Yankees' Gerrit Cole throws 4⅓ innings in his 1st rehab start

NEW YORK -- Yankees ace Gerrit Cole gave up three runs over 4 innings Friday night for Double-A Somerset in his first minor league rehabilitation start since Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the entire 2025 season.

The right-hander threw 36 of his 44 pitches for strikes against Reading, a Philadelphia Phillies affiliate. He allowed three hits, including a two-run homer, and one walk while striking out three.

"Excited for him," New York manager Aaron Boone said hours earlier before his team played the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium. "Another good step along the way for him and hopefully everything goes smooth for him and start that process."

In the same Double-A game, Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe went 1-for-2 with a single and a walk. He scored twice and stole a base.

Volpe is rehabbing a torn labrum in his left shoulder that required surgery. He began playing rehab games earlier this week.

The target for Cole was about 45 pitches, and he exited with a 7-3 lead after fielding a grounder to retire the leadoff man in the fifth.

Cole set down his initial three batters before the Patriots sent 10 hitters to the plate in a five-run first inning. In the second, he yielded a two-out RBI double to Dylan Campbell and an opposite-field homer to Bryson Ware.

In other Yankees rehab news, three-time All-Star Carlos Rodon is scheduled to face hitters again Saturday in live batting practice at Somerset and will likely begin a rehab assignment next week. Boone has said the left-hander will need three rehab games.

Rodon threw 50 pitches to batters over three simulated innings before Monday's game against the Los Angeles Angels. He is recovering from surgery on Oct. 15 to remove loose bodies in his left elbow and shave a bone spur, and his rehab progression was slowed by right hamstring tightness.

"We're obviously very excited to get those guys back. We know how good they are," Boone said. "So we know what they're capable of. But it's a process, too, in getting 'em back. And it's still a little ways off, so the biggest thing right now is making sure they're checking all the boxes and getting built up properly and healthily, and then hopefully when they enter back into the rotation, we get the impact that we hope and expect."

The 35-year-old Cole, a six-time All-Star and the 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner, is returning from reconstructive elbow surgery last year. He made a pair of one-inning spring training starts on March 18 and 24 and had been facing hitters since.

In his previous session, Cole threw 42 pitches over three simulated innings Sunday against batters from High-A Hudson Valley.

The Yankees anticipate Cole will return in June, but they will gradually build him up and plan to take advantage of rules about the length of minor league rehab assignments for pitchers coming back from injury.

While position players' minor league rehab assignments are limited to 20 days, pitchers have 30 days and those recovering from Tommy John surgery may receive three consecutive 10-day extensions.