Veteran right-hander Gerrit Cole, who sat out all of last season for the New York Yankees after undergoing Tommy John surgery, was optimistic after his second and final appearance of spring training before heading back to Florida to continue getting ready for his delayed season debut.
Cole, 35, went 1⅔ innings in the Yankees’ spring training finale against the Chicago Cubs in Mesa, Arizona. He threw 26 pitches while striking out three and giving up only one run — a home run by Alex Bregman.
“Good pitch, better swing, and that’s the way it goes with good players sometimes,” Cole said. “I had some good shapes and some good spots, so all in all, pretty good day.”
Cole, whose last official outing was in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, will return to Tampa, Florida, for more work and is expected to make his season debut in late May or early June.
The Yankees open the season against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday.
Cole’s fastball averaged 96.3 mph on Tuesday, with a high of 98 mph. He threw his full array of pitches, including his knuckle curve, slider, sinker, changeup and cutter. Of his 26 pitches, 17 were for strikes.
“I had fun out there again,” Cole said. “I think there’s maybe a little greater appreciation for the game — the level of talent, the level of intensity and the demand of the game. It demands your focus, it demands your preparation, and I enjoy that.”
Cole is signed to a $324 million, nine-year contract through 2028. He has a 153-80 career record and 3.18 ERA over 317 starts with Pittsburgh (2013-17), Houston (2018-19) and the Yankees (starting in 2020).
In other roster news, the Yankees will have Luis Gil start with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the team decided to go with a four-man rotation to start the season.
Instead of having him stay with the team and come out of the bullpen, manager Aaron Boone on Sunday said Gil probably would be headed to the minors, where he can stay on a starting pitcher’s routine.
“I think he was a little upset about it, but I feel like he’s in a good frame of mind right now,” Boone said Tuesday. “… We expect him to be in the rotation, but at the same time, there’s a lot of people pushing for competition right now that are pushing themselves into the conversation.
“That competition is going to remain, so it’s important that [Gil] continues the trajectory he’s been on since the start of camp.”
The Yankees, who have four off days built into the first 13 days of their schedule, will stick with Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Ryan Weathers during that stretch.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
