Although good – 1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB/K – the line mattered not, because Wednesday saw Gerrit Cole return to the mound in any kind of game action for the first time since his Tommy John surgery.
Cole got the start for Wednesday’s spring training game with the Red Sox, an eventual 1-0 Yankees win, after Aaron Boone announced earlier in the week the righty would throw one inning as the next step in his TJS rehab.
“I don’t want necessarily people to think we’re speeding this up or anything. That’s not the case,” Boone told MLB.com on Tuesday. “It’s just, he’s ready to do this, he’s been in lives, and so [it will] be good to see him out there for an inning starting a game and seeing our ace out there.”
And right away, we saw the Cole of old: his first pitch was a 96.6 MPH fastball that the speedy Braiden Ward drag bunted for a single, with Cole sprinting off the mound and sliding to try to corral it to no avail.
From there, Cole threw nine more pitches – five more fastballs ranging from 96 to almost 99, two sliders at 90 and 91, and a pair of 84 MPH knuckle curves – in a scoreless inning.
“Thought he looked good. He was spinning the ball well, obviously good life on the heater and sinker, and obviously they tested him right out of the gate,” Boone said on YES. “Overall, good for him to get out there and get that next wave of competitive environment.”
Cole got Kristian Campbell to fly out, and after Austin Wells threw out Ward trying to steal third, Cole allowed a single to Jason Delay before getting Nathan Hickey with a 4-1 groundout, taking the throw at first from Jazz Chisholm Jr. on the roller.
Just 10 pitches, so the righty got some more work in down in the bullpen after Harrison Cohen took over in the second, but a successful return for the former Cy Young Award winner.
“Just taking in that environment again. When you’re rehabbing, there’s different boxes you’re checking; it’s all gone really well for him, and now it’s that next wave, a spring game in front of 10,000 people, and another wave of adrenaline,” Boone said. “Really been excited about how he’s looked the whole way, and I thought today was another day where he looked really good.”
“I feel good coming out of it, and I had fun out there,” Cole said on YES. “My location was not great today, but it was serviceable. It was just another level of intensity out there; the velocity creeped up, and it’s a bit predictable that doing things for the first time, it wasn’t as sharp. But It was a little more exciting [driving to the field] knowing I got to play today, and a good day from start to finish.”
Cole will not be ready for Opening Day, but as Boone said, this was a step in the progression, and the Yankees are hopeful that the late-May, early-June timeline for his return will come true.