The return of the ace. Yankee fans, and baseball fans at large waited 573 days for Gerrit Cole to return to the mound after undergoing Tommy John Surgery in March of 2025. After a long rehab, “Cole Train” made his return to the mound for the Yankees, and it was an impressive return.

Gerrit Cole is back Pitching for the Yankees

What we saw in the outing

Cole pitched six shutout innings in his return. He allowed two hits, three walks and struck out two. The most impressive part was his efficiency. He retired six batters on 11 pitches between the third and fourth innings after having a first inning that saw the first two batters reach with no outs.

Every out from Gerrit Cole’s first outing of 2026! pic.twitter.com/ZPiJwQilSX

— City Limits Coverage Podcast (@citylimitspod) May 23, 2026

His velocity topped out at 98.6 MPH, which he got for a strikeout in the first inning to end the Rays early threat. His velocity sat at about 96 MPH throughout the whole outing which is really good to see post-Tommy John.

Cole relied on his fastball in the outing, using the pitch 51% of the time (37 total) according to Baseball Savant. The changeup was not working for Cole, so in true fashion, he abandoned the pitch totally as the outing went on, and was successful.

Both of his strikeouts in the outing came as a result of good fastball execution. Cole also did a good job getting soft contact and letting his defense work for him. He allowed just three hard-hit balls in the entire outing, and threw first a first-pitch strike to 18 of 22 batters faced.

In short, he looked like the Gerrit Cole of old. During the outing, the biggest stat that mattered, besides runs allowed which was 0, was the fact that he consumed two bananas like only Cole can do.

Get that potassium, ace 🍌 pic.twitter.com/KBsGj2C7gE

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) May 22, 2026

“It was almost like a second debut.” Cole said on his outing. “It was an enjoyable moment and it was nice to get back in the fire.”

It was well documented that Cole missed the mound, and was very happy to return pitching for the bombers.

“Obviously, really efficient, stuff is really good.” Manager Aaron Boone said postgame. “They were being very aggressive with them, but I thought he did a good job of mixing his four seam in a sinker. He popped the four-seamer and get him off with some good sinkers, but he ended up mixing in some good breaking balls. Had enough of a presence with the change up to keep ’em honest.”

Boone also said that Cole was done after the sixth inning (72 pitches), and both said there was no consideration for Cole to continue pitching in the outing, even with his dominance and the Yankees holding onto a slim 1-0 lead, at the time.

Austin Wells also caught Cole for just the 11 time in his career, and will likely become Cole’s regular catcher, much like Jose Trevino was before he got traded to the Reds.

“I thought he looked great, and just the way he went out there and was able to just have his presence out there, having not thrown for over a year in the big league,” Wells said after the game, “so the way he was able to attack the hitters and get ahead and I think the most impressive thing, though, was one or two at bats, he lost it and was able to get right back into it. So, I thought that was really good for his first start.”

What Cole adds to the Yankees rotation

The Yankees rotation is now set up for success moving forward. Yes, they are missing Max Fried for at lest six more weeks following his IL stint for a left elbow bone bruise. Right now, the rotation, lead by Cam Schlittler, with Will Warren emerging, Ryan Weathers impressing early and Carlos Rodon finding his way back from injury, the Yankees rotation is shaping up to be one of the best in baseball.

If Cole can remain consistant in giving the Yankees quality starts with his new-look windup and approach seemingly hunting for contact, the Yankees legitimately will send out a starter every single day that is more likely to give them a quality outing than not. That takes pressure off the bullpen, and that trickles down and makes the whole game easier for the team.

This rotation truly gives the chance to be the best team in the Aaron Boone era, something Boone has thought since spring training.

Main Image Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images