Cole, nearing return, reaches 99.6 mph in sixth rehab start - ESPN

MOOSIC, Pa. — Gerrit Cole reached 99.6 mph with his four-seam fastball, throwing 86 pitches over 5⅓ innings for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre against the Syracuse Mets on Saturday night in likely his next-to-last minor league injury rehabilitation start before rejoining the New York Yankees.

Returning from reconstructive elbow surgery on March 11, 2025, Cole threw 56 pitches for strikes and averaged 97 mph with his fastball.

«Some good velocity tonight, some good locations and, yeah, some good quick innings and some innings that tested us,» Cole said. «I'm just getting stronger and stronger every outing.»

He allowed one run and six hits with six strikeouts and one walk in his sixth minor league start, his first at Triple-A after two for High-A Hudson Valley and three for Double-A Somerset. He was pulled with an 0-2 count to Eric Wagaman and relieved by Yerry De Los Santos with a 2-1 lead in a 6-2 loss.

Cole has a 4.71 ERA over 28⅔ innings, allowing 28 hits while striking out 28 and walking three. His pitch count was up from 77 in his previous outing.

«It's been a good progression,» Cole said. «Pitch count's steadily increasing. Recovery's been good and velocity and command are steadily increasing, as well.»

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Friday that Cole probably will make one more minor league start after this weekend.

«It's just a really long rehab,» Cole said. «If you include the offseason from the year prior, it's been about 17 months since I last performed at the big leagues, so no matter how you slice it, that's a long time.»

Jackson Cluff singled on a first-pitch slider with one out in the third to become the Mets' first runner, and Kevin Parada blooped an opposite-field single to right on a 2-0 slider. Ji Hwan