Gerrit Cole is officially back, as he completed his first rehab outing – and first true game appearance since Game 5 of the 2024 World Series – on Friday night at Double-A Somerset.
Cole threw 44 pitches (36 strikes) over 4 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on three hits with one walk and three strikeouts. He pitched a 1-2-3 first, touching 96 MPH on the gun, but ran into trouble in the second – perhaps after a long half-inning layoff due to Somerset scoring five times in the bottom of the first – allowing a walk, an RBI double, and a two-run homer before getting out of the inning.
Gerrit Cole strikeouts are BACK🔥
The @Yankees ace picks up the first punchout of his rehab assignment on the curveball. pic.twitter.com/7Gxs0S2fDY
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) April 17, 2026
The righty had a 1-2-3 third before working around a one-out single in the fourth, and exited after getting Dylan Campbell to tap back to the mound for the first out of the fifth.
That’s it for Gerrit Cole, who walks off to a standing ovation from a packed house in Somerset.
4.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HRA.
44/36.
Touched 96 in the fifth, was 92-96 all night. pic.twitter.com/gh0wAicJyZ
— Mike Ashmore (@mashmore98) April 17, 2026
“I feel good. It was a nice night, and it was fun to get back out there in a game situation. A little extra adrenaline with the crowd, and unlike (a spring game), at some point you have to go get outs, so that’s a little extra level,” Cole said after the game. “A lot of strikes, and the long inning in the first was the first time I’ve done that, so I didn’t come out quite so sharp that inning. That was a good challenge, but that was the only time the command was a little shaky.”
Manager Aaron Boone has said that Cole’s rehab will last until the right-hander is fully built up, and while the Yankees can extend Cole’s 30-day rehab window with up to three consecutive 10-day extensions, the hope is of course to see the former Cy Young winner back sooner than later.
“We’re very excited to get (Cole and Carlos Rodon) back; we know what they’ve done in their career and what they’re capable of, but the biggest thing right now is checking all the boxes and getting built back up impactfully,” Boone said in the Bronx prior to Friday’s Yankees-Royals game.
“It’s exciting, but I’m not looking farther than what I have to do the next couple days,” Cole said after his outing. “Looking too far ahead would take me out of focusing on one day at a time. I’m just trying to get back in the swing of that process, and not focus on where I am in the rehab or how close it may be.”
And the 35-year-old finished with a statement that should make Yankees fans feel great about his own future:
"I'm not sure if I'm the exact same guy I was (when he last pitched in 2024), but I think it's on its way."
