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New York Yankees ace on verge of joining elite strikeout club

By Jerry Tapp

Sep 7, 2022; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole (45) pitches in the first inning against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 7, 2022; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole (45) pitches in the first inning against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports /
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New York Yankees righthander Gerrit Cole is off to another great season with a 5-0 record and ERA of 2.09. With 12 more strikeouts, he will join an elite strikeout club: Cole will become the 87th pitcher in MLB history to reach 2,000 or more career strikeouts.

Cole, who has six Top 10 finishes in the Cy Young Award over 11 years, has 135 career wins against 71 losses, a winning percentage of .655. Born in Newport Beach, California, Cole, tentatively scheduled to start on Friday for the Yankees against the Tampa Bay Rays, will also become the 11th pitcher born in California to join the 2,000-strikeout club. He currently has 1,988.

He will join CC Sabathia, Cole Hamels, James Shields, Dan Haren, Randy Johnson, David Wells, Mark Langston, Dennis Eckersley, Tom Seaver and Don Drysdale as MLB pitchers born in The Golden State.

Of the 86 pitchers who have 2,000 or more career strikeouts, the most were born in California. Next is Pennsylvania with six pitchers on the list and Florida with five. There are 30 states represented in the list along with eight countries outside the U.S.

Where were the 86 pitchers with 2,000 career strikeouts born?

Here is a look at the states (and countries) where the 86 pitchers in the 2,000-strikeout club were born.

10-California
6-Pennsylvania
5-Florida
4-New York, North Carolina, Texas
3-Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio
2-Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska
1-Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Oregon, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Washington

Outside the United States: Canada (2), Cuba (2), Dominican Republic (3), Mexico (1), New Zealand (1), Nicaragua (1), Puerto Rico (1), Venezuela (1)

Last season, there were 11 pitchers who had 200 or more strikeouts. Two of them, Gerrit Cole and Corbin Burnes, were born in California. The other nine pitchers were born in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio, New Jersey, Tennessee, Japan and the Dominican Republic.

Next. The year each MLB team last won its division. dark

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