The New York Yankees are set to receive a major boost to their rotation this week. Reigning Cy Young award winner Gerrit Cole is set to make his 2024 debut on Wednesday against the Baltimore Orioles.
Gerrit Cole was placed on the injured list to start the season after some issues arose during Spring Training. He was suffering from nerve irritation and edema in his right elbow, leading to issues bouncing back in between throwing sessions.
To get up to speed for his return, he made three rehab starts at Double-A and Triple-A. He was truly dominant, looking to be in midseason form despite the setback in March. On Friday while pitching for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he surrendered one unearned run on two hits with 10 strikeouts.
In that outing, he threw 4.1 innings. It was his longest outing to date, as he threw a total of 12.1 innings during the rehab assignment. He could not have performed much better than he did, allowing only two runs, one earned, with 19 strikeouts and zero walks.
Gerrit Cole is expected to take the rotation spot of Cody Poteet. He had been filling in for the injured Clarke Schmidt, who is expected to be sidelined until August with a lat strain. Poteet was sold in place of Schmidt, allowing five runs, four earned in 15 innings over three outings.
Cole will be joining a rotation that many thought could be a weakness with him sidelined. They have been anything but that, as everyone who has toed the rubber for the New York Yankees this season has been dominant.
Leading the way has been Luis Gil, who is 9-1 with a 2.03 ERA through 14 starts. Nestor Cortes has the highest ERA of any of the team’s starters with a solid 3.59; Carlos Rodon comes in at 3.28 and Marcus Stroman is at 3.08.
Adding a pitcher as talented as Gerrit Cole to the mix makes an already stellar part of the team that much stronger. The New York Yankees have already proven very difficult to beat; if Cole returns close to the form he showed in 2023, they are going to be even more dominant.
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