David Cone was on the outskirts of the Yankees’ recent search for a pitching coach. The job went elsewhere, but Cone, true to form, has not…

David Cone is one of those dimes a dozen “analysts” we see splattered across the breadth of Major League Baseball’s ever-expanding reach into future television audiences.

But that’s where the comparison ends because David Cone is unique as he towers over his peers as a knowledgable, personable, and no-holds-barred commentator on the Yankees‘ Yes Network.

Cone is well-versed and even a pioneer in introducing “analytics” to his television audience. I put the word analytics in quotes, though, for a reason.

David Cone is not Brian Kenny, the host of shows on the MLB TV Network, spouting numbers off the top of his head that are (presumably) designed by no one other than himself for understanding in common every-day language.

Cone breaks the syllables down into words we can understand. Team him with Paul O’Neil taking the hitter’s approach to what we are seeing – and you have a treat in store that can break through a three-hour 10-3 game.

David Cone sees the future…

However, it appears making the leap from the booth to the dugout is a bridge too far to reach for David Cone. Which might explain why Cone tells Justin Toscano, MLB writer, that if he were the GM of the Yankees, he wouldn’t have hired himself as the team’s pitching coach, even though he was granted a full interview for the job?

The answer is as complicated as David Cone.

David Cone is like the scientist in the lab conducting an experiment he knows will change humankind forever. But – he wonders about the future and how his knowledge will impact the future (in this case) of baseball as we know it today.

Here, for example, is an outtake from the conversation Cone had with Newsday:

Justin Toscano, MLB.com “It’s more than just being forward-thinking,” he said. “I think that’s why you’re seeing a lot of these young guys getting hired because they are experts in biomechanics, they do know how to run the equipment, they do know how to build a biomechanical lab. I don’t.”

“I’m a broadcaster.”

To put it another way, David Cone appears to have intentionally reached his Harvard when it comes to analytics, and indeed the next phase of what is likely to occur – something he referred to as “biomechanics” – in baseball?

We’ve already seen the shadowed introduction of robotics into the game of baseball.

Move this guy here, and that guy there and you have an X percent better chance of getting the hitter out.

Or, on a 2-1 count, we “know” this hitter is a dead-on your fastball, and we have the video to prove it. Do not – or you’ll be getting your next night of sleep at a Holiday Inn – throw him your heater. Understand?

David Cone is a refreshing look at a person who knows what he is – and what he isn’t.

The odds are good he would make an excellent pitching coach for any team in baseball – by the sheer fact, he can translate the “numbers” into meaningful dialog with his staff.

Nevertheless, “I’m a broadcaster,” David Cone told NorthJersey.com.

For fans in the New York area and for anyone with access to YES, nothing can be better news coming from the Yankees camp.

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