DUNEDIN, Fla. — Gerrit Cole noticed that the new high-priced free agent pitcher across town — or in this case, the across the state — threw five innings on Monday in a Grapefruit League game.
“The dude is an animal,’’ Cole said of the Mets’ Max Scherzer on Tuesday, after Cole continued his slow build toward the regular season in a shortened spring training.
The Yankees ace threw another session of live batting practice at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa rather than face the Blue Jays at TD Ballpark.
For Cole, the focus is on October —and not as much on April 7.
He hopes to avoid the mistake he made during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, when he did basically what Scherzer did his first time out.
“In ’20, my son was born and two days later camp opened and then I was throwing five innings,’’ Cole said. “I sacrificed some quality early because the ramp-up was so quick.”
Despite an offseason in which the Yankees didn’t make any major free-agent splashes — bringing in Anthony Rizzo and trading for Josh Donaldson’s contract — Cole is confident the organization is doing what it needs to do to win.
“I picked this place because the window to win a World Series, in my mind, is the entire length of the contract,’’ Cole said of the nine-year deal he signed before the 2020 season. “That’s how I feel about that.”
Watching free agents like Carlos Correa and Corey Seager and others go elsewhere, he said, didn’t catch him totally off guard, because he understood the strategy of the front office and general manager Brian Cashman.
“I’m not really surprised,’’ Cole said. “We definitely have upgraded and Brian sometimes has to get creative, as opposed to more straightforward, but that’s what makes him good. … In baseball, you want to be able to win a bunch of different ways. I assume you want to build a championship-quality team [in] more ways than one.”
This year, that meant signing Rizzo to a two-year, $32 million contract instead of landing another free agent like Freddie Freeman or making a trade with Oakland for Matt Olson.
Rizzo made his Grapefruit League debut on Tuesday, playing first base in a 9-2 loss to the Blue Jays.
Rizzo spent half of last year in The Bronx and believes a full year from himself and Joey Gallo, as well as the addition of Donaldson, transforms the lineup.
“It’s basically three brand-new position players,’’ Rizzo said of the three sluggers.
The first baseman said he liked the team’s attitude a year ago when he arrived from the Cubs and thinks that will carry over to this season.
“Getting off to a good start is the most important thing to establish that confidence and swagger that a team develops throughout the year,’’ Rizzo said. “Guys are confident here and when they get rolling, it can be contagious.”
Much of that momentum the Yankees hope to build will ride on the right arm of Cole, who said his next appearance will be in a game on Sunday — and he’s not worried about Scherzer’s schedule.
“My setup is different than Max and I’m different than Max,’’ Cole said. “We’re different ages and we may need different things. The guy is an animal. He’s gonna give you 100 percent all the time. A routine is a routine. It’s all individual to a certain extent.”
Cole hopes to be able to throw around 80 pitches by Opening Day — and then plenty more thereafter and well into October.
For that to come to fruition, Cole will have to live up to expectations, much like Scherzer will in Queens.