Gerrit Cole is back! Three things we learned from the return of the Yankees ace
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
NEW YORK — For nearly three months, the New York Yankees trampled expectations without their ace Gerrit Cole. They posted the best record in the majors while the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner served as an unofficial assistant pitching coach as he recovered from an elbow injury.
But the Yankees know reaching the ultimate goal — winning the franchise’s 28th World Series title and first since 2009 — almost certainly requires a healthy Cole on the mound in October.
Cole’s season debut Wednesday night in a 7-6, 10-inning loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium was a significant checkpoint. And the results were encouraging: Four-plus innings, two runs on three hits and five strikeouts to one walk. Most importantly, Cole emerged healthy. It was a positive, if abbreviated, step in the right direction.
Here are three things to take away from Cole’s first start of the 2024 season.
1. He’s (nearly) ready for prime time
Cole made just three rehab outings in preparation for Wednesday. The pitch counts: 45, 57, 68. The Yankees would’ve been justified in having Cole make one more start in Triple-A to build up further. But they decided Cole was ready enough to use against their chief competition in the AL East. And they were right.
Cole’s average fastball velocity was down 1.6 mph from last season, he gave up some hard contact and he had trouble putting a few batters away, but he was very sharp given the circumstances. The right-hander threw 62 pitches, 40 for strikes. He induced six whiffs and 13 called strikes, with full command of his five-pitch arsenal.
“I think the location was good,” Cole said. “And I felt like the pitches were crisp. I think I got a swing-and miss on every offering. The consistency probably has to progress as well with the pitch count. I threw a couple of wonky sliders, but made a great slider in a big spot. It’s encouraging.”
Not surprisingly, it took some time for Cole to find his footing. His season started with some loud contact. Gunnar Henderson led the game off with a 109.1-mph one-hopper that bounced off second baseman Gleyber Torres‘ glove and into right field for a double. Two batters later, Ryan O’Hearn barreled an 0-2 slider for a 102.3-mph, two-out RBI ground-rule double.
From there, Cole settled in, retiring nine of the next 10 batters he faced. He retired the side in the second inning on just seven pitches. He walked Henderson in the third inning — and watched Henderson steal second base — but registered his first three strikeouts of the season and left Henderson stranded. The Orioles went down in order on 16 pitches in the fourth.
“I thought he got better as the game went along,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
The Orioles hit six pitches at least 101.5 mph., but the costly damage was limited to those two doubles in the first inning and Cedric Mullins‘ leadoff single in the fifth. That allowed Cole to average just over 15 pitches per inning, an economic output on a night when he needed to be economical to avoid overstressing the bullpen ahead of Thursday’s rubber game.
Cole exited to a standing ovation in the fifth, with Mullins on base and the game tied at one. Reliever Ron Marinaccio promptly surrendered a two-run home run to Ramon Urías. The Yankees would rally to tie late in the game, so Cole didn’t factor in the decision. It wasn’t a vintage Cole performance, but that was never on the menu.
“It was nice,” Cole said of making his return. “It was kind of a special game for me, a little bit. It’s just been a long few months and a lot of emotions. I wasn’t too sure how I was going to feel out there, but locating the ball quells the nerves a little bit.”
2. He wasn’t happy with how it ended
Cole left the game angry with himself for throwing a high fastball to Mullins to start the fifth inning and end his outing. He explained that was why he looked so frustrated as he left the game — not because he wanted to stay in the game longer.
Cole recalled throwing a fastball away to Mullins in their first clash that produced a lineout to center field. He wasn’t pleased with the location the next time around against the veteran center fielder.
“He’s ready for it,” Cole said of Mullins. “I have like 30 at-bats against him. He put a good swing on it and got up the middle and so probably just a little frustration with the cat and mouse. Cedric got me again on a high fastball.”
Mullins is now 9-for-26 with two doubles and a home run in 27 career plate appearances against Cole.
3. There’s ‘more’ to come … but how much more is a mystery
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Gerrit Cole’s son exhilarated after spotting dad from stands
Yankees ace Gerrit Cole gives a nod toward the stands to his son Caden, who is very happy to see his dad in the dugout.
Before the game, Boone refused to divulge Cole’s pitch count, asserting that sharing the information would create a competitive disadvantage. It turns out the number was 65, which was why Boone pulled Cole after just one pitch in the fifth inning.
Boone said he sensed Cole was fatigued after the fourth inning, but he wanted Cole to face one more batter. Mullins made it quick with a single on Cole’s 62nd pitch.
“I thought I held up well,” Cole said. “I’m tired now. Certainly a different level. It just demands a higher level of focus and execution. I felt like I definitely could keep making pitches, but it was strategic in the pitch count.”
What about the next time out? Cole, echoing his manager’s competitive disadvantage line, declined to share that information other than to say the pitch count will be “more.”
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Adam Rittenberg
BOULDER, Colo. — Colorado coach Deion Sanders said he feels “healthy and vibrant” after returning to the field for preseason practices after undergoing surgery to remove his bladder after a cancerous tumor was found.
Sanders, 57, said he has been walking at least a mile around campus following Colorado’s practices, which began last week. He was away from the team for the late spring and early summer following the surgery in May. Dr. Janet Kukreja, director of urological oncology at University of Colorado Cancer Center, said July 30 that Sanders, who lost about 25 pounds during his recovery, is “cured of cancer.”
“I’m healthy, I’m vibrant, I’m my old self,” Sanders said. “I’m loving life right now. I’m trying my best to live to the fullest, considering what transpired.”
Sanders credited Colorado’s assistant coaches and support staff for overseeing the program during his absence. The Pro Football Hall of Famer enters his third season as Buffaloes coach this fall.
“They’ve given me tremendous comfort,” Sanders said. “I never had to call 100 times and check on the house, because I felt like the house is going to be OK. That’s why you try your best to hire correct, so you don’t have to check on the house night and day. They did a good job, especially strength and conditioning.”
Colorado improved from four to nine wins in Sanders’ second season, but the team loses Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, the No. 2 pick in April’s NFL draft, as well as record-setting quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the son of Deion Sanders. The Buffaloes have an influx of new players, including quarterbacks Kaidon Salter and Julian “Ju Ju” Lewis, who are competing for the starting job, as well as new staff members such as Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk, who is coaching the Buffaloes’ running backs.
Despite the changes and his own health challenges, Deion Sanders expects Colorado to continue ascending. The Buffaloes open the season Aug. 29 when they host Georgia Tech.
“The next phase is we’re going to win differently, but we’re going to win,” Sanders said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be the Hail Mary’s at the end of the game, but it’s going to be hell during the game, because we want to be physical and we want to run the heck out of the football.”
Sanders said it will feel “a little weird, a little strange” to not be coaching Shedeur when the quarterback starts his first NFL preseason game for the Cleveland Browns on Friday night at Carolina. Deion Sanders said he and Shedeur had spoken several times Friday morning. Despite being projected as a top quarterback in the draft, Shedeur Sanders fell to the fifth round.
“A lot of people are approaching it like a preseason game, he’s approaching like a game, and that’s how he’s always approached everything, to prepare and approach it like this is it,” Deion Sanders said. “He’s thankful and appreciative of the opportunity. He don’t get covered in, you know, all the rhetoric in the media.
“Some of the stuff is just ignorant. Some of it is really adolescent, he far surpasses that, and I can’t wait to see him play.”
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Adam Rittenberg
LSU starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier aggravated the patellar tendinitis he has been dealing with in his knee but will not miss any significant time, coach Brian Kelly said Friday.
Kelly dropped in ahead of a news conference Friday with offensive coordinator Joe Sloan to tell reporters that Nussmeier did not suffer a severe knee injury or even a new one. According to Kelly, Nussmeier has chronic tendinitis in his knee and “probably just planted the wrong way” during Wednesday’s practice.
Nussmeier ranked fifth nationally in passing yards (4,052) last season, his first as LSU’s starter, and projects as an NFL first-round draft pick in 2026.
“It’s not torn, there’s no fraying, there’s none of that,” Kelly said. “This is preexisting. … There’s nothing to really see on film with it, but it pissed it off. He aggravated it a little bit, but he’s good to go.”
Kelly said Nussmeier’s injury ranks 1.5 out of 10 in terms of severity. Asked whether it’s the right or left knee, Kelly said he didn’t know, adding, “It’s not a serious injury. Guys are dealing with tendinitis virtually every day in life.”
LSU opens the season Aug. 30 at Clemson.
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