NEW YORK — The Yankees began the season pitching with a rotation held together by thread. Carlo Rodon was still finding form after winter surgery. Gerrit Cole watched from a rehab mound. Though young guns carried the team, the rotation was far from its true shape.
That is set to change now. Fast.
Rodon looked like the pitcher the Yankees signed on Thursday night. Cole is coming back Friday. Cam Schlittler is quietly putting together one of the best pitching seasons in baseball. The Yankees rotation is not just surviving anymore. It is starting to take shape.
Rodon’s best start since his return
Carlos Rodon has had a complicated road back this season. He had bone spurs removed from his elbow over the winter. His first two starts showed the velocity but not the command. There were flashes, but nothing that looked like the ace the Yankees need him to be.
Thursday in the Bronx was different.
He went five innings against the Blue Jays. One run. Three hits. Three walks. Seven strikeouts. Eighteen swing-and-misses. His fastball was not at peak velocity, but it played. He generated misses with it all night.
The one run came on a fluke. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. walked, stole second, and scored on a Daulton Varsho soft double that caromed off the third base bag at 65.5 mph. Hard contact was rare. The Yankees went on to lose 2-0 because the offense produced nothing, but that is a separate problem.
Rodon spoke after the game about what the outing meant in the context of his recovery.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Rodon said. “I’d like to get deeper into games. It’s a step forward, but I can still be better.”
Manager Aaron Boone had seen Rodon battle through two uneven Yankees starts. He wanted to say clearly what changed Thursday.
“I thought he was great,” Boone said. “The secondary was good, but the fastball was terrific. That’s not an easy team to get swing-and-miss, but the fastball really played. Definitely it was the best of the three [starts]. He stayed within himself and didn’t try to do too much.”
Rodon also addressed what Gerrit Cole’s return means for the Yankees staff heading into the Rays series.
“He’s one of the better pitchers of our generation,” Rodon said. “You get a guy like that back, your ace, it’s a big deal.”
That is not a throwaway line. Cole coming back changes the rotation entirely.
Cole returns Friday after 437 days away
The last time Gerrit Cole pitched for the Yankees, it was Game 5 of the 2024 World Series. The Yankees lost. Cole went into surgery five months later.
Tommy John surgery on March 11, 2025. Fourteen months of rehab. Six minor league starts. And now Friday night at Yankee Stadium.
Cole ended his rehab assignment a start early. The Yankees had planned for one more outing before activating him. Then his last rehab start, Saturday for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, changed the math. He threw 5.1 innings, one run, six strikeouts, 86 pitches. His fastball averaged 97 mph and touched 99.6 mph — his fastest since September 2022.
Cole walked just four batters across his entire six-start rehab assignment. Command is what pitchers coming back from Tommy John usually struggle with most. Cole has not had that problem.
The Yankees made it official Tuesday: Cole starts Friday against the AL East-leading Rays.
Boone watched every rehab pitch. His take was direct.
“He has done everything he needs [to do] to be ready to compete now at this level,” Boone said. “My expectation is that he’s going to be really good. Will there be some bumps along the way, sure, but that’s part of it too. At the end of the day, I expect him to come in and pitch well for us.”
Cole was asked to put his own readiness into words after the decision was announced. He kept it grounded.
“So far, so good,” Cole said. “I still think there’s a lot of work to do. But I always feel like that. We’ll get a good read on where it’s at with major league hitters, a major league environment, and then adjust from there.”
He also spoke about what it means to simply be back.
“It’s just a blessing to play the game and you get a better sense of that once you’re removed from it,” Cole said. “Just getting back into that environment, and not taking that for granted, it’s exciting for sure.”
The Yankees matchup Friday is not a soft landing. Tampa Bay leads the AL East by 4.5 games over the Yankees. Nick Martinez (4-1, 1.51 ERA) pitches for the Rays. Cole has not faced a major league lineup in 437 days.
Schlittler leads a rotation that was already fourth best in the majors
While Cole rehabbed, the Yankees rotation did not fall apart. It quietly became one of the better units in the American League.
Cam Schlittler is leading the way. He is 6-1 with a 1.35 ERA through his first 10 starts. That ERA leads all starters in baseball. He made his major league debut while Cole was on the shelf and has not looked back. Will Warren has given the Yankees steady, useful innings in 2026, moving beyond stopgap status with a 6-1 record, 3.62 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 62 strikeouts. His growth has helped stabilize a battered rotation, while Gerrit Cole’s return now creates a tougher but healthier pitching puzzle for New York overall.
As a staff, the Yankees rank fourth in ERA in the majors at 3.21. They are second in expected ERA at 3.45. They lead the majors in pitching WAR at 6.0.
That is what makes Cole’s return feel different from a rescue mission. He is not walking into a broken Yankees rotation. He is walking into one of the best in baseball, and making it even deeper.
The Yankees are 30-21. They are 4.5 back of Tampa Bay. The offense has been inconsistent. The pitching has carried them.
Add a healthy Cole to Schlittler, a resurgent Rodon, and the depth behind them. The Yankees rotation heading into the summer looks nothing like the patchwork unit that started the year.
That is the story nobody is spending enough time on. And it starts Friday night.
What do you think? Will they make the Yankees’ rotation a bigger force than ever in history?
