Garrit Cole has led the American League in shutouts three times in his eleven years in the majors. That’s the same number of times that Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax led their leagues.
Guess how many shutouts Cole has thrown in those eleven years.
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Five!
He led the AL with one shutout in 2018. He led again with one in 2020. This season he went hog-wild and threw two, to lead the league for a third time.
He had one other shutout in his lengthy career, but did not lead the league that year.
This is to show no disrespect to Garrit, who is a truly excellent pitcher, having finished five times in the top five in the Cy Young voting. He has a lifetime winning percentage of .659, which is higher than Roger Clemens or Sandy Koufax, putting him in lofty company.
The real point is to show the change in the game in recent years. Guys like Gibson and Koufax could ring up double digits in a year when they led the league in shutouts. Babe Ruth once threw nine shutouts in a single season. Christy Mathewson once threw three shutouts in a single World Series. Walter Johnson threw 110 in his career. But Cole, with five in eleven seasons, is the lifetime leader among all players whose careers started after 2011.