One-time Cy Young Award winner and former Somerset Patriots manager Sparky Lyle believes New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole could be close to making his 2024 MLB regular-season debut following Cole’s rehab start for Somerset on Sunday.
“I think Cole needs to have a quality rehab start and show everyone, ‘I am Cy Young,'” Lyle said about the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner during a chat with Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. “I’d say he’s probably two weeks away.”
Cole first experienced an issue with his throwing elbow during Spring Training and most recently surrendered a solo home run in the first inning of what became the Patriots’ 4-2 win over the Hartford Yard Goats at TD Bank Ballpark.
However, the 33-year-old recovered from that setback and tossed 57 pitches across 4.2 innings. He threw 44 strikes and retired the final eight batters that he faced on Sunday afternoon.
“I thought he looked pretty good,” Lyle said about Cole. “He was just throwing ‘get me over fastballs’ in the beginning when the guy hit the ball out. But the last two innings, he had some hop on his ball. He was letting it go a little more.”
Per Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post, Cole expects to make at least one more rehab start either with Somerset or with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Following Sunday’s outing, Cole addressed what he’d like to work on before he faces big-league batters in a meaningful game.
“I want to feel confident that if I get into some sort of a jam and have to run 25-30 pitches out, that we are still in a good spot to keep going after that,” Cole explained. “The team has played so well. I want to make sure I’m in a good position to play well. Certainly, I’m always up for a challenge, but it’s a group decision in that regard. Just take all the information that we have and try to see when the best time is to pull the trigger.”
The Yankees have multiple reasons to play it safe regarding Cole’s availability for the second half of the season. New York (46-21) began Monday morning atop the AL East standings and with a two-and-a-half game lead over the second-place Baltimore Orioles. At that same time, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Yankees second among the betting favorites at +500 odds to win the World Series this fall.
New York’s odds of winning it all should only improve once Cole returns to the rotation.