It’s fun to think about for some, excruciating for others: How different could the New York Yankees’ season have been had Gerrit Cole not gone down?
In March, the Yankees announced that their ace, the six-time All-Star and 2023 American League Cy Young Award winner, would undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the entire season. It was a huge blow to a team coming off a World Series appearance with every intention of making it back.
As the Yankees have gone through ups and downs on the field, Cole has had to sit in the dugout and drink in a full year’s worth of baseball without being able to participate. But at long last, the superstar is on the mend.
On Monday, Cole began his throwing program, the first step in a long progression toward eventually pitching in a Major League Baseball game again after the surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.
Cole threw 20 pitches on flat ground, exactly five months after he had the surgery on March 11.
“It felt really good (Monday). I was fairly accurate and had a good time,” Cole said, per Zach Braziller of the New York Post. “It’s a big one, first day throwing. Been building up to it for a few weeks, so it’s nice to get outside and get it accomplished and have it go well.”
Cole’s version of Tommy John was the “internal brace” procedure, which is minimally invasive and often helps pitchers return to game action close to the year mark after their surgery, compared to those who get the full, original Tommy John procedure and often have to miss closer to 18 months.
Max Fried has stepped in and done an admirable job in the No. 1 starter role, but to say the Yankees have missed Cole would still be no overstatement. Their starters rank 10th in ERA and 14th in innings pitched, stats typical of a borderline playoff team.
Next, Cole will look to get on the mound at some point in the near future and continue his journey toward re-joining the rotation, ideally for New York by the start of next season.
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