Gerrit Cole is currently working his way back from an elbow injury that has kept him out for the entirety of the 2024 season, and after pitching 4.2 innings in his second rehab outing, his New York Yankees debut should be right around the corner.
His re-emergence has fans getting nostalgic about a certain anniversary of his that almost lined up perfectly with his return from the injured list.
FOX Sports shared a post on Twitter about how today is the 11-year anniversary of Cole’s major league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates, when he went 6.1 innings and gave up just two runs while also recording a 2-run single in his first career at-bat.
OTD in 2013, Gerrit Cole made his highly anticipated major league debut 🔥
– 6.1 IP
– 2 K
– 2 ER
– 2 RBI single in his first MLB at-bat pic.com/2xsh9P17UM— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 11, 2024
It would have been neat to see Cole come back on the anniversary of his debut, but Yankees fans won’t have to wait too much longer after he threw 57 pitches in Double-A on Sunday.
The Yankees rotation has been dominant in his absence and management has now had a difficult decision taken away from them due to Clarke Schmidt’s recent injury, as it was unclear who Cole would supplant from the rotation upon his return.
The 33-year-old reigning Cy Young winner has racked up 145 wins since that debut and has lived up to the hype of being the first pick of that 2011 draft.
The rich will get richer very soon, as the Yanks will be adding Cole to a unit that already leads the league with a 2.88 team ERA.
In a fitting nod to Cole’s anniversary, the Pirates will be sending fellow phenom and former No. 1 overall pick Paul Skenes to the mound today.
