Gerrit Cole to make 2024 debut against Orioles

After missing the entire season to this point with a right elbow injury, Yankees ace Gerrit Cole will come off the injured list to start Wednesday’s game against the Orioles at Yankee Stadium, manager Aaron Boone said on the Talkin’ Yanks podcast.

Cole looked sharp in his third Minor League rehab start on Friday, striking out 10 over 4 1/3 innings for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at Rochester, allowing one run (unearned) on two hits with no walks. He topped out at 97.8 mph, a hair over his 96.7 mph average four-seamer velocity from the 2023 season.

The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, Cole underwent an MRI on March 11 after relaying difficulty bouncing back between his spring outings, likening his level of fatigue to what he usually would feel after throwing 100 pitches during the regular season. He had more testing performed on March 12, then visited Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles on March 14. ElAttrache confirmed that there was no damage to Cole’s ulnar collateral ligament.

One might have thought that starting pitching would be a weakness for the Yankees early in the 2024 season as a result, but the outcome has been anything but. New York has an MLB-best 50-24 record, largely due to the team’s MLB-low 3.38 runs per game allowed. Led by rookie sensation Luis Gil, plus Carlos Rodón’s return to form after a disastrous 2023 season, the Yankees’ starting pitching has particularly stood out, leading MLB with a 2.90 ERA and a meager .213 batting average allowed.

Yankees starting pitchers have thrown at least four innings in all 74 of the team’s games this season, a record-setting streak for the legendary franchise at any point of a season (let alone to begin a season). Particularly notable was the span from May 12-29, when New York had 16 consecutive games in which its starting pitcher threw at least five innings while allowing two or fewer runs — the longest such streak by any team since at least 1893, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Cole led the AL in innings pitched (209), ERA (2.63) and WHIP (0.98) during his unanimous Cy Young-winning season last year and was ranked by MLB Network as the game’s top starting pitcher entering the 2024 season. If he’s able to quickly return to form, he will slide in nicely for a rotation that recently lost Clarke Schmidt (5-3, 2.52 ERA) to the IL with a lat strain.

The Yankees will get an immediate test of Cole’s readiness in a high-stakes contest on Wednesday. With a 47-24 record, the Orioles are just 1 1/2 games back of the Yanks in the AL East. Led by the likes of young stars Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg, Baltimore leads MLB with 5.13 runs per game, giving Cole the farthest thing possible from a “tune-up game.”

The Orioles are expected to start Cade Povich (0-1, 4.76 ERA) on Wednesday, and the game will be aired on MLB Network at 7:05 p.m. ET.