Aaron Boone Drops Blunt Take On Gerrit Cole Return

Over the years numerous pitchers have returned from injuries to rejoin the Yankees. Often in the build up to a pitcher's returns, management has billed pitchers like Luis Severino's comeback from injury as an equivalent to a trade deadline acquisition.

It is an approach that makes some elements of the social media complainers cringe even if there is a touch of accuracy.

In the case of Gerrit Cole, the Yankees, and manager Aaron Boone, did not necessarily view getting the 2023 AL Cy Young winner back from reconstructive Tommy John elbow surgery as a trade acquisition but more like a nice addition to a strong rotation, helping to offset some inconsistencies with the lineup.

How has Cole looked through two starts? Boone weighs in

If you ask anyone, the answer is pretty good or pretty healthy. The latter was the response of Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash when I asked him about facing Cole last Friday before putting together a four-run eighth inning.

Against Tampa Bay, Cole allowed two hits, struck out two, walked three and also got three hard-hit balls against him. In that start, he got five whiffs and averaged 96.2 with his 37 four-seam fastballs in a 72-pitch outing.

On Wednesday, Cole looked even sharper in a 7-0 win at Kansas City and his 10 strikeouts were only his second double-digit strikeout game since winning the Cy Young in New York's lost 2023 season.

"I think it's coming along," Cole said. "There's still stuff to work on in general. We moved the ball around the strike zone well tonight. Maybe we didn't get through the fastballs as well as we could have. But with what we had tonight, I thought we used it well."

Cole allowed four hits in 6 2/3 innings with a slight increase in his pitch count to 79 pitches. He continued to lean on his four-seam fastball by throwing the pitch 32 times for an average of 96.4 mph while also getting 15 whiffs and permitting three hard-hit balls through one of the Yankees' easiest wins all season.

"Man, he was dominant - he had everything going," manager Aaron Boone said. "(I) feel like maybe the first game was a little appetizer and that was the main course right there. That was surgical command. It just reminds you who he is and how great and consistent a pitcher he's been."

The state of the Yankee rotation

The Yankees are still waiting for Max Fried and Cole to pitch together on the active roster. As Cole was showing impressive velocity in minor league rehab starts, Fried wound up on the injured list due to elbow discomfort.

It seems it will be at least another few weeks until Fried and Cole pitch in the same rotation and in theory it makes things even stronger.

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Cole is not the only starter returning from injury in recent weeks for the Yankees. Carlos Rodon returned two weeks ahead of Cole and showed command issues in two starts against the Brewers and Mets before displaying an improved performance in last Thursday's 2-1 loss to Toronto.

The Yankees have gotten a combined five starts from Cole and Rodon so far and have been among the best rotations before and after their returns. New York's rotation has seen Cam Schlittler take his dominance to another level while getting steady showings from Will Warren and Ryan Weathers.

Those performances enabled the Yankees to post a 2.98 rotation ERA, which is second in the majors and one point behind Tampa, whose starters got dinged in a three-game sweep at Baltimore.

Without Cole last season, the Yankees were fourth at 3.61 as Rodon and Fried won a combined 35 games before struggling in the ALDS against Toronto.

Cole's climb on various leaderboards

Cole's dominance puts him at 154 wins or two ahead of Chris Sale for the third-most amongst active pitchers. Cole will stay there for a while since injured Max Scherzer is at 222 and Justin Verlander is up to 266 wins.

Cole is also up to 2,263 strikeouts and three behind Lefty Grove for 60th all-time. He figures to pass Dwight Gooden and John Lackey later this season and become the 58th with 2,300 career strikeouts.

Either way, the Yankees are extremely pleased with what Cole provided so far and looking forward to more big time performances as the season progresses and leads into the postseason.

Related: Gerrit Cole Injury Update: The Reality of His 2026 Return

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This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 12:05 PM.