Aaron Boone hasn’t revealed much, but New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole appears ready to return to the rotation.
Cole threw his third rehab start with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Friday and was dominant again. The 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner threw 70 pitches in 4 1/3 innings against the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings, striking out 10 and walking none.
Cole has yet to pitch for the Yankees this season after being sidelined during spring training due to right elbow inflammation. In his three rehab starts, he recorded 19 strikeouts and zero walks in 12 1/3 innings.
Boone would only say “we’ll see” when he was asked before the Yankees’ game against the Boston Red Sox on Friday when Cole would rejoin the big league club.
“You want to see him reach a threshold tonight, see him carry his stuff,” Boone said. “It will be a different adrenaline level being there than when he first comes back to us. Making sure he gets through that, what tomorrow looks like when he wakes up and gets moving. Those will be things we all talk about.”
Boone said he wants to speak to Cole and the team’s medical staff to get an update on how Cole’s arm feels.
Cole was happy with his progress and expects a decision to be made Sunday on whether he will need a fourth rehab start.
“I really want to get back soon,” Cole said, via Sal Maiorana of the Democrat and Chronicle. “What a nice club they are now. So yeah, that’s part of the reason why I’m just trying to make sure I’m in a good place to help them.”
