Jordan Cote gets $750K bonus to sign contract with Yankees

CONCORD — Surrounded by his family and 200 or more teammates, friends and fans at the Concord Sports Center last evening, Jordan Cote, the standout pitcher from Winnisquam Regional High School, last night signed a contract with the New York Yankees baseball organization, crowning one brilliant career and beginning another.

Cote, ranked 85th among the top 100 prospects in the 2011 Major League draft, received a $725,000 signing bonus in choosing to become a professional rather than accept a scholarship to play at Coastal Carolina University. Speaking briefly, he generously shared the credit for his success with his parents, father Scott, who coached him till he was 16, and mother Anne, Fred Caruso, his high school coach, and Matt Blake, his pitching coach, as well as his fitness trainer, teammates and friends.

Cote was drafted in the third round, 118th overall, by the one team he would have chosen over all others, a fitting reward for the time and energy he has invested in talent for the past decade. Caruso described his work ethic as "off the charts" while Matt Hyde, the Yankee scout who corralled him, said "the edge this young man has is his roots," adding that Cote honed his strength and skill in the cold winter and short seasons of New England.

Mingling with the crowd, posing for photographs and signing autographs, Cote said that he will be joining the Yankee minor league franchise in the Gulf Coast League in Tampa, where his roommate will be Joey Maher of Bedford High School, another of the eight high school and college players from New Hampshire selected in this year's draft. He said that the season ends in September and two weeks later he begin the instructional league followed by a spell in the Dominican Republic.

Cote's father sensed his son was "a real special kid" when, as a seven year old, he earned a starting role on an all-star team of boys a year or two older. Watching Cote as a freshman, Caruso told his son that his batting record at Winnisquam, a season average of. 545, would be broken and by season's end Cote hit .547.

Despite averaging .442 during his career at Winnisquam, Cote's hitting was overshadowed by his pitching. He won 31 games and lost just two over four seasons, threw three no-hitters — one a perfect game — including the victory over undefeated Somersworth to bring Winnisquam its first baseball state championship (2010), struck out 312 hitters, and yielded less than one earned run a game. As a senior, Cote won six games and, in the bitter cold of Berlin in April, lost one. He allowed just 30 hits, yielding 10 walks, and seven earned runs while recording 93 strikeouts in nearly 55 innings. Seven of every ten pitches he threw during the season were strikes. And he hit .491 and drove in 26 runs.

Kyle Pratt, who played with Cote since the two were in Little League and this season was his catcher, said, "I called the pitches, but it was easy. Just one finger — fastball, lots of fastballs."

Caruso recalled that after Cote pitched Winnisquam to the state title the plate umpire turned to him and said "thank you for throwing him." This year he said whenever Cote took the mound there were between 10 and 25 radar guns trained on him, prompting one of the hurlers to quip "didn't you tell them I won't be pitching today." Apart from the gaudy statistics, Caruso praised Cote for his "respect for the game, its officials and his opponents" and for being "the ultimate teammate."

Blake, who pitched at Concord High School and Holy Cross College, said that at six-foot, six-inches and about 215 pounds, Cote has the ideal frame of a power pitcher. "He's throwing 92 or 93 miles per hour now and he'll be around 95 or 96 when he fills out to about 235 to 240 pounds," he said. He explained that Cote will be given a player development program, replete with benchmarks to be reached during the seasons ahead, aimed at preparing him to take the mound in the big leagues when he is 23 or 24.

A lifelong Yankee fan, Cote gazed with awe at diamond encrusted World Series ring on Hyde's right hand as the scout spoke of the day when he would wear the pinstripes and help the Yankees add to their record skein of world championships.

"Apart from the day I married my wife of 25 years and the birth of this young fella," said his father, "this is the proudest moment of my life." And everyone there shared his hopes that it will be surpassed.