Baseball's Cook Has Embraced Long Road

Purdue’s go-to closing pitcher has overcome more than his fair share of adversity through five seasons

Sideways. Sidetracked. Sidearm.

Three words to describe the standout pitching career of fifth-year closer Avery Cook, who concludes his Purdue career with one of the more remarkable journeys in school baseball annals.

Cook is a grand old man of Purdue Athletics, having been on campus since the fall of 2020. But his road was never smooth or straightforward. The Utica, New York, native started his college career at St. John’s in New York City, almost transferred to Georgia Southern and was on the cusp of getting cut from the Boilermaker squad just over 18 months ago.

But Cook’s relentless and persistent personality has sustained him throughout. It has helped him navigate the sideways and sidetracked chapters.

“Avery always believed in himself and always thought he could be a mainstay at Purdue and Purdue baseball,” says John Madia, who has been connected to Purdue baseball since his playing days in the 1970s and now serves as the director of player development. “And he never, never, never wavered on that philosophy or dream. He just persevered.”

Madia, also from Utica, was a key conduit for getting Cook to Purdue. After a year at St. John’s, which ended during the COVID-19 outbreak, Cook realized the big city was not for him. It took an additional connection with Chris Marx, Purdue’s pitching coach at the time. That tie was made earlier when Marx, in his previous job, recruited Cook at Campbell University. When Marx became a member of the Boilermaker staff, the timing was perfect for Cook and Marx to rekindle that relationship.

“Purdue was more my speed,” says Cook, who visited campus with his dad during the 2020 summer shutdown. Despite the campus being a ghost town (and not being allowed to meet with the coaching staff in person), Cook saw enough to think life at Purdue was a fit.

West Lafayette was a match for Cook, but living the dream at Purdue had its share of heartbreak and angst. Cook, an imposing figure listed at 6-foot-6, 235 pounds, developed arm trouble and never was comfortable in the COVID-shortened 2021 season. His pitching numbers weren’t bad, but he only appeared in nine games.

“The COVID shutdown probably had something to do with my arm troubles,” Cook says. “I got out of my training routine, and problems arose soon after that.”

If you know Cook, you know he is about process – successful pitchers often are. This process has developed and matured over the years, but the grit and grind have existed since the beginning.

That is, until his arm troubles morphed into a major medical procedure on his elbow. In September 2021, Cook underwent Tommy John surgery, which replaces a torn or damaged UCL in the elbow with a tendon from another part of the patient’s body. The medical repair often restores pitching careers, but that wasn’t the immediate result for Cook.

While the surgery was successful, it didn’t produce immediate positive results on the mound. After a year of rehab and recovery, Cook struggled in 2023, making only nine appearances for the Boilermakers. Frustrated and flailing, he thought he needed a change of scenery and entered the transfer portal, agreeing to move on to Georgia Southern. But an academic snafu put the brakes on the departure.

‘The hardest call of my life’

With the Georgia Southern move in peril, Cook reaffirmed Purdue was the place for him. He got up the nerve to call head coach Greg Goff and plead for another chance in West Lafayette.

“They took me back,” Cook says. “They didn’t have to do that.”

Goff left it to the Boilermakers to vote on whether Cook should be invited back to the squad. The vote was unanimously affirmative.

“Nobody hesitated at all,” says current roommate and fellow pitcher Carter Doorn. “He was a leader, and the guys respected him. I wanted him back because he had become a close friend, as did my teammates.”

There was some light after the “darkest year of my life,” Cook says. Still, Cook, who was rusty after being on the sidelines for two seasons, had trouble getting the ball over the plate with his “up top” throwing motion. His career was, once again, at a crossroads.

“I thought about quitting several times,” Cook says.

The moment that changed everything

In the fall of 2023, with the Boilermakers nearing the end of the autumn season with the Black & Gold Series as the final order of business, things were getting desperate for Cook. That is when new pitching coach Josh Newman came up with an idea. What about dropping down and throwing sidearm? Cook, ever the team guy who was looking for a way to survive, gave it a whirl.

“All of a sudden, he had great ball placement and velocity,” says Newman, a former major leaguer with previous Big Ten pitching coach stints at Penn State and Ohio State. “He took to the sidearm delivery and has never looked back. It helps that he is disciplined and thoughtful in his approach and completed all the necessary steps to succeed.”

Cook realized it would have been easier for Newman and Goff to send him packing instead of searching for a solution.

“They never gave up on me,” Cook says. “They didn’t have to go to those lengths for me, but they did.”

Cook’s gratitude, especially for Newman, is a bond that will never be broken.

“For me, this is the moment that the Avery Cook career began,” says Doorn. “He has been dominant since.”

Mindfulness and leadership

Cook uses introspection to develop his leadership skills, something he developed at an earlier age, but had reached the level of seasoning to implement fully. He journaled almost obsessively, writing down every detail and subsequent feeling of his baseball journey. Several of Cook’s teammates also practiced this, but not to Cook’s level.

“I see him with his backpack heading to the bullpen all the time, ready to write down his thoughts and feelings,” says Newman, who has watched Cook develop into the Boilermakers’ premier late-inning closer the past two seasons. “He always wants the ball in tight situations and has delivered great results for us, and that form of expression has helped him.”

Journaling helped Cook be stoic and calm, which has delivered good results in tight situations. He admits that the many challenges he faced during his college career have helped him not overthink things at crunch time. Age, maturity and skill have all been assets for Cook.

“When I write my thoughts down on paper, those thoughts become real,” Cook says. “But when you journal, you have to be honest with yourself. If you are scared of a big situation, you must admit it, even if it is just an internal comment.”

It all goes toward Cook’s unique ability to be comfortable in his own skin.

In baseball, you’re going to fail a lot. And I think what I bring to the table is the ability to talk to the guys about that. And not many guys in their college careers have experienced the number of failures that I have.Avery cook

“I attribute a lot of my leadership skills to what I’ve gone through in my past,” says Cook, an excellent student with a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership and a master’s certificate in communication and leadership. He hopes it will serve him well when he becomes a coach. “Being able to be there for guys who are struggling, and being able to help them through that, and just being able to recommend things for them to do is something I have to offer.”

But the challenges have continued. Cook also dealt with a debilitating knee issue this past offseason, so painful that he couldn’t walk for a few weeks.

“He went through a lot this summer, but never talked about it,” Doorn says.

Cook embraces his baseball future

His performance in 2025, as he is on pace to record double-digit saves, has Cook thinking positively about his future in baseball. Aspirations of making a career out of the sport, whether as a player or a coach, haven’t left Cook’s mind since he was 6 years old.

“Avery Cook with confidence is a dangerous man,” Doorn says with a declarative laugh. “Avery will tell you himself he’s not the most athletic, he’s not the quickest, he’s not the fastest, but he has the mindset that no one’s going to beat him. It’s that conviction that he has that gives him an edge.”

The analytics say Cook throws hard but not at a speed that reaches major league standards.

“He’s got a dream, he’s got aspirations, and he’s got the work ethic,” Newman says.

Madia says he’s the epitome of a Boilermaker, calling Cook “selfless.” This ability puts him at the center of any conversation when discussing the big things that could be in his future.

“I am praying and hoping and working my butt off every day to make that happen,” Cook says.

But he is realistic about his pro baseball vision, knowing that his “advanced” age of 24 puts him at a slight disadvantage.

“I feel like this new lease on my baseball career is just starting, and I’m excited to see where it takes me,” Cook says. “I hope somebody takes a chance on me and allows me to prove myself.”

Proving himself in challenging situations is something that Cook knows more than most.

This article appeared first in The Persistent Pursuit, the best stories surrounding Purdue University.