Houston Astros ace Gerrit Cole is arguably the best high fastball pitcher in baseball. The Washington Nationals are one of the better high fastball hitting teams, especially 20-year old Juan Soto.
Soto won out in a second inning battle with Cole, blasting an opposite-field home run off a high fastball. As replays showed of the then-game tying homer, FOX Sports commentator Tom Verducci recalled that Nationals hitting coach Kevin Long guaranteed a Soto home run off a high fastball from Cole before the game.
“This falls under the category of ‘now it can be told,’” Verducci said on the FOX broadcast, “Yesterday, Nationals hitting coach Kevin Long told me that Soto was going to hit a home run off a high fastball from Gerrit Cole.
“I said, ‘That’s Gerrit Cole. That’s the best four-seam elevated fastball in baseball.’
“He said, ‘I don’t care. I guarantee you,’ and he used that word, ‘I guarantee you Juan Soto will hit a home run off a high fastball from Gerrit Cole.’”
Long trusted his guy so much so he let it be known, guaranteeing Soto would deliver. And he did. He also tattooed Cole for a two-run double in the Nationals’ three-run rally in the fifth.
