Yankees Offer Rough Timetable For Gerrit Cole’s Return From Injury Rehab

Perhaps the most encouraging part of Gerrit Cole’s rehabilitation from an elbow injury isn’t anything the New York Yankees right-hander has done. It’s what his teammates have done in his absence.

The Yankees’ rotation has a 2.73 ERA through Tuesday, best in the American League and the second-best in MLB only to the Philadelphia Phillies. For a team that was anxious to return to the postseason after a dismal 2023 season, getting the staff ace back on the mound figured to be crucial to the Yankees’ fortunes this season. Instead, it has become a luxury.

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For his part, Cole aced his first test on the minor league rehabilitation circuit Tuesday. Cole pitched four innings, throwing 45 pitches (34 strikes and 11 balls), and allowing just two hits and zero walks while striking out five batters for the Double-A Somerset Patriots.

Under different circumstances, a four-inning, 45-pitch start might leave Cole on the verge of returning to the major leagues. The Yankees, however, are in the opposite of a rush to see him return. Manager Aaron Boone told reporters the 33-year-old right-hander would need “at least a couple more” starts before he can return.

“I don’t know how many,” Boone said. “Is that two? Is it three?”

Either way, the earliest Cole could return is the Yankees’ home series against Baltimore from June 18-20. Rehabbing pitchers can remain on minor league assignments for up to 30 days, meaning the latest Cole could be activated is July 4.

Therein lies a rough timetable for Cole’s 2024 return, a proposition that at one point seemed more a question of “if” than “when.” Cole made his lone spring training start on March 1. He was diagnosed with nerve inflammation and told to rest. While many of the game’s best pitchers — Spencer Strider, Shane Bieber, Cristian Javier — were told to head straight for season-ending Tommy John surgery, Cole opted for a less aggressive path forward.

Cole is 145-75 in an 11-year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros, and Yankees. Cole became the game’s highest-paid pitcher when he signed a nine-year, $324 million contract with the Yankees prior to the 2020 season. The total value of his contract was eclipsed when the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a $325 million deal in Dec. 2023.

Cole did arguably his best work in 2023, going 15-4 with an American League-leading 2.63 ERA, 209 innings pitched, 0.981 WHIP, and 33 starts. He was the unanimous choice for the AL Cy Young award, the first of his career.