Gerrit Cole’s description of Aaron Judge’s presence in clubhouse will give Yankees fans chills

Yankees’ Gerrit Cole had a very complimentary description of Aaron Judge.

Yankees ace Gerrit Cole proved in his final start of the regular season on Tuesday night that he’s ready to dominate in the playoffs. In a 12-1 drubbing of the Blue Jays, the three-time All-Star surrendered just one run and tallied seven strikeouts across seven innings of work.

That stellar outing puts a bow on Cole’s first season in the Bronx, and though he hit some bumps along the way, most fans would admit that he looked the part of an ace who deserved a monster $324 million contract this offseason. Across 12 starts (73 innings), Cole finished 7-3 with a 2.84 ERA, 94 strikeouts and a 0.96 WHIP.

Given those numbers, it would have been understandable if Cole spent time analyzing his debut season with the Yankees during the postgame video conference on Tuesday. Amazingly enough, however, he selflessly chose to heap some praise on a teammate’s behalf.

The 30-year-old hurler’s commented about Aaron Judge’s impact in the clubhouse and his description of the star slugger is guaranteed to send shivers down Yankees fans spines.

"“He’s an integral part of our lives and an integral part of our clubhouse and is a really critical part of the industry, to say the least,” Cole told reporters after the win. “He could change the dynamic of the club just based on the smile on his face and a high-five.“Often times, even if he’s not playing well, he still keeps that same mentality, which is huge for us. Any time we can get rolling with Judgey on the field, it feels good. I’m not going to say the slide obviously correlated to the fact that he wasn’t there because we did it turn it back around before he came back. But he was obviously missed whether we’re playing well or not. Just an enjoyable person to be around.”"

It would appear that the superhuman vibes surrounding Judge don’t just correlate to his colossal 6-foot-7, 280-pound frame, all-time great powerm and freakish reliability in right field. Those attributes combine to form an MVP-type player.

However, in many ways — and Cole’s comments prove this — Judge is just as valuable to the Yankees for how committed he is to keeping a strong morale in the clubhouse.

The sheer awe in which Cole, a superstar and top player at his respective position, spoke about Judge carries immeasurable meaning.

Cole has been a fantastic interviewee this season as he’s provided an untold number of memorable quotes, so it really speaks volumes that these about Judge stick out among the rest. We truly couldn’t pick two better superstars to be the respective faces of the Yankees’ storied franchise.

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