A.J. Cole
P | Bats/Throws: R/R | 6' 5" 240LBS | Age: 32
Draft: 2010 | Rd: 4, #116, Washington Nationals | Oviedo HS
W L ERA G GS SV IP SO WHIP
2019 3 1 3.81 25 0 1 26 30 1.50
2020 3 0 3.09 24 0 1 23.1 20 1.20
2021 0 0 1.13 6 0 1 8 7 0.88
7 Seasons 14 10 4.51 109 19 4 205.1 208 1.44
G W-L ERA IP SO WHIP
2019 25 3-1 3.81 26 30 1.50
2020 24 3-0 3.09 23.1 20 1.20
2021 6 0-0 1.13 8 7 0.88
7 Seasons 109 14-10 4.51 205.1 208 1.44
MLB Percentile Rankings
Pitch Distribution

Statcast Statistics

Season Age Pitches Batted
Balls
Barrels Barrel % Barrel/PA Exit
Velocity
Max EV Launch
Angle
Sweet
Spot %
XBA XSLG WOBA XWOBA XWOBACON HardHit% K% BB% ERA xERA
2015 23 157 34 2 5.9 4.5 90.8 106.3 15.4 29.4 .289 .412 .340 .317 .403 47.1 20.5 2.3 5.79 4.16
2016 24 674 113 11 9.7 6.5 88.8 114.7 23.9 28.3 .187 .365 .328 .273 .313 26.5 23.2 8.3 5.17 3.09
2017 25 937 155 8 5.2 3.5 87.8 113.8 14.2 32.9 .260 .434 .348 .347 .377 34.2 19.1 12.2 3.81 5.30
2018 26 877 140 15 10.7 6.8 88.1 112.6 18.4 41.4 .243 .448 .389 .333 .423 36.2 26.7 10.0 6.14 4.76
2019 27 481 80 4 5.0 3.4 86.9 111.3 20.5 32.5 .227 .373 .341 .277 .340 23.8 25.4 6.8 3.81 3.33
2020 28 390 66 2 3.0 2.1 86.7 110.2 22.3 22.7 .190 .292 .290 .243 .268 27.3 21.1 9.5 3.09 2.46
2021 29 114 22 3 13.6 10.0 91.3 107.3 23.1 50.0 .224 .441 .261 .291 .365 40.9 23.3 3.3 1.13 3.55
Player 3630 610 45 7.4 5.0 88.1 114.7 19.1 33.3 .231 .401 .344 .307 .360 32.1 23.0 9.2
MLB 6.9 4.7 88.4 122.4 12.2 33.1 .245 .406 .316 .315 .368 36.3 22.2 8.4
! Note: All figures in this table cover the period 2015-present.

Statcast Pitch Arsenal

Cole relies on 5 pitches.
Four Seamer
(42.1%) ,
Slider
(23.7%) ,
Cutter
(19.3%) ,
Curveball
(11.4%) ,
Changeup
(3.5%) ,


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Pitch Tracking



Batted Ball Profile

Season GB % FB % LD % PU % Pull % Straight % Oppo % Weak % Topped % Under % Flare/Burner % Solid % Barrel % Barrel/PA
2015 44.1 17.6 26.5 11.8 32.4 38.2 29.4 2.9 26.5 26.5 32.4 2.9 5.9 4.5
2016 31.9 28.3 22.1 17.7 38.9 35.4 25.7 0.0 24.8 42.5 14.2 3.5 9.7 6.5
2017 45.2 24.5 21.9 8.4 29.7 41.3 29.0 4.5 27.1 25.8 28.4 6.5 5.2 3.5
2018 34.3 35.7 22.9 7.1 38.6 36.4 22.9 1.4 21.4 27.1 26.4 9.3 10.7 6.8
2019 31.3 35.0 23.8 10.0 35.0 31.3 33.8 5.0 18.8 41.3 23.8 5.0 5.0 3.4
2020 34.8 31.8 18.2 15.2 45.5 34.8 19.7 6.1 22.7 42.4 19.7 6.1 3.0 2.1
2021 27.3 31.8 31.8 9.1 36.4 36.4 27.3 0.0 22.7 36.4 13.6 13.6 13.6 10.0
Player 36.6 29.8 22.6 11.0 36.2 36.7 26.6 3.0 23.6 33.4 23.4 6.4 7.4 5.0
MLB 44.6 23.5 24.8 7.0 37.0 37.5 25.3 3.9 32.8 24.7 24.4 5.8 6.9 4.7
! Note: All figures in this table cover the period 2015-present.

Pitch Movement


How this works: Every pitch is affected by the forces of gravity, which means that every pitch drops on its way from the mound to the plate. These numbers are reported with gravity, which makes them larger and different than other pitch movement numbers you may have seen. Since gravity requires time, and slower pitches aren’t ‘better’ just because they have more time to move, the movement of a pitch is compared to ‘average’ movement by comparing it to other MLB pitch types within +/- 2 MPH and from within +/- 0.5 feet of extension and release.
Vertical Movement (inches) Horizontal Movement (inches)
Year Pitch Team Hand # MPH Inches of Drop vs Avg % vs Avg Inches of Break vs Avg % Break vs Avg
2021 Curveball TOR R 13 78.2 47.8 -7.2 -13 5.1 -4.1 -44
2021 Slider TOR R 27 84.8 32.6 -3.8 -10 1.6 -3.6 -69
2021 Changeup TOR R 4 87.6 24.2 -4.8 -17 16.1 2.1 15
2021 4-Seam Fastball TOR R 48 93.8 13.1 1.4 10 7.3 0.3 5
2021 Cutter TOR R 22 89.7 23.6 2.3 9 0.3 -2.6 -112
2020 Slider TOR R 177 83.5 33.2 -5.3 -14 1.7 -3.9 -69
2020 Changeup TOR R 31 86.3 28.2 -2.1 -7 17.4 4.0 30
2020 4-Seam Fastball TOR R 134 93.4 14.3 0.9 6 8.3 1.1 15
2020 Curveball TOR R 10 78.3 45.6 -8.7 -16 5.8 -4.3 -43
2020 Cutter TOR R 38 88.6 23.3 3.4 13 2.3 -4.6 -196
2019 4-Seam Fastball CLE R 216 94.4 13.4 1.6 10 8.4 1.0 14
2019 Changeup CLE R 9 86.6 25.2 -3.9 -13 16.2 2.4 17
2019 Curveball CLE R 34 78.8 45.4 -9.3 -17 4.9 -5.0 -51
2019 Slider CLE R 221 83.8 33.4 -3.9 -10 1.6 -3.3 -68
2018 Slider NYY R 378 84.4 33.1 -3.8 -10 1.0 -3.6 -77
2018 Curveball NYY R 176 79.5 44.2 -9.4 -18 3.5 -5.6 -62
2018 Sinker NYY R 112 92.4 19.1 -3.0 -14 13.7 -0.8 -6
2018 4-Seam Fastball NYY R 182 94.0 14.8 0.7 4 7.6 0.1 2
2018 Changeup NYY R 23 86.5 28.6 -1.7 -6 16.5 2.7 19
2017 Curveball WSH R 166 79.7 40.5 -10.4 -20 6.7 -1.5 -19
2017 Sinker WSH R 82 92.9 18.4 -1.6 -8 13.1 -1.5 -10
2017 Changeup WSH R 61 86.2 26.7 -1.1 -4 11.1 -2.7 -20
2017 4-Seam Fastball WSH R 431 93.2 14.3 -0.1 -1 9.4 1.9 25
2017 Slider WSH R 197 85.2 27.1 -6.5 -19 3.4 -0.1 -3
2016 Slider WSH R 171 82.6 37.1 -2.0 -5 5.0 -0.5 -10
2016 Curveball WSH R 51 75.1 54.2 -6.1 -10 7.9 -4.2 -35
2016 4-Seam Fastball WSH R 214 91.4 17.4 -0.1 -1 10.8 3.7 52
2016 Changeup WSH R 45 84.1 34.3 1.8 5 14.3 1.6 12
2016 Sinker WSH R 133 91.3 22.7 -0.3 -1 14.0 0.1 1
2015 Slider WSH R 12 81.1 39.4 -2.7 -6 8.3 2.3 39
2015 Changeup WSH R 30 82.5 33.0 0.1 0 10.8 -1.7 -14
2015 Curveball WSH R 8 74.5 56.4 -4.4 -7 10.3 -1.1 -9
2015 4-Seam Fastball WSH R 87 91.0 18.3 -1.2 -7 7.4 0.7 10
2015 Sinker WSH R 11 91.5 22.6 -0.5 -2 11.0 -2.9 -21
! Note: Years are in reverse order.
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Run Values by Pitch Type

Year Pitch Type Team RV/100 Run Value Pitches % PA BA SLG wOBA Whiff% K% PutAway % xBA xSLG xwOBA Hard Hit %
2021 4-Seam Fastball 0.0 0 48 42.1 10 .400 .600 .430 33.3 10.0 9.1 .381 .675 .440 66.7
2021 Slider 5.7 2 27 23.7 7 .000 .000 .000 40.0 57.1 25.0 .095 .352 .180 33.3
2021 Cutter 0.5 0 22 19.3 10 .111 .444 .270 17.6 20.0 33.3 .137 .304 .234 14.3
2021 Curveball -0.2 0 13 11.4 2 .500 .500 .450 0.0 0.0 0.0 .248 .274 .242 50.0
2021 Changeup 1.1 0 4 3.5 1 .000 .000 .000 0.0 0.0 0.0 .270 .287 .251 0.0
2020 Slider -1.1 -2 177 45.4 51 .255 .383 .301 30.2 27.5 18.7 .168 .203 .195 11.8
2020 4-Seam Fastball 3.3 4 134 34.4 22 .158 .368 .252 26.6 13.6 13.0 .200 .384 .277 41.2
2020 Cutter -0.2 0 38 9.7 11 .200 .600 .359 16.0 9.1 7.1 .226 .447 .319 55.6
2020 Changeup -3.3 -1 31 7.9 6 .400 .400 .417 33.3 16.7 14.3 .309 .536 .423 50.0
2020 Curveball 9.1 1 10 2.6 3 .000 .000 .000 33.3 33.3 50.0 .158 .176 .148 0.0
2019 Slider -1.5 -3 221 45.9 63 .283 .453 .375 40.7 25.4 16.3 .187 .290 .261 12.8
2019 4-Seam Fastball -1.0 -2 216 44.9 42 .310 .571 .415 21.6 28.6 18.5 .264 .441 .296 40.0
2019 Curveball 2.7 1 34 7.1 13 .250 .333 .304 11.1 15.4 33.3 .274 .496 .297 18.2
2019 Changeup 1.3 0 9 1.9 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
2018 Slider 1.1 4 378 43.1 108 .168 .337 .279 42.9 36.1 26.7 .169 .273 .251 19.0
2018 4-Seam Fastball -5.8 -11 182 20.8 30 .519 .963 .635 21.1 3.3 4.3 .419 .716 .504 53.8
2018 Curveball 0.3 1 176 20.1 46 .256 .535 .328 28.6 32.6 25.0 .194 .346 .254 34.5
2018 Sinker -6.6 -7 112 12.8 29 .462 1.154 .669 26.0 13.8 26.7 .386 .970 .578 59.1
2018 Changeup -9.5 -2 23 2.6 5 .667 .667 .640 0.0 0.0 0.0 .430 .508 .521 66.7
2017 4-Seam Fastball 0.8 3 431 46.0 111 .253 .463 .348 17.6 15.3 14.2 .273 .515 .369 36.6
2017 Slider 1.9 4 197 21.0 51 .209 .326 .304 42.0 31.4 21.3 .215 .308 .299 22.2
2017 Curveball 0.6 1 166 17.7 32 .143 .250 .240 27.3 28.1 18.0 .151 .214 .225 21.1
2017 Sinker -3.7 -3 82 8.8 21 .471 .824 .581 3.0 0.0 0.0 .390 .635 .482 52.9
2017 Changeup -5.1 -3 61 6.5 15 .500 .583 .523 24.0 13.3 15.4 .388 .455 .432 40.0
! Note: Years are in reverse order.
! Note: To better align with other values, positive numbers (red) are good, and negative numbers (blue) are poor.
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Spin Direction

Year Pitch Type Pitches MPH Active Spin % Total Movement (In.) Spin-Based Observed Deviation
2021 Curveball 13 78.2 43 8.0 7:45 7:30 15
2021 Cutter 22 89.7 70 9.4 12:45 12:00 45
2021 4-Seam Fastball 48 93.8 95 19.1 1:00 12:45 15
2021 Slider 27 84.8 26 4.9 11:45 11:00 45
2020 Changeup 31 86.3 96 19.6 1:45 2:15 -30
2020 Curveball 10 78.3 31 7.1 9:00 8:00 60
2020 Cutter 38 88.6 70 10.9 12:45 12:30 15
2020 4-Seam Fastball 133 93.4 95 18.7 1:15 1:00 15
2020 Slider 177 83.5 32 5.4 12:00 11:15 45
! Note: This table is showing data from the PITCHER perspective.
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Swing/Take

Runs
Year Team PA Pitches Heart Shadow Chase Waste All
2015 43 152 0 -4 0 0 -5
2016 167 670 6 -2 -5 -3 -4
2017 230 937 8 8 -10 -3 2
2018 218 871 -2 -1 -8 -4 -15
2019 118 480 1 -1 -2 -1 -4
2020 96 404 0 7 -3 -2 0
2021 30 114 1 2 0 0 2
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Plate Discipline

Season Pitches Zone % Zone Swing % Zone Contact % Chase % Chase Contact % Edge % 1st Pitch Strike % Swing % Whiff % Meatball % Meatball Swing %
2015 157 47.1 71.6 88.7 26.5 54.5 43.3 43.2 47.8 21.3 5.1 50.0
2016 674 45.1 67.4 82.9 29.7 61.8 40.2 58.3 46.7 23.2 6.1 73.2
2017 937 48.2 65.5 79.1 26.2 65.4 42.2 61.3 45.1 23.9 6.9 75.4
2018 877 47.5 63.5 76.8 29.5 43.7 39.0 60.2 45.7 32.9 5.9 78.4
2019 481 50.9 75.5 75.7 28.4 52.2 43.7 59.3 52.4 30.2 7.9 92.1
2020 390 45.6 70.8 78.6 28.8 60.7 41.8 50.5 47.9 27.3 6.7 76.9
2021 114 53.5 70.5 76.7 28.3 53.3 50.9 53.3 50.9 27.6 6.1 100.0
Player 3,630 47.7 67.8 79.0 28.3 56.2 41.5 58.0 47.1 27.2 6.5 78.4
MLB 48.6 66.9 82.0 28.4 58.0 42.6 60.9 47.1 24.8 7.3 76.1
! Note: All figures in this table cover the period 2015-present.

Percentile Rankings

Year xwOBA /
xERA
xBA xSLG xISO xOBP Brl Brl% EV Hard
Hit%
K% BB% Whiff% Chase
Rate
FB
Velo
FB
Spin
CB
Spin
Extension
2015 26 11 77
2016 28 18 20 79
2017 16 30 31 37 7 78 65 34 41 30 6 48 34 53 26 18 80
2018 21 46 16 6 38 53 1 56 41 74 23 92 68 57 37 25 65
2019 70 84 85
2020 96 89 93 88 91 88 95 79 95 35 41 53 62 51 67 73
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Expected Home Runs

Year Team Avg HR Trot Actual HR xHR HR-xHR Doubters Mostly Gone No Doubters No Doubter %
2016 23.9 7 5.6 1 4 6 3 42.9
2017 22.5 8 7.8 0 2 7 2 25.0
2018 23.1 15 13.4 2 3 10 7 46.7
2019 23.2 4 4.1 0 4 3 2 50.0
2020 22.7 4 2.3 2 1 3 0 0.0
2021 25.9 1 1.5 -1 2 1 1 100.0
Player 23.2 39 34.7 4 16 30 15 38.5

Expected Home Runs by Park

Year HR
2016 7 6 6 6 5 3 6 7 3 4 3 6 8 5 5 7 3 3 6 3 6 4 9 8 9 5 5 9 10 6 3
2017 8 9 6 9 8 8 8 8 7 7 7 9 7 6 9 9 7 9 8 8 8 6 10 8 8 7 7 9 8 8 5
2018 15 18 10 14 14 12 14 13 11 9 12 16 14 14 11 16 13 13 14 17 16 13 17 15 14 10 13 15 14 12 8
2019 4 5 3 4 4 3 3 4 3 3 3 5 7 4 3 5 3 3 4 4 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 7 8 3 2
2020 4 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 2 1 2 3 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 3 4 2 2 2 3 3 2 3 2
2021 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 3 2 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 2
Player 39 42 31 36 36 29 36 35 27 25 28 41 39 31 31 40 29 31 36 37 39 34 47 38 38 28 33 45 43 34 22
! Note: This tells how many of this player's home runs would have been out of other stadiums. This accounts for different wall heights, distances and environmental effects. For these purposes, the 2020 Blue Jays home field was still Rogers Centre, not Sahlen Field.
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Year to Year Changes

Metric 2015 2016 +/-   2017 +/-   2018 +/-   2019 +/-   2020 +/-   2021 +/-  
Fastball Velocity 91.1 91.5 0.4 93.1 1.6 93.4 0.3 94.4 1.0 92.3 -2.1 92.5 0.2
Offspeed Velocity 82.5 84.0 1.5 86.2 2.2 86.5 0.3 86.6 0.1 86.3 -0.3 87.6 1.3
Breaking Velocity 78.5 80.8 2.3 82.7 1.9 82.8 0.1 83.1 0.3 83.2 0.1 82.7 -0.5
Exit Velocity 90.8 88.8 -2.0 87.8 -1.0 88.1 0.3 86.9 -1.2 86.7 -0.2 91.3 4.6
Launch Angle 15.4 23.9 8.5 14.2 -9.7 18.4 4.2 20.5 2.1 22.3 1.8 23.1 0.8
Barrel % 5.9 9.7 3.8 5.2 -4.5 10.7 5.5 5.0 -5.7 3.0 -2.0 13.6 10.6
Hard Hit % 47.1 26.5 -20.6 34.2 7.7 36.2 2.0 23.8 -12.4 27.3 3.5 40.9 13.6
Sweet Spot % 29.4 28.3 -1.1 32.9 4.6 41.4 8.5 32.5 -8.9 22.7 -9.8 50.0 27.3
xBA .289 .187 -0.102 .260 0.073 .243 -0.017 .227 -0.016 .190 -0.037 .224 0.034
BA .341 .248 -0.093 .262 0.014 .281 0.019 .290 0.009 .226 -0.064 .207 -0.019
xwOBA .317 .273 -0.044 .347 0.074 .333 -0.014 .277 -0.056 .243 -0.034 .291 0.048
wOBA .340 .328 -0.012 .348 0.020 .389 0.041 .341 -0.048 .290 -0.051 .261 -0.029
xSLG .412 .365 -0.047 .434 0.069 .448 0.014 .373 -0.075 .292 -0.081 .441 0.149
SLG .463 .463 0.000 .441 -0.022 .577 0.136 .486 -0.091 .393 -0.093 .379 -0.014
K% 20.5 23.2 2.7 19.1 -4.1 26.7 7.6 25.4 -1.3 21.1 -4.3 23.3 2.2
BB% 2.3 8.3 6.0 12.2 3.9 10.0 -2.2 6.8 -3.2 9.5 2.7 3.3 -6.2
Swing % 47.8 46.7 -1.1 45.1 -1.6 45.7 0.6 52.4 6.7 47.9 -4.5 50.9 3.0
Whiff% 21.3 23.2 1.9 23.9 0.7 32.9 9.0 30.2 -2.7 27.3 -2.9 27.6 0.3
In Zone % 47.1 45.1 -2.0 48.2 3.1 47.5 -0.7 50.9 3.4 45.6 -5.3 53.5 7.9
Out of Zone % 52.9 54.9 2.0 51.8 -3.1 52.5 0.7 49.1 -3.4 54.4 5.3 46.5 -7.9
Out of Zone Swing % 26.5 29.7 3.2 26.2 -3.5 29.5 3.3 28.4 -1.1 28.8 0.4 28.3 -0.5
First Pitch Swing % 25.0 25.0 0.0 29.1 4.1 29.0 -0.1 31.4 2.4 24.7 -6.7 20.0 -4.7
First Pitch Strike % 43.2 58.3 15.1 61.3 3.0 60.2 -1.1 59.3 -0.9 50.5 -8.8 53.3 2.8
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Statcast Fielder Positioning

vs RHHvs LHH
YearAlignment TypePAwOBAPATotal%PATotal%
2016 Shifts 154 .337 69 1 1.4 85 48 56.5
2017 Shifts 230 .348 108 13 12.0 122 32 26.2
2018 Shifts 220 .389 127 28 22.0 93 56 60.2
2019 Shifts 118 .341 75 1 1.3 43 23 53.5
2020 Shifts 93 .290 54 13 24.1 39 26 66.7
2021 Shifts 23 .248 14 1 7.1 9 8 88.9
! Note: Shifts are through the 2022 season, Shaded starting from the 2023 season, Shift: three or more infielders are on the same side of second base, Shade: positioned outside of their typical responsible slices of the field.
Learn more about how positioning is defined here

Pitch Tempo

Bases EmptyRunners On Base
SeasonTeamPitchesTempoFast %Slow %PitchesTempoFast %Slow %
2015 46 13.8 63.0% 0.0% 22 19.7 9.1% 22.7%
2016 186 16.5 36.6% 1.1% 113 24.0 13.3% 22.1%
2017 256 17.8 14.5% 0.0% 190 24.4 0.0% 11.6%
2018 262 18.0 14.9% 1.1% 132 24.4 0.0% 9.1%
2019 123 16.6 29.3% 0.8% 73 25.6 0.0% 9.6%
2020 87 19.6 4.6% 1.1% 82 27.8 0.0% 28.0%
2021 38 21.0 0.0% 10.5% 7 29.2 0.0% 42.9%
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Pitch Distribution


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