{"id":586662,"date":"2026-02-22T14:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T14:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/586662\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T14:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T14:51:16","slug":"gerrit-cole-opens-up-about-first-ny-yankees-pitching-session-post-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/586662\/","title":{"rendered":"Gerrit Cole opens up about first NY Yankees pitching session post-injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

After an offseason marked by few additions to their roster, the New York Yankees fanbase holds high expectations for the upcoming season, especially with the anticipated return of key players such as Gerrit Cole<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, it appears unlikely that Cole will be back sooner than expected. In fact, Cole himself issued a clear statement about his recovery, as he faced hitters for the first time since his injury. \u201cIt\u2019s great to feel great, but I don\u2019t think it makes me want to accelerate,\u201d Cole told reporters.<\/p>\n

While his progress signifies a promising development for the Yankees<\/a>\u2018 medical team, Cole is aware that he needs more than just pitching against real hitters to fully recover from his elbow injury sustained before last season.<\/p>\n

Indeed, manager Aaron Boone conveyed a strong message regarding Cole\u2019s return following an encouraging bullpen session.<\/a> This has tempered expectations among fans, shedding light on the realistic timeline for Cole\u2019s comeback and its potential impact on the Yankees\u2019 lineup.<\/p>\n

\"\" Gerrit Cole #45 of the Yankees walks through the dugout. Initial impressions from Cole facing hitters <\/p>\n

Yankees supporters are eagerly anticipating a stronger performance compared to last year, particularly given that Cole was one of the most notable absences last season. As Cole is expected to make his return, fans are waiting for him to regain his peak form.<\/p>\n

Here are first impressions from Cole\u2019s return:<\/p>\n

Hitters faced: Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Giancarlo Stanton, Jasson Dom\u00ednguez, and Trent Grisham.Highlight: Cole reportedly struck out Trent Grisham to wrap up his session, with his fastball clocking in between 95\u201397 mph.Catcher\u2019s feedback: Austin Wells, who was behind the plate, commented: \u201cHe looks like a Cy Young pitcher already. The life on the heater is back.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cole is now expected to make a significant impact on a roster that also features players eagerly anticipated by fans for the upcoming season, like Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger, two of the team\u2019s top hitters.<\/p>\n

SURVEY Will Cole make a significant impact in the roster for the upcoming season?<\/p>\n

Will Cole make a significant impact in the roster for the upcoming season?<\/p>\n

No, he will need to readapt<\/p>\n

already voted 2 fans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After an offseason marked by few additions to their roster, the New York Yankees fanbase holds high expectations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2376],"tags":[5,2281,4,1690,62,2548,2547,142],"class_list":{"0":"post-586662","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-yankees"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116114848849310275","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586662","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=586662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}