About 3 ¹/₂ hours before first pitch, the home dugout in The Bronx was packed.
Just about everyone around the Yankees, from manager Aaron Boone to executive Omar Minaya to Jose Trevino to Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodon and much of the rotation, squeezed in to witness 20 pitches that both mattered and did not.
“I walked out there and I was like: ‘Whoa, OK,’” Boone said Tuesday. “Not surprising considering who it is. But yeah, there was a little anticipation there.”
For the first time since early March, Gerrit Cole faced hitters again.
A steamy and sunny afternoon called for plenty of T-shirts in the dugout, but the Yankees ace suited up in full pinstripes.
“Because I missed it,” Cole said about his uniform choice. “I feel really happy that I was able to put it on today.”
The next step in his rehab went well.
Cole used all his pitches while facing lefty-swinging Oswaldo Cabrera twice and righty-swinging Jahmai Jones twice, a pair whose contact amounted to a pair of projected flyouts.
Cole came away happy with his stuff, only bemoaning a changeup that snuck under the strike zone a bit too often, and felt the added bit of adrenaline that comes when real hitters are in the box.
“I hit 96 [mph] a couple of times and Matt [Blake] yelled at me,” Cole said of the team’s pitching coach. “I had to throw it like 90 [mph] a few times to even it back out.”
Cole is not yet throwing at 100 percent and won’t be for a while.
The righty felt he unleashed too quickly this spring, when he had issues bouncing back from his throwing sessions and ended up shut down with elbow nerve inflammation and edema.
Approaching three months later, Cole is approaching a rehab assignment and focusing on ensuring he lengthens out at “appropriate increments.”
“I’m 33 now. I’m not 25,” Cole said after clearing his latest hurdle. “Didn’t really have too much of an issue back then. It’s not like I have a big issue now. It’s just trying to learn really from the experience in the spring.”
Cole said there will probably be one or two more live batting-practice sessions — his next likely will be this weekend — before he gets the green light to begin building up in the minor leagues.
If all continues to go well, he could be ready by the end of June or early July.
Cole was asked about the more optimistic of those timelines.
“I wouldn’t rule it out,” he said about a June return.
“I guess it’s possible,” Boone added. “I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.”
In other years, there might be more urgency for the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner to return to the mound as quickly as possible.
This year, the Yankees have sprinted to the top of the AL East and been lifted by a rotation that has dazzled without its best starter.
The Yankees’ rotation entered Tuesday’s game against the Mariners with a 2.95 ERA that was the third-best in the majors.
“I guess if we were really struggling, it would be a challenge having to not try to feel like you needed to rush it back,” said Cole, whose rotation spot has been occupied by a breakout Luis Gil. “But there’s definitely not any … outside pressure.”
With his 20 pitches, Cole dotted up and down with his fastball.
He mixed in sliders and curveballs that he felt were sharp.
The changeup needs a bit of work, but he will have time to iron it out.
If Cole feels OK on Wednesday, he would have checked off a pretty significant box.
“It looked like it was coming out real easy. I thought he was sharp,” Boone said.
“That was probably the best 70 or 60 percent I’ve ever seen,” Jones said with a smile.
