Gerrit Cole: Everything you need to know

Cole (elbow) surrendered three earned runs on three hits and one walk while striking out three batters over 4.1 innings Friday for Double-A Somerset in the first start of his rehab assignment. Though his final line was sullied by the two-run home run he surrendered in the second inning, Cole's overall performance was encouraging. He recorded his 13 outs on an efficient 44 pitches (36 strikes) and sported a fastball that sat around 94-to-95 miles per hour for most of the evening and reached 96 on seven occasions. While that still lagged behind his average of 96.0 mph from 2024, Cole said following the outing that he was comfortable with where his velocity stands just over 13 months removed from his Tommy John surgery with an internal brace, according to Greg Johnson of The Trentonian. Cole is slated to make his second rehab start with either Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre or High-A Hudson Valley during the upcoming week and appears on track to rejoin the New York rotation by the middle of May.

Cole (elbow) will begin a rehab assignment at Double-A Somerset on Friday, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports. Cole has built up to three innings (42 pitches) while pitching in sim games, and he's now been given the green light to begin playing in minor-league games. Because he's on the 15-day IL, the 35-year-old righty will be eligible to return at any moment, but the Yankees will presumably look to slowly build him up over the course of several rehab outings while he finishes up his recovery from Tommy John surgery.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that Cole (elbow) threw three simulated innings and 42 pitches in a live session against High-A Hudson Valley hitters Sunday, Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News reports. Cole was able to make a couple of appearances late in the Grapefruit League and has continued to build up his pitch volume in simulated games through the first two weeks of the regular season. The Yankees could soon be ready to open the 30-day window on a minor-league rehab assignment for Cole, with Boone noting that a decision on the right-hander's next step will be made within the next few days. Because Cole opened the season on the 15-day injured list rather than the 60-day IL, he'll be eligible to return at any time, though he's unlikely to be activated until at least the second or third week of May.