Former MLB pitcher accuses Gerrit Cole of intentionally hitting minor league batter after giving up homer

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New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole hit a batter during a rehab assignment start on Tuesday night. It happens, but this particular plunking by Cole may have had some intention behind it.

Cole is still trying to work his way back to The Show after undergoing Tommy John surgery in March 2025, which resulted in him throwing zero pitches for New York last season.

New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole throws a pitch during workouts at George M. Steinbrenner Field. (Kim Klement Neitzel/Imagn Images)

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The 35-year-old took the bump for High-A Hudson Valley on Tuesday, and let's just say things didn't exactly go as well as he would have liked. Cole gave up five earned runs and seven hits in 4.1 innings of work. Two of those seven hits were home runs, one of which came courtesy of Caleb Bonemer in the second at-bat of Hudson Valley's contest against Winston-Salem.

Bonemer, a Chicago White Sox prospect, hit a no-doubt homer off of what was just Cole's fifth pitch of the game. After he connected for a single in his second at-bat against Cole, he then stepped to the dish in the fifth inning and wore a 97 mph heater for the team.

Pitcher Gerrit Cole #45 of the New York Yankees pitches against the Chicago Cubs during the second inning of a spring training game at Sloan Park on March 24, 2026 in Mesa, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) (Chris Coduto/Getty Images)

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With it being the first pitch of the at-bat and the baseball connected with Bonemer relatively high on