5 Yankees with the most to prove heading into 2020

The pressure on the mound will fall squarely on the shoulders of the Yankees’ new ace

P Gerrit Cole

Unfortunately, Yankees fans have yet to witness their ace toe the slap in the Boogie Down.

If baseball does return, the hype surrounding Gerrit Cole will grow to a fever pitch. Fans are expecting a Cy Young-level season out of the former number one overall pick. Anything less from Cole will have many fans quickly questioning the record-breaking investment.

With Luis Severino already out of the question for the 2020 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, Cole will have even more pressure to perform. New York still features a pair of front end arms in Masahiro Tanaka and James Paxton but 2019 proved that when games mattered most, they couldn’t match up with opposing aces, like Cole and Justin Verlander in Houston for example.

The rotation also has questions at the backend of the rotation. Veteran J.A. Happ is coming off the worst season of his career and left-hander Jordan Montgomery will get his first extended action since Tommy John surgery of his own in 2018.

With question marks littered throughout the rotation, Cole will be the stabilizing factor and face immense pressure to make a lengthy start, after a lengthy start to ease the workload of the talented bullpen.

After all, it’s been a decade since the Yankees had a true ace. C.C. Sabathia was phenomenal in his first few seasons in pinstripes and was able to reinvent himself later in his career. However, having a top-tier pitcher on the bump every five days has escaped New York for almost a decade.

Tanaka received a big payday when he came over from Japan and although he has been a postseason hero, inconsistency over 162 games makes him hard to put in the “ace” category. Luis Severino has not only battled injuries but hasn’t been able to put an elite162-game season together.

With the Yankees finding themselves in a championship window, Cole will have to pitch at a first-class level while carrying the weight of a historic contract and lofty expectations.

While 2020 will only mark what is expected to be a long stint in pinstripes, Cole’s first season will set the tone.

Hopefully Cole’s words from his introductory press conference ring true.

“Pressure is a privilege,” Cole said at his introductory press conference.