The New York Times has a good piece on UCLA pitcher Gerrit Cole, who, along with Rice third baseman Anthony Rendon, is a likely candidate to be taken by the Pirates with the first overall pick in the draft in June.
↵↵↵Cole refused to speak with The New York Times, not even about his performance Friday, which dropped his earned run average to 2.06 in seven starts, with 57 strikeouts and 10 walks in 48 innings. He has also turned down interview requests from newspapers that cover the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Seattle Mariners, who hold the first two selections.
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Also of note here is the fact that Cole threw 116 pitches in the game the Times was covering. That's a lot for a young arm, and it's worth pointing out that one reason college pitchers are such a risky proposition in the early part of the first round of the draft is that their college coaches have them throw way too many pitches, and then they sign and promptly get hurt or lose velocity. For example, the Pirates took Brad Lincoln with the fourth overall pick in 2006 after he racked up tons of pitches at the University of Houston, only to lose him for the entire 2007 season with Tommy John surgery.