TAMPA — While the Yankees prepared for their first spring training game against the Orioles in Sarasota on Friday morning, a different exhibition took place at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
There, Gerrit Cole faced live hitters for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery roughly a year ago. The spectacle drew a swath of front office members into the stands and delayed the arrivals of pitching coaches Matt Blake and Preston Claiborne in Sarasota.
“Thought he was sharp,” Blake said via text. “Good life. Good to get the first one under his belt.”
Cole only faced three hitters and threw about 20 pitches on Friday, but his fastball consistently hit 95-96 mph and topped out at 96.9 mph, an encouraging sign as he showed off his new, over-the-head windup and worked from the stretch.
Cole fanned the first hitter he faced, Trent Grisham, with a high, 95-mph heater before getting Aaron Judge to hit a sharp grounder to second base. Jasson Domínguez then got Cole with some hard contact to right field that may have split the gap had there been defenders roaming.
His day over, Cole then received high-fives from teammates before connecting with his wife, Amy, and children, Caden and Everett who attended the live batting practice session and watched from behind home plate.
Gerrit Cole fans Trent Grisham, his first batter of the day. #Yankees pic.twitter.com/OZhLDyJo4E
— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) February 20, 2026
So far, Cole’s rehab has gone according to plan. He and the Yankees have left the door open for him to pitch in exhibition games before spring training ends, though Cole will have to build up during more live BP sessions first.
Last week, Cole reiterated that full Tommy John reconstruction comes with a 14-18-month timetable.
“So it really hasn’t changed,” Cole continued, which means he’s looking at returning sometime in May — that would be on the earlier side — or June.
Aaron Boone, meanwhile, has stressed that the Yankees will not rush the 35-year-old, who battled elbow inflammation in 2024 before tearing his ulnar collateral ligament last spring.
When Cole does return, the Yankees will be hoping for the best version of the 2023 Cy Young winner.
The team didn’t acquire another frontline starter over the winter despite some others having injury and workload concerns, partly because they are counting on Cole. But while Tommy John surgery has a high success rate, it can come with setbacks, rust and extended struggles — Braves starter Spencer Strider had a rough 2025 — which is why Cole has avoided getting ahead of himself or setting sky-high expectations.
“I’m a confident guy,” Cole said last week. “I have high expectations for my execution internally, but overall, in terms of performance and expectations, I don’t really have any set goals or numbers or things like that. It’s been working really well to just stay day-to-day and execute the task at hand, so I think the challenge is to continue to do that as things become more exciting and as things start to get rolling more and more.”
