Yankees' Gerrit Cole felt 'pretty good' throwing off mound for first time since early March
Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole took another step on his road to recovery on Saturday morning.
As expected, the ace threw 15 pitches (14 strikes) off the Yankee Stadium bullpen mound in his first bullpen session since being shut down from throwing due to nerve inflammation in his elbow.
While Cole kept his intensity level relatively low, only throwing fastballs and averaging just 89 mph, he felt good getting back out there for the first time since March.
“This is a good day for me today," he told reporters including Greg Joyce of the New York Post. “I was fired up when I came in this morning. I've been missing, this is the most taste I've had in a while, so it was nice to be back out there on the mound."
From here, Cole will continue through his throwing progression, but the team will wait and see how he responds over the next few days before deciding on when his next bullpen will be.
The reigning AL Cy Young award winner is first eligible to return from his 60-day IL stint at the end of this month, but it certainly sounds like it'll take a bit longer with no timeline in sight.
When asked how game-ready he felt on Saturday afternoon on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the closest, the right-hander guessed that he was "somewhere under five."
Nonetheless, both Cole and Yankees manager Aaron Boone agreed that this afternoon's session was certainly a good step for the hard-throwing right-hander.
"I'm glad we were able to get to this point," the skipper said. "Everyone here understands Gerrit and who he is and how much he loves what he does and how good he is at it, so just the process of getting back and another step along the way and getting him back, so onward and upward."
