David Lennon: Yankees' Gerrit Cole showing best days still might be in ahead of him
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole warms up before a bullpen session during a spring training baseball workout on Feb. 13 in Tampa, Fla. Credit: AP/Chris O'Meara
TAMPA, Fla. — When Gerrit Cole took the mound Friday at 11 a.m. to face hitters for the first time since March 6 of last year, Steinbrenner Field was virtually empty, aside from a handful of reporters, a few team officials and three personal VIPs seated behind the Yankees’ on-deck circle: his wife, Amy, and two young sons, Caden and Everett.
This was a red-letter date in Cole’s comeback from Tommy John surgery, the shocking diagnosis that sent the Yankees’ universe reeling only a few weeks shy of Opening Day. And Cole aced this latest test, dazzling the teammates that stayed behind from that day’s Grapefruit League opener in Sarasota by rifling fastballs that peaked at 96.9 mph, as shown by the centerfield video board.
Afterward, probably due to meeting up with those family VIPs in attendance, the normally chatty Cole already had left by the time the clubhouse door finally opened to the media. Given that Friday’s performance was just another milestone with plenty more hurdles to clear before his potential May return, Cole likely would have tried to put the brakes on any talk of accelerating his timetable.
But for those of us watching Cole pitch like Cole again — only with the newly-adopted overhead delivery — it was impossible to temper expectations. And that goes for his fellow Yankees, too.
Cole went up against Trent Grisham, Aaron Judge and Jasson Dominguez during what amounted to a one-inning workout targeted for roughly 20 pitches. Maybe because Judge was in the middle, he encountered some of the highest velocity, with Cole’s fastball ranging from 95.2 mph to the 96.9 max. Or maybe the sight of the Yankees’ captain and three-time MVP just sparked some of that simmering competitive fire in Cole, who couldn’t help but shift to another gear for the showdown.
“Gerrit looked great,” Judge said. “Excited to see him back on the mound. I think that was the most important thing. The stuff is still electric. That’s the amazing thing. After a grueling, long rehab, you’re fighting, and you’re probably at times lonely, just battling on your own. Then for him to put in all that work and be able to come out here and he’s pumping it up to 95, 97 mph with ease, it was pretty impressive.”
For the record, Grisham took a third strike looking, Judge fouled a few off before lashing a ground ball through the right side of the infield and Dominguez finished his at-bat with a liner to right-center. The only tangible results that mattered, however, were Cole’s arm strength and command — both showed little rust, if any, despite the lengthy rehab.
“To me, it looked just like any other year, where he’s pumping 97 mph, he’s working the corners, he’s attacking the strike zone,” Judge said. “It looked like the old 45 I’ve seen for years, just dominating this league like he’s done his whole career. If you wouldn’t have told me that he just got off Tommy John, and this is his first time facing live hitters, you would have never known.”
Pitching coach Matt Blake, who monitored Cole before driving the one-hour commute down to the opener vs. the Orioles, concurred with the captain.
“Pretty crisp, like really good lines with the fastball, controlling the zone,” Blake told Newsday’s Erik Boland and one other reporter in Sarasota. “Seemed to be under control. Definitely more lively than we were all anticipating, in a good way. Like both the control of the intensity and the emotion of being back on the mound.”
Based on Cole’s tentatively charted return, the step up to live batting practice Friday could suggest the earlier side of his projections. The regular timeframe for TJ surgery usually requires 14-18 months, and May 11 lands on the shorter end of those estimates (if the Yankees put him on the 60-day IL for roster flexibility, Cole wouldn’t be eligible until May 24). By comparison, Max Fried and David Weathers joined Cole for Friday’s session, though they stretched out longer and spun through their arsenal of pitches rather than sticking with fastballs like Cole.
But this represented another important box to check for Cole, and the anticipation is growing at camp — or getting harder to keep in check.
“I almost feel like just kind of compartmentalize like, it’ll get here when it gets here,” Blake said. “You never know how it’s going to unfold. We’ve had a lot of guys that have rehabbed over the years . . . even him, in the ’24 season that he kind of struggled out of the gates. You just never know how we’re going to get there. But . . . I’m happy with how things are going.”
And spring training is not often a happy place for the Yankees, whose roster tends to get dinged up during what has become a painful stretch on the calendar. A year ago, both Cole and Luis Gil — the reigning Rookie of the Year — were lost to significant injuries.
Now? The Yankees can start to visualize having the ’23 Cy Young winner atop their rotation once again. For the winter skeptics out there, think of it as signing a $324 million ace this offseason.
“We’re not the same without him — on the field, showing up for us every five days,” Judge said. “That’s why I got mad when people were harping on us about running back the same team. You get back a Cy Young winner like that, it’s not the same team . . . I like our chances. It’s going to be a special year, and I know Cole’s still ramping up, but I think his best games and best innings are still ahead of him in October this year.”
On Friday, that felt even closer to becoming a reality.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
