Did Gerrit Cole Hint That His Next Start Will be With The Yankees?

Gerrit Cole spoke to reporters at Fenway Park the day after his most recent rehab start with Scranton. Did he hint that he could be back with the Yankees for his next outing?

Jun 5, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole (45) looks on from the dug out during the eighth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports / Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

He's getting close to returning to the New York Yankees' rotation.

On Saturday, reigning American League Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole rejoined the Yankees at Fenway Park a day after his impressive third rehab start with the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

Cole racked up 10 strikeouts across 4.1 innings while allowing one unearned run on 70 pitches for Scranton on Friday night. Now, the Yankees will get together with their ace and figure out what his next step will be.

Cole told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com that he feels really good following his latest rehab start. He also revealed that he does not expect to be fully built up to100-pitches when he does rejoin the Yankee rotation. For that, he acknowledged that there is still a bit of a ways to go regarding being fully back to himself.

As previously mentioned, Cole stretched out to 70 pitches with the RailRiders last night. The Yankees could potentially choose to activate him this week for a crucial series in the Bronx with the AL East rival Baltimore Orioles, and give him a pitch count of 75-80 pitches. But if they decide to give him a fourth rehab start instead, which could come with Scranton again, then it would likely be his final minor league outing. Either way there is no rush since there is a ton of season left to be played.

Cole has played it cool since his rehab assignment began on June 4 in terms of approaching things from a rational standpoint. The Yankees lost right-handed starter Clarke Schmidt to a lat injury in late-May, but that did not change Cole's timeline.

An elbow injury in Spring Training sidelined Cole until he finally got back into live game action with Somerset 11 days ago. His comments to Hoch about not anticipating being fully stretched out when he makes his major league return possibly indicates that his season debut with the Yankees could be coming this week. If not, he will be back shortly thereafter.