College Pitching Matchup of the Year
Gerrit Cole of UCLA will be taking on Sonny Gray from Vanderbilt on Friday. This is possibly going to be the best college pitching match up of the year between the two guys many believe are going to be competing to be the number one pick of the 2011 draft. This matchup should be something to watch if you have the chance. Is there anyone that is going to this game? I would really like to hear how these two kids do in this pitching match up of two potential stars.
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I might now!!!
thanks for pointing it out. . if i go, i’ll take some pics, recap etc. .
by SoCalSoxFan on Feb 25, 2026 6:14 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Gray
Does anyone have any concerns about Gray’s build? Listed at 5-11 he seems on the smaller side against somone like Cole who is 6-5? that’s a pretty big difference. thoughts?
by Dudestl on Feb 26, 2026 1:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I didn't get to see more than a few innings of baseball on friday
From what I saw, Jungmann looked really good.
Looking at some lines this morning:
-It looks like Sonny Gray got hit pretty hard
-Danny Hultzen is awesome. I know his stuff isn’t the best in the class, but damn he gets the most out of it
-Anthony Rendon not has 7 walks in 5 games
-Morgado had a pretty interesting line: 3.2IP 5H 8ER 5BB 8K 2HBP
-Sammy Solis is one of my favorite Juniors and it’s good to see him pick up where he left off before the herniated disc
by jar75 on Feb 27, 2026 9:40 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
I was upset...
that Gray did as bad as he did. I thought it would be a real pitchers duel, but the line suggests otherwise. Also, it seems like pitchers are just afraid of Rendon. I don’t think they are giving him anything to hit this year.
by joegonzo on Feb 27, 2026 11:29 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Cole
looked very good, was pitching mid 90’s and topped out at 99 on one pitch in the first inning. He hit three batters in the first inning, yet didn’t give up a run as he struck out two and got an out at third base when a weak ground ball got by the third basemen and the SS got the baserunner out as he rounded third.
Cole mixed up his arm angle a bit, dropping down to a low 3/4 arm angle. He has more movement on his fastball than Gray.
Gray was pitching around 93-94, think he topped out at 96, fastball was a little straighter then Cole’s, but still had some good run to it. .
Neither really seemed to throw a change up, Cole didn’t really need to as he was pretty much in control of things as the score got a little out of hand.
Gray looked better than the box score showed, the bullpen came in mid inning and I believe two of the inherited runners came around to score. One of the runs came on a hit to RF, that the RF didn’t field cleanly and he probably would have thrown the guy out at the plate had he came up with it cleanly.
It was an interesting matchup because of the big difference in the size of the two pitchers. Cole has the great pitchers body, at 6’ 4"or so and Gray is all of 5’ 10" or so. Gray is definitely gonna get labeled as the injury risk, should he be a reliever type of label come draft time because of his size and he is kind of a max effort guy. The max effort with the lack of the third pitch, the pen may end up his home. (he may have a decent third pitch, but he didn’t show it yesterday).
UCLA didn’t really pound the ball off of Gray, there were a few hard hit balls into the left center gap, Gallego hit a triple into the gap which was probably the best hit ball off of him. .
It seemed a little odd after watching BP, most of the UCLA hitters didn’t really show much pop, they seem to be built similarly to CSUF, which seems to be the trend now. I was surprised to see in their notes that they had hit ten HR’s in the first four games of the season. Vandy has some big boys that made more of an impression in BP.
Joe Loftus doesn’t have a textbook swing, with his hands very low, but it seems to work for him. The ball jumps off his bat.
Aaron Westlake is a huge young man, listed at 6’3 236 he is listed as a catcher/1b but played LF. Big Swing, can put a jolt into the ball, but i don’t see him playin much OF w/ his body.
Anthony Gomez made an impression in BP, he’s a freshman, but didn’t play. I guess he’s the back up SS. I was disappointed he didn’t play, because he had a nice swing and he looks like he could be a big bat at SS
by SoCalSoxFan on Feb 27, 2026 8:10 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
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