Former Pepperdine Pitcher Has Major League Ambitions

Not too long ago, Cole Cook was mowing down batters at . Now, he is trying to earn himself a spot on a Major League Baseball team. 

Cook is a starting pitcher for the Lake County Captains of Eastlake, Ohio, a Class A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. The 2011 campaign has been a trying one, but the 6-foot-6, 200-pound right-hander is proof that it's not how you start, but how you finish that matters most.

The Captains, the defending Midwest League champions, are at the bottom of the league's Western Division standings with eight games remaining in the season. The 22-year-old Cook, currently on the team's seven-day disabled list, has a 5-11 record with a 4.54 earned run average and 68 strikeouts in 105 innings pitched.

However, the former Waves standout has improved his numbers significantly in the second half of the season. After a 2-8 record in the first half, he is 3-3 in the second half. He has lowered his ERA by a full run (from 4.90 to 3.89) and has reduced his hits and runs allowed by more than half.

"It was definitely the right move going to Pepperdine and getting that college experience," Cook said. "I liked the coaches and not only did I become a better pitcher, I also grew a lot as a person."

After missing his entire freshman season with a broken wrist suffered while he was removing the tarp from the field following a rain storm, Cook led the Waves in wins and innings pitched in 2009. He earned a spot on the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American and All-West Coast Conference Freshman teams. As a redshirt sophomore in 2010 Cook went 5-6 with a 2.93 ERA, made the All-WCC first team and finished first on the staff in innings pitched and strikeouts.

Cook was selected in the fifth round (150th overall) by Cleveland in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft and spent his first season in the minors in Niles, Ohio, with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers from the New York-Penn League, where he went 0-3 in four starts and allowed 12 runs with 14 strikeouts.

In February, Cook showed up at Palisades High School to lend a helping hand at his alma mater while preparing for spring training and now, six months later, his second minor league season is nearing an end.

"I pitched in a lot of big games and I have lots of memories from high school," Cook said. "It's nice to see that the Dolphins have continued winning since I graduated. We won league every year I played and it's nice to see the current team keeping the standard high and carrying on the tradition."

An honor roll student all four years at Pali High, Cook earned All-American and All-City honors as a junior and a senior and was an All-League first team choice as a senior, posting a 10-2 record with 113 strikeouts. He played for the Angels Elite team in summer 2006 and 2007 and the Brewers Area Code team in 2006.

Originally selected out of high school by the Seattle Mariners in the 36th round of the 2007 Major League Draft, Cook didn't sign, opting instead to take his blazing fastball and wicked slider up the coast to Malibu.

Go here to watch a YouTube video of Cook in action during spring training in April.