Yankees' Gerrit Cole: Turns in 44-pitch rehab start

Cole (elbow) surrendered three earned runs on three hits and one walk while striking out three batters over 4.1 innings Friday for Double-A Somerset in the first start of his rehab assignment.

Analysis:

Though his final line was sullied by the two-run home run he surrendered in the second inning, Cole's overall performance was encouraging. He recorded his 13 outs on an efficient 44 pitches (36 strikes) and sported a fastball that sat around 94-to-95 miles per hour for most of the evening and reached 96 on seven occasions. While that still lagged behind his average of 96.0 mph from 2024, Cole said following the outing that he was comfortable with where his velocity stands just over 13 months removed from his Tommy John surgery with an internal brace, according to Greg Johnson of The Trentonian. Cole is slated to make his second rehab start with either Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre or High-A Hudson Valley during the upcoming week and appears on track to rejoin the New York rotation by the middle of May.