New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole will undergo an MRI after feeling “discomfort” in his right elbow, manager Aaron Boone told reporters in Florida on Monday morning.
Boone said before the Grapefruit League game that the current American League Cy Young Award winner had not recovered as expected during the spring outing.
“His recovery status before his next start is close to how he feels when he throws 100 pitches during the season,” Boone told reporters. “When he turned 45 [pitches] And even at 55, he typically doesn't have the recovery issues he has.
“I think there's some level of discomfort, but he's in pain, so I'm not going to explain that.”
Cole, 33, was scheduled to begin his second spring training session on Tuesday. He gave up three runs over two innings in his debut against the Toronto Blue Jays on March 1. He threw 47 pitches in three innings in a mock game six days later. Later, in a conversation with reporters, he said he felt no discomfort.
“It was pretty good,” Cole said of Thursday’s outing. “We had a great time there, and yeah, we did pretty much everything we wanted to do.”
When asked why he pitched in a mock game against his teammates rather than in an exhibition game against the Detroit Tigers that night, Cole said that was just part of the plan.
“That's what was on our schedule,” Cole said. “And it gives us a little bit of an opportunity to force throw some different pitches. We threw a few more changeups today. We wanted to get a good feel for it. I'm really trying. But it's just a little download. And I said, it's just part of the schedule.”
Cole pitched 209 innings last season, going 15-4 with a 2.63 ERA and 222 strikeouts.