Yankees’ Gerrit Cole gets murky injury update from Aaron Boone

New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is eligible to return from the injured list in late May. Yankees manager Aaron Boone recently declined to predict an injury return date for the reigning American League Cy Young winner, though.

“I’m sure it’s soon, but I don’t have that,” Boone said, via nydailynews.com. “I wouldn’t even want to guess on that. He and the trainers and everyone’s kind of working through that. So we’ll see.”

Cole, who is dealing with an elbow issue, also previously received an update from MLB insider Ken Rosenthal, via FOX Sports: MLB on X (formerly Twitter).

“He’s been throwing off flat-ground and the expectation is that he will get off a mound sometime in the next week,” Rosenthal said Monday. “Keep in mind, he cannot come off the injured list until May 27th. and it’s probably unlikely he will be ready at that time. He might require a little bit more. Typically because it’s a six-week build-up normally for pitchers in spring training. And that would be before six weeks are up.

“The good news for the Yankees is that they’re winning. And they’re doing really well without Cole so there’s no need for them to push this, not that they would anyway. They can simply wait until he is ready.”

Yankees fans would love for Cole to return as soon as possible. As Rosenthal noted, though, there is no reason to rush the ace back. New York’s primary goal is to have Cole return for the stretch run toward the end of the season. He will probably return before that, but there is no rush at the moment.

Yankees winning despite Gerrit Cole’s injury absence