Yankees ace gets feelings hurt after Daniel Vogelbach launches home run to next state over

While playing for a job this spring training, Daniel Vogelbach bettered his odds last night after hitting a home run against the reigning American League Cy Young winner, Gerrit Cole. While just being a regular spring home run, Cole was later asked about his thoughts on Vogelbach trotting around the bases. Cole said “Yeah, what’s the day? Are we still in February? March 1st? Yeah, he enjoyed that homer." Vogelbach's two-run home run didn't have to be anything more than a good moment, improving his own chances of making the major league roster, but Cole's comments policing the way Vogelbach rounds the bases did come off with a tinge of frustration.

The situation escalated further when Cole was asked if he would remember that home run trot throughout the season. Cole responded, “I don’t forget a lot of things.” This has been an interesting turn of events, considering the difference of status between the two players. Vogelbach is simply aiming for a spot on the Jays bench, while Cole is the Yankees' #1 starter. Cole is one of the highest paid pitchers in baseball making $36M in 2024, coming off of one his best seasons in his career, managing a 2.63 ERA in 209 IP, with 222 strikeouts. The idea of starting up any type of tension between the two is unnecessary, as there's nothing to gain for either side.

This brings up the idea of "unwritten rules" in baseball, and what is frowned upon for players. Vogelbach "slowly" jogging around the bases after his home run fall into this category of things that shouldn't be done in baseball, despite it being a fairly routine part of the game. Whether Cole was insinuating anything serious in his post-game interview about the home run, it didn't take long for baseball fans to catch wind of the comments and react profoundly.

The post about Cole's comments currently stands at 2.2M views. There's over 500 comments and 800 quotes about the post, so this altercation has garnered a lot of attention, considering it's just a spring training game. At the current rate, Vogelbach has a good chance of making the Opening Day roster, and as long as he gets enough playing time, Cole may get to have another chance against him, but with higher stakes involved.

Also, the funniest part of all of this is that that's just Vogelbach's standard pace. Let the man live his life, would ya?