{"id":680729,"date":"2026-05-20T00:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T00:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/680729\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T00:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T00:02:11","slug":"gerrit-cole-making-yankees-injury-return-for-friday-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/680729\/","title":{"rendered":"Gerrit Cole making Yankees injury return for Friday start"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first time in 569 days, Gerrit Cole will step onto his sanctuary Friday night: a major league mound.<\/p>\n

It will be the same one he last pitched on, in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series at Yankee Stadium, with Tommy John surgery coming four and a half months later and a long, painstaking, 14-month recovery process after that.<\/p>\n

But the 35-year-old Cole will make his highly anticipated return Friday against the Rays, potentially giving the Yankees another front-line starter to add to an already strong rotation, a former AL Cy Young winner at that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve missed it quite a bit,\u201d Cole said Tuesday after throwing a bullpen session that was the final hurdle to get the OK for Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident, I\u2019m optimistic, but I definitely know there\u2019s some work in front of us. It\u2019s just the right time to take the next step.\u201d<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen exactly what version of Cole the Yankees are getting back, but the right-hander checked every box during his rehab assignment<\/a>, building up to 86 pitches in his last start Saturday with Triple-A Scranton\/Wilkes-Barre. His command has been sharper than many pitchers coming back from the same UCL surgery, and he hit 99 mph in his last start, providing further evidence that he need not waste any more bullets in the minor leagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just feel like he has done everything he needs to be ready to compete now at this level,\u201d manager Aaron Boone said.<\/p>\n

\"GerritGerrit Cole will start for the Yankees on Friday. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

The Yankees will still have some restrictions on Cole upon his return, but he and the team have followed the rehab process meticulously to this point, getting him back about a week earlier than initially expected \u2014 altering the initial plan to make one more rehab start. Cole stuck to a 14- to-18 month timeline<\/a> for a return all along, and Friday will mark 14 months and just under two weeks since he went under the knife March 11, 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust didn\u2019t rush anything,\u201d Cole said. \u201cIt\u2019s funny, you almost take an extra day here early, an extra day here early, an extra week here early and you think, \u2018Oh, this is never going to end,\u2019 but then you end up showing up right on time. It\u2019s funny how it works out that way, because it didn\u2019t feel very quick, yet it\u2019s been very efficient and optimal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole is coming back not only at the right time for him, but at the right time for the Yankees, just a week after Max Fried was diagnosed with a left elbow bone bruise that landed him on the injured list for the foreseeable future. At some point this summer, the Yankees still hope to pair Cole and Fried atop their rotation as a pair of pocket aces, along with an emerging young ace in Cam Schlittler.<\/p>\n

But for now, Cole will be another reinforcement for a rotation that entered Tuesday with a 3.21 ERA, the fourth-lowest mark in the majors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to get him back,\u201d Boone said. \u201cObviously what he means on the day he pitches, but back in the mix. Those of you that know Gerrit know what the competition and what pitching and what being part of the guys on that active roster means to him.<\/p>\n

\"NewYankees\u2019 Gerrit Cole on the dugout fence. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n

\u201cWill there be some bumps along the way or navigating getting back into that full level of competition at this level? Sure, but that\u2019s part of it too. At the end of the day, I expect him to come in and pitch well for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole is not exactly easing in, facing a division rival that owns the American League\u2019s best record, swept the Yankees last month at Tropicana Field and presents challenges with its speed and ability to put the ball in play.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYankees Merch Shop\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNew York Post receives revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and when you make a purchase.\t\t<\/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

But across six rehab starts, Cole believes he has prepared himself as well as he could have for this. He accomplished what he wanted to in his rehab, from his pitch count to his stuff being sharp to managing stressful situations and fielding his position.<\/p>\n

Now, at long last, the ultimate test awaits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m most looking forward to just competing at the highest stage,\u201d he said. \u201cPretty high-stakes Friday night for May.<\/p>\n

\u201cLargely, I\u2019m just looking forward to being really tired and having that exhaustion mean something. High stakes, you feel like it\u2019s worth it, like it\u2019s fulfilled. Obviously it\u2019s a tremendously exciting environment too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time in 569 days, Gerrit Cole will step onto his sanctuary Friday night: a major…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,17949,462,3980,82],"class_list":["post-680729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-gerrit-cole","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}