It’s exhausting to know what to anticipate from a pitcher coming back from a severe damage. Along with velocity and spin fee, pitching can also be about rhythm and really feel, and that may take time to come back again after a protracted layoff. However there was little rust for Gerrit Cole to shake off when he made his season debut Friday evening at Yankee Stadium. In his first main league begin since present process Tommy John surgical procedure on March 11, 2025, Cole silenced the first-place Rays, permitting simply two hits and three walks whereas hanging out two throughout six scoreless innings. His solely actual bother got here within the first inning, when he gave up a leadoff single to Chandler Simpson and walked Junior Caminero to place two on with no one out. After a Jonathan Aranda fly out, Cole picked the speedy Simpson off second base after which struck out Yandy Díaz an inside fastball to finish the inning. From there, he bought in a groove. He averaged 96.1 mph along with his four-seamer, and he threw 50 of his 72 pitches for strikes.
Cole left the sport with the lead, however the Rays scored 4 runs within the high of the eighth inning to take the primary sport of the collection, 4-2. They now lead the Yankees within the AL East by 5.5 video games. Watching the Rays play Friday evening, I couldn’t assist however take into consideration how annoying they’d be to play towards. They pitch properly, put the ball in play, and are aggressive on the bases. One Yankee informed me earlier than the sport that they remind him of final yr’s Blue Jays due to their pesky backside of the lineup and refusal to strike out. I’m nonetheless unsure how good the Rays are, however I get the sensation that they’re at all times going to be higher than I believe.
On this week’s mailbag, we talk about one other shocking crew over the primary two months of the season. We’ll additionally reply your questions on what number of gamers in baseball have the flexibility to win MVP, how good Randy Johnson and different all-time-great beginning pitchers would’ve been as closers, and why the 9-9-9 problem beers are so small. However first, I’d wish to remind you that this mailbag is unique to FanGraphs Members. In case you aren’t but a Member and wish to maintain studying, you possibly can join a Membership right here. It’s the easiest way to each expertise the positioning and help our workers, and it comes with a bunch of different nice advantages. Additionally, should you’d wish to ask a query for an upcoming mailbag, ship me an e-mail at mailbag@fangraphs.com.
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