is still a long way to go<\/a> \u2014 in a best-case scenario, three months, with more hurdles to clear along the way \u2014 before Cole might take the mound in a big league game. <\/p>\nBut just over 11 months removed from undergoing Tommy John surgery and having the entirety of his 2025 season wiped out, the former AL Cy Young award winner gave the Yankees a tantalizing reminder of what could be waiting for them later this year.<\/p>\n
Gerrit Cole throws a pitch during his bullpen for the Yankees on Feb. 13. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n
\u201cHe looked like a Cy Young pitcher,\u201d catcher Austin Wells said. \u201cHe looked smooth and in control. Looked confident in his ability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, it was just a bullpen session in February, one that checked another box on the way to potentially facing hitters in another week or two and possibly getting into a Grapefruit League game before camp ends. <\/p>\n
In his conversations with the Yankees and the surgeon who repaired his elbow, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the target return date has always been 14-18 months, Cole said, and that remains on track.<\/p>\n
He had the surgery last March 11, so 14 months would be May 11.<\/p>\n
And exactly what version of Cole the Yankees get once he does return to game action remains to be seen. <\/p>\n
For some pitchers coming back from Tommy John, it takes a full season to get their stuff back and feel like themselves. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
For others, it comes quicker.<\/p>\n
Cole knows this and is not getting ahead of himself for what to expect this season. <\/p>\n
But to this point, every step of the rehab process that he described as \u201clong and tedious\u201d has gone well, giving him and the Yankees hope that there is some light at the end of the tunnel inching closer.<\/p>\n
Gerrit Cole prepares to throw a pitch during his Feb. 13 bullpen. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a confident guy. I have high expectations for my execution internally,\u201d Cole said. \u201cBut overall, in terms of performance and expectations, I don\u2019t really have any set goals or numbers or things like that. It\u2019s been working really well to just stay day to day and execute the task at hand. So I think the challenge is to continue to do that as things become more exciting and things start to get rolling more and more.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his throwing session Friday, Cole\u2019s fastball hit 94-96 mph, the pop of Wells\u2019 glove ringing throughout the bullpen with a crowd of interested Yankees personnel watching. <\/p>\n
At this point in the rehab process, Cole acknowledged that it is important for him to pay close attention to the velocity, making sure he is staying within the suggested ranges to \u201cload the new [elbow] tissue strategically.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gerrit Cole watches from the Yankees dugout during their Sept. 23 game. Jason Szenes for the NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I\u2019m told to push, I push,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I\u2019m told not to, I don\u2019t. I really haven\u2019t deviated hardly at all from our targets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along those lines, the Yankees will not push Cole back too soon, regardless of how encouraged they may be at each next step. <\/p>\n
There is no sense in bringing him back quickly just to have him pitch in early-season games at the expense of having him available later in the year when the stakes are higher.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to make sure we give him the proper time to make sure he is good and ready to come back, built up in a smart way,\u201d manager Aaron Boone said. \u201cSo we won\u2019t rush that with him, even if it continues to go incredibly well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo beyond the box score with the Bombers\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Yankees by Greg Joyce, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Cole, too, expressed a cautious optimism about how he was feeling. <\/p>\n
His old elbow got him 2,000-plus innings in the big leagues, and the new one is feeling \u201cdifferent than it has been in quite some time,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Whether that could mean throwing harder when he returns, Cole pumped the brakes and said with a smile, \u201cWe\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than anything, Cole just seemed to be longing for things to get back to normal, for the day when he can finally rejoin what has the potential to be a high-end rotation with him a key part of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just miss playing,\u201d he said. \u201cI miss that outlet of working hard and feeling exhausted every five days.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA \u2014 He is 35 now, another year older, with some more facial hair, a slightly different windup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2376],"tags":[5,2281,4,1690,62,2548,2547,185,151,142],"class_list":{"0":"post-571368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-yankees","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-gerrit-cole","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-yankees","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkyankees","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-spring-training","17":"tag-yankees"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116066683928333834","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}