New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is expected to miss the first one-to-two months of the upcoming season due to lingering discomfort in the 2023 American League Cy Young Award winner's right elbow, the New York Post reported Wednesday.
Cole is expected to fly to Los Angeles for an in-person visit with noted sports orthopaedist Dr. Neal ElAttrache. According to the report, a recent MRI taken on the All-Star's elbow showed no tears in his ulnar collateral ligament, but ElAttrache recommended Cole undergo further testing as well as an in-person exam after reviewing the MRI results.
The 33-year-old had been scheduled to pitch New York's season opener in Houston against the Astros on March 28. Yankees manager Aaron Boone confirmed to reporters Tuesday that Cole would not make that start.
“Right now, there’s uncertainty about what’s going on in there,” Boone told MLB.com. “We’re waiting on everyone to weigh in. Sometimes the first look isn’t [conclusive]. You want to make sure when you’re talking about the elbow. You want to make sure you get it right and make the best decision. We’ve just got to be patient.”
Cole informed the Yankees' medical staff of elbow discomfort after he threw 47 pitches in a three-inning simulated game on Thursday. He underwent the MRI on Monday and was subsequently scratched from Tuesday's scheduled spring-training start.
The six-time All-Star has made one Grapefruit League appearance this spring, a two-inning stint against the Toronto Blue Jays on March 1 in which he allowed three runs and threw 39 pitches.
According to the New York Post, the Yankees are hopeful Cole can make his season debut sometime in May or early June.
Cole captured his first career Cy Young Award with an outstanding 2023 campaign in which he led the AL with a 2.63 ERA while compiling a 15-4 record with 222 strikeouts in 209 innings. The Yankees went 23-10 in his 33 starts.
The accomplished right-hander has also been remarkably durable. Cole's 664 innings pitched since 2020 are the most in Major League Baseball over that time frame, and he has not been on the injured list for an arm-related issue since 2016.
Cole, entering the fifth season of a nine-year, $324 million contract he signed to join the Yankees in December 2019, is 51-23 with a 3.08 ERA in 108 regular-season starts during his tenure in New York.
The No. 1 overall pick of the 2011 MLB draft, Cole spent his first five major league seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates before being traded to the Astros in 2018. He pitched two seasons for Houston and won a career-high 20 games in 2019 while helping the Astros reach the World Series.