NEW YORK — The Yankees’ pitching staff, the best in the majors by most measures early this season, remains on track to receive two substantial boosts in the near future.
Manager Aaron Boone said Monday that starters Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón could each begin a rehab assignment in the next week after each logged three innings in a live batting practice session in the past two days. Cole, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, threw 42 pitches Sunday. Rodón, who had elbow surgery to remove bone chips in October, tossed 50 pitches Monday.
Boone said both pitchers will throw again on four days’ rest, but the organization hasn’t decided whether they will pitch in a game or in another live batting practice session. The Yankees have targeted late April or early May for Rodón’s return and Cole’s comeback a month later.
“I don’t have an opinion one way or the other,” Cole said of his next step. “I just want to make sure we do what’s right, really. So, I think we’re just taking in a little bit more information over the next couple of days before we make that call.”
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Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, meanwhile, was cleared Monday night to begin a rehab assignment Tuesday as he progresses from left shoulder surgery in October. Volpe remained in Tampa, Florida, when the Yankees broke camp for the regular season, and he returned to New York with the team after Sunday’s series finale against the Rays.
Boone said Volpe, who had the procedure to repair a partially torn labrum in his left shoulder, accumulated more than 50 live at-bats in Tampa. Boone said the plan is for him to play shortstop in four games for Double-A Somerset this week.
“He’s a little ahead of the game from when you would start spring training probably,” Boone said. “But, that said, we want to build him up smartly, too.”
Volpe played most of last season with the shoulder injury after diving for a ball May 1. He and the Yankees said it did not affect his play, although he regressed on defense and offense, finishing as one of the worst hitters in the majors with a .212 batting average and an 83 wRC+ in 153 games. Overall, his fWAR dropped from 3.5 in 2024 to 1.0.
Jose Caballero has started at shortstop in Volpe’s place and entered Monday with the sixth-lowest wRC+ (12) in the majors among qualified hitters. General manager Brian Cashman told reporters in Tampa over the weekend that Volpe will return as the team’s starting shortstop.
Cole, 35, missed the 2025 season after undergoing the elbow reconstruction in March. He pitched in two games in spring training, logging 2⅔ innings. The six-time All-Star and 2023 American League Cy Young Award winner had previously not pitched in a competitive game since starting Game 5 of the 2024 World Series.
“I have no complaints,” Cole said of Sunday’s live batting practice session. “Stamina was good. Pitches are fine — they’re good, they’re good. I’m being a little nitpicky, but everything’s good.”
Rodón, 33, posted his best season as a Yankee in 2025, his third year in a six-year contract, with a 3.09 ERA in 195⅓ innings and an All-Star nod. But the left-hander pitched through pain most of the year, leading to the procedure to clean up the elbow in October.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
