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BY DAN GLICKMAN
In 2012, New York Yankees legend Andy Pettitte made a rehab start at what was then Frontier Field. The resulting game brought 13,584 fans to the stadium, the largest attendance for a regular-season baseball game in the ballpark’s history.
It’s possible that history could repeat. The Scranton/Wilkes-BarreRailRiders, the AAA affiliate of the Yankees, come to town starting June 11. That team could include the reigning American League Cy Young winner, six-time all-star Gerrit Cole. The right-hander, missing from the Yankees’ rotation since March after suffering right elbow inflammation and edema, begins his rehab stint with AA Somerset on Tuesday- a week before Scranton comes to Innovative Field.
Could a future rehab start come in Rochester? Maybe, but it’s too early to tell. According to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said this weekend that Cole would throw about 50 pitches in Somerset on Tuesday and that he needs “at least two” rehab outings before making his MLB season debut. The Associated Press added that Cole said there is no specific timetable for his return, but it could be this month.
Two factors will primarily determine whether Cole will throw against the Red Wings next week: how many rehab assignments he’ll have and whether the Yankees will want him to face AAA hitting before hitting the big leagues.
According to Hoch’s MLB.com article, Boone says that the Yankees still need to determine how many pitches Cole needs to throw before the club is comfortable putting him into major league action.
“It just depends; do we want to bring him in a situation where he’s at 60, 65, 70 pitches?” Boone said in Hoch’s article.
Should the Yankees feel good about bringing up Cole after just throwing 60-to-70 pitches, perhaps this weekend, it’s possible he’ll reach those marks in his second rehab start. Cole will be in pinstripes when Scranton arrives in Rochester if that’s the case.
If not, however, the odds go up. Assuming a normal rotation’s worth of rest, Cole’s third rehab start would likely be on Friday or Saturday. But where? Major League teams generally try to have their pitchers rehab at home stadiums, especially if in the same region as the home team, but this isn’t a hard rule. The Yankees’ two-highest affiliates (Scranton and Somerset) will both be on the road that week, meaning any possible third rehab assignment for Cole would have to either be on the road or the Yankees would have to have him rehab with a lower team, such as High-A Hudson Valley.
Should the Yankees decide to have Cole throw his third rehab start in an away game, Rochester could have an edge. As a AAA stadium, the standards for the field and facilities at Innovative Field are high. In addition, the Yankees have more familiarity with Rochester, even using the Flower City as a base for Scranton in 2012, when their stadium was under heavy renovation. This, however, is nothing but speculation.
Ultimately, any such decisions will be known later this week, depending on how Cole does in his AA start on Tuesday and what schedule the Yankees organization sets for him afterwards.
Before returning home to face Scranton—whether they have Cole or not—the Red Wings play a six-game series at the Worcester Red Sox starting on Tuesday night.
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