NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Gerrit Cole could return to the New York Yankees this homestand following elbow surgery last year, the All-Star pitcher’s first major league appearance in a game that counts in 18 1/2 months.
鈥淚t’s on the table,鈥� Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Monday before the start of a seven-game homestand against AL East rivals Toronto and Tampa Bay.
Boone had said last weekend that the Yankees planned to have the 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner make a seventh minor league injury rehabilitation start.
New York came off a 2-7 trip in which Max Fried was sidelined by a bone bruise in his left elbow. Cole could slot in for Friday’s series opener against the Rays and join a rotation that includes Carlos Rod贸n, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Ryan Weathers.
鈥淚f we feel like he鈥檚 absolutely ready to go and checked all the boxes, then we鈥檒l make that call,” Boone said.
Cole’s most recent big league outing that counted was on Oct. 30, 2024, in Game 5 of the World Series against Dodgers when he allowed five unearned runs as the .
He went for tests after allowing a pair of home runs in his second spring training start in 2025, against Minnesota that March 6, and had
Cole made a pair of one-inning spring training starts this year on and , then started minor league rehab outings on April 17. The 35-year-old right-hander has a 4.71 ERA in 28 2/3 innings, allowing 28 hits while striking out 28 and walking three.
against the Syracuse Mets on Saturday night. A six-time All-Star who is 153-80 with a 3.18 ERA in 12 major league seasons, Cole averaged 97 mph with his four-seam fastball and reached 99.6 mph.
鈥淗e looks really good,鈥� Boone said. 鈥淚 think this outing was a little more with probably competition in mind, like going to get guys out and stepping on it stuff-wise. … I think I鈥檝e watched every pitch he鈥檚 made in the rehab. I think it鈥檚 gone really well. I think he鈥檚 done a good job of identifying things, especially early on in the rehab process … So he鈥檚 checked a lot of the boxes and I feel like his last start was mostly excellent.鈥�
Boone had planned to give a fourth start to rookie right-hander Elmer Rodriguez, who is 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA, but the Yankees optioned him to Scranton on Monday and selected the contract of right-hander Yovanny Cruz from the RailRiders, giving them another bullpen arm.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 the right timing?鈥� Boone said. 鈥淲hatever we do, like it鈥檚 with the long game in mind. A need doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean, oh, we鈥檙e bringing him back.”
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