There are a lot of really, really good hitters whose bats becoming toothpicks when they face off against Gerrit Cole.
Oakland slugger Matt Olson is 0-19 with 12 strikeouts when facing the Yankees' ace in his career. DJ LeMahieu is thankful to be his teammate, considering he's 2-18 with four strikeouts. Ian Kinsler batted against a lot of pitchers throughout his very successful big league career, but no one gave him more problems than Cole -- his career .080 batting average against him was the lowest of any pitching matchup.
The Rays' Ji-Man Choi is not one of these players, however. Like Cole was a nemesis to the aforementioned Olson, LeMahieu and Kinsler, Choi is the absolute worst nightmare for Cole whenever he takes the mound.
That pattern continued in Game 1 of the ALDS between the Yankees and the Rays.
With that home run, Choi improved what was already an unbelievable resume against one of the best pitchers the league has to offer. Entering the game, Choi's 1.854 OPS was the best of any hitter that had at least 10 plate appearances against Cole (via ESPN Stats & Info). Here's the full list, courtesy of Baseball Reference:
When you change it to just regular season stats, the gap between Choi and the rest of the pack becomes even more impressive (via Baseball Reference).
Twitter, as expected, had fun with Choi's dominance and opened our eyes to even more incredible stats.
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