Cole’s father introduced him to both soccer and baseball in which he excelled in both during his youth. Cole’s sports hero’s during this time was local favorite Tony Gwynn and Ken Griffy Jr., along with United States soccer stars Alexie Lalas and Colby Jones. Cole played both little league and youth soccer, but it wasn’t until he was 10 years old that he competed in a local travel soccer team that played competitively throughout southern California. Also, during this time, he joined an AAU baseball team and traveled throughout San Diego to compete in local tournaments. (Cole played centerfield and pitched during this time).

Cole attended Rancho Bernardo High School. It wasn’t until High School that Cole realized he wanted to pursue only baseball and more importantly only pitching. Cole’s passion for pitching, soon allowed what were once childhood dreams to become a reality in making it professionally in baseball. In 1999, Rancho Bernardo’s Varsity Team was ranked the number one best baseball team in the Nation by Baseball America and USA Today. Cole played for the freshman team during this time.

In 2000, both Baseball America and USA Today again ranked the team number one. Cole made the Varsity team as the number two starter. The team finished the 2000 season as National Champions.

2002: Draft

According to Tony Gwynn, lots of scouts were interested in Hamels while he was pitching for RBHS because his fastball was clocked as high as 94 mph. However, he broke his arm in his junior year, so some teams, like the San Diego Padres lost interest. Nonetheless, Hamels was drafted in the first round of the 2002 baseball draft by the Phillies.(17th overall).

2003: Minor League Career

He pitched in the Phillies minor league system starting in 2003, beginning at single-A Lakewood. Later that season, he was promoted to advanced-A Clearwater. However, Hamels was plagued by injuries the next two seasons, pitching only sparingly. He missed most of the 2004 season with an elbow injury. In 2005, he broke his pitching hand in a bar fight before the season began, and once he recovered, he then hurt his back, and was shut down for the rest of the season. In 2006, a healthy Hamels started again at Clearwater, and after a brief stint at AA Reading, he was sent to AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where in just three games, he struck out 36 batters while giving up only one walk and one run. His minor league totals were 14–4, with 273 strikeouts in 35 games pitched. Once healthy, Cole proved to be everything the Phillies and fans had hoped for.

2006: Major Leagues

Hamels was called up to the Phillies in May 2006. In his MLB debut on May 12, he pitched five scoreless innings in which he allowed only one hit, striking out seven batters and walking five. He earned a no-decision against the Cincinnati Reds when reliever Ryan Madson gave up a 2-run lead. In his second career start, Hamels was dominant until the seventh inning, in which he was pulled after he allowed several base-runners, but again received a no-decision. A shoulder injury scratched Hamels from the lineup of what would have originally been his third major league start. He was put on the 15-day disabled list and returned on June 6 to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks 10–1, for his first Major League victory. On August 14, 2006, Hamels had his best start of his rookie campaign, shutting out the New York Mets over eight innings and striking out nine in the 13–0 victory.

December 2006: Marriage

Hamels met Heidi Strobel (2004) while she threw out a first pitch at a Clearwater Baseball game. Strobel was on CBS’s “Survivor the Amazon” and because of this; it was Cole who got in Heidi’s autograph line at the baseball park. They were married on New Year’s Eve of 2006 in her home-town of Springfield, Missouri.

2007

On April 21, 2007 Hamels struck out 15 Cincinnati Reds in his first career complete game. He allowed one run on five hits and two walks, setting a career high for strikeouts. On May 16, 2007 he carried a perfect game into the 7th inning, where he walked leadoff man Rickie Weeks and then surrendered a home run to the next batter, J. J. Hardy. He struck out 11 batters in a 6–2 decision over the Milwaukee Brewers. On June 12, 2007, Hamels went eight innings to become the first National League pitcher of the season to win nine games. On July 1, 2007, Cole was named to the NL All Star Team for the first time. On August 22, Hamels was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a mild left elbow strain. On September 28, he pitched the Phillies into first place by striking out 13 Washington Nationals over 8 innings in a 6–0 win (The Phillies became the NL East Champions 3 days later).Hamels finished with an impressive regular season record of 15–5.

2008

Hamels led the Phillies throughout the first month of the season in most pitching categories, including wins (3), ERA (2.70), and innings pitched (43⅓). Continuing his dominance into May, Hamels recorded his first career complete game shutout against the Atlanta Braves on the 15th of that month. The very next game against the Washington Nationals, Hamels went 7 scoreless innings before he was pulled (allowing him to go 19 scoreless innings in a row). Less than one month later, Hamels followed his dominating performance with a repeat of that complete game, beating the Cincinnati Reds, 5–0 on June 5.

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