gerrit Cole, spoke out on being upset with both sides.

He's dealing with an elbow injury that will keep him sidelined until May. Cole also added that he did not believe that his current injury has anything to do with the new pitch clock rules after consulting with the Yankees medical staff.

"When I read the response from MLB, I didn't think it was very thorough," said Cole, as reported by The Athletic's Chris Kirschner. "To be able to say you implement something in one year and it has no effect is shortsighted. We are really going to understand the effects of what the pitch clock is maybe five years down the road, but to dismiss it out of hand, I didn't think it was helpful for the situation."

Cole added to his statement by specifying that he was not picking sides on the issue, and that both the MLB and Player's Association could be handling the situation better.

"Well, we can start by having more helpful conversations and not pointing fingers and not saying that it's absolutely this or it's absolutely not that and we can make it feel that players aren't necessarily caught in the middle of all of it," Cole said. "But those aren't going to have a direct correlation to better performance. I don't have the answers. I'm just frustrated by the fact that I don't feel like taking care of the players is the main focus of it."

He sees both sides of the argument, acknowledging that the situation isn't "black and white" - reported by Ronald Blum of Yahoo Sports.

"I think the players are obviously the most important aspect of this industry and this product and the care of the players should be of utmost importance to both sides. MLB did nothing illegal by pushing the pitch clock. They have unilateral rights to create whatever rule they wanted to," added Cole.