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Gerrit Cole Named the Pirates Opening Day Starter

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BRADENTON, Fla. – Clint Hurdle announced after today’s game that Gerrit Cole will be the Opening Day starter against the Boston Red Sox. Cole will be followed by Jameson Taillon in game two. Ivan Nova will start the home opener, while games three and five are TBD at this point.

Hurdle said that the early decision came from conversations the team had throughout the winter, along with other indicators including strength of schedule, who has seen who in the past.

“We just felt really confident about getting the guys in place,” Hurdle said. “We knew the three that were going to be in place all winter long, get them in place and get them an opportunity to work backwards throughout spring.”

The Pirates don’t need a fifth starter until the middle of April, allowing them to go with four starters the first two weeks if they wanted to. Hurdle said that they won’t make that decision right now, and will leave it up for discussion throughout the spring.

This will be Cole’s first time as the Opening Day starter, and the first time the Pirates have someone different than Francisco Liriano since 2013, when A.J. Burnett was the starter. Hurdle said that Cole received the news “professionally.”

“There’s different ways you can look at an Opening Day start,” Hurdle said. “I think it’s an honor. And it’s also one game. It’s going to be an exciting series for us to take it up to Fenway to start. I think he’s excited about the opportunity we have as a team to just go up and open up in Fenway. He’s going to get the ball against their number one — they’ve got three of them to pick from. He’s in a very focused state of mind right now.”

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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