Gerrit Cole’s latest comments on Tuesday will make New York Yankees fans happy.
Cole continues to progress from an elbow injury that has kept him out all season. On Tuesday, he pitched some live batting practice at Yankee Stadium and threw to two Yankees hitters. He even touched 96 mph on his fastball and was told to rein it in.
You can see how Cole looked on the mound:
Cole has been targeting a mid-June return. He was asked if returning in June was realistic and said Tuesday he “wouldn’t rule it out.”
“I feel pretty good, and the stuff looked pretty good,” Cole continued, per the Associated Press’ Ronald Blum. “I had some fun. It’s all positives.”
The Yankees have begun the season 33-16, which is the best record in the American League. They’ve done it all without Cole.
Yankees fans are already pretty happy with how the team has performed this season. Getting Cole back to bolster the pitching rotation would add to what’s already been a good start to the season.
