from Triple-A. Cook had a pedestrian 13 strikeouts and 11 walks in five starts for Pawtucket. He did however allow just one home run and posted a 1.89 ERA meaning his sinker was fairly effective.
“One thing I give Bob McClure a lot of credit for is teaching me how to pitch to contact and trusting that I can get guys out with groundballs,” said Cook. “Swings and misses, for me, are more of a timely thing – certain situations with guys on, less than two outs, less than one out, that’s the time I really try to go for the strikeouts. But other than that, I really try to make guys mis-hit the ball, hit pitches that I’m trying to make.
“I think it’s something that took me a few years in the minor leagues. Working with Bob McClure on it, and realizing what kind of a weapon it was, I went from throwing 110, 115 pitches a game down to throwing 80 pitches a game.”
