It's only spring training, but the New York Yankees had a lot on the line during Wednesday's game against the Boston Red Sox. First and foremost, after missing all of last season due to Tommy John surgery, ace Gerrit Cole returned to the mound.
And he seemed like he was pretty amped up to be back out there.
Cole showed improved velocity in his first inning of work, hitting 98 mph with his fastball twice in the frame. While he allowed two hits during the inning, he was able to work around them, thanks to a key caught stealing. He finished the inning with 10 pitches, seven of them for strikes.
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Although Cole gave up two hits, one was a bit flukey. To open the game, Red Sox outfielder Braiden Ward dropped a perfectly placed bunt up the first-base line for a single.
Cole was in hot pursuit of the ball and slid to the ground to try to make the play, but Ward proved too fast.
Cole might have been a little peeved about the first-pitch bunt, as he immediately tried to pick Ward off first base. After two unsuccessful attempts, Ward stole second.
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But Ward was a little too greedy on the base paths later in the inning. Following a flyout, he was thrown out trying to steal third base. It was a crucial play, as Cole gave up what would've been a run-scoring single to Jason Delay right after Ward's out. Delay smacked a 98-mph fastball from Cole into left field for a single. The ball was scalded off the bat, with a 104.2-mph exit velocity.
Cole needed just one more pitch to get out of the inning, getting Nathan Hickey to ground out on a knuckle curve.
Overall, it was an encouraging start for Cole, who showed improved velocity on all his pitches in limited work. His slowest fastball of the day came in at 96.1 mph, which is slightly up from his 2024 average, when his fastballs came in at 95.9 mph.
It was more promising that Cole was able to reach back and hit 98 mph with both his four-seam fastball and sinker when needed. Both of those pitches came as Cole was trying to put away Delay, a sign that the Yankees' ace can already reach back for more velocity when going for a strikeout. Cole also had a 97.2-mph fastball earlier in the at-bat.
It wasn't just his hard pitches that saw better velocity. His two knuckle curves were also faster than in 2024, as was his slider, which was up nearly a full mile-per-hour during the inning.
There are, of course, a few caveats to those figures. It was Cole's first competitive appearance since last March, and he was likely full of adrenaline, which might have led to better velocity. He also knew it was going to be a short outing and might have gone out there trying to throw as hard as possible, knowing he wouldn't have to deal with the fatigue associated with a longer stint.
Despite the low workload, Cole was removed from the game after just one inning. He'll presumably continue to increase his workload ahead of his eventual regular-season return, which is expected in late May or early June.
