Gerrit Cole had Tommy John surgery on March 11, 2025, five days after his right elbow gave out in a spring start against the Twins. Dr. Neal ElAttrache repaired the torn UCL in Los Angeles. Cole missed all of 2025, came back to the New York Yankees on May 22, 2026, and started Game 1 of the 2026 ALDS.
That's the short version. The long version took 19 months and a lot of other people's innings.
Second Spring, Same Elbow
The scary part was that we'd seen this movie before. In spring 2024, the Yankees shut Cole down with nerve inflammation and edema in the same elbow. The UCL was intact, he rested instead of having surgery, and he didn't make his first start until June 19. Then he pitched the Yankees all the way to the 2024 World Series like nothing had happened.
So when the Twins knocked him around on Thursday, March 6, 2025 (six earned runs in 2 2/3 innings, in a game that didn't count), I didn't panic. Spring stats are fake.
The elbow wasn't. Cole couldn't lift his arm afterward. He had an MRI the next day, and on Monday, March 10, the club confirmed the torn ligament. Cole put out a statement that read like a guy who'd already done his crying in private.
Today, the most respected medical experts in the field recommend that I undergo Tommy John surgery. This isn't the news any athlete wants to hear, but it's the necessary next step for my career.
A Dodgers Doctor Fixes the Yankees' Ace
ElAttrache did the surgery the next day at the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute. He also happens to be the Dodgers' head team physician. (Four months after the Dodgers beat us in the World Series, their doctor got to rebuild our ace's elbow. Baseball has jokes.)
Cole was 34. The repair included an internal brace, which is supposed to protect the new ligament through that fragile first year, and Cole set a target of roughly 14 months. That pointed to mid-May 2026. Write that down, because he hit it.
The Rotation Nobody Planned
Cole wasn't the only problem. Luis Gil, the reigning Rookie of the Year, had a high-grade lat strain and didn't throw a big league pitch until August 3. Clarke Schmidt opened on the IL and needed his own Tommy John surgery in July.
That left an Opening Day rotation of Carlos Rodon, Max Fried, Marcus Stroman, rookie Will Warren and Carlos Carrasco. On paper, that's a rotation you apologize for.
It held anyway. Fried went 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA and finished fourth in the Cy Young vote. Rodon went 18-9 with a 3.09 ERA and 203 strikeouts and made the All-Star team. Warren took the ball 33 times, the most starts of any rookie in baseball, and soaked up 162 1/3 innings that somebody had to throw. (Not all of them were pretty. All of them counted.)
And when Schmidt went down, the Yankees called up Cam Schlittler. He posted a 2.96 ERA in 14 starts, then threw eight scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts in the Wild Card clincher against Boston. The 2025 Yankees won 94 games without their ace. They didn't win the division, and they lost the ALDS to Toronto, but I can't pin either of those on the guy in rehab.
Twenty Throws in August
The first real sign came on Monday, August 11, 2025, when Cole made 20 throws on flat ground at 60 feet in the Yankee Stadium outfield. Twenty throws. Five months of waiting, and the big news was a game of catch.
I was thrilled anyway.
By spring 2026 he was facing hitters. He made six minor league rehab starts, touched 99.6 mph, and stopped looking like a guy coming back from anything.
Back Against the Rays
On Friday, May 22, 2026, about 14 1/2 months after surgery, Cole made his first big league start since Game 5 of the 2024 World Series. He threw six scoreless innings against the Rays on 72 pitches, allowed two hits, and averaged 96.1 mph on the four-seamer. He topped out at 98.6.
The Yankees lost 4-2 after a Jose Caballero error opened a four-run eighth. Of course they did.
Cole finished the 2026 regular season 10-9 with a 3.61 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 127 innings over 22 starts. That's not the Cy Young version. It's a 36-year-old a year and a half removed from elbow reconstruction, taking the ball every fifth day, and I'll take it every time.
October, Sort Of
Aaron Boone gave him Game 1 of the ALDS at Tropicana Field on Saturday, October 3. Cole was good: five innings, five hits, one walk, five strikeouts, 82 pitches. The problem was one changeup to Jonathan Aranda in the third, which ended up 417 feet away in right-center.
That was the only run. Drew Rasmussen didn't allow a hit until Austin Wells doubled with two outs in the eighth (and then kept running and got cut down at third, because why not). Rays 1, Yankees 0.
It's a pretty steep price to pay. He crushed it. That's just the way it goes.
He's right. It's a freakin' cruel way to lose a playoff game, one pitch in five innings, but it isn't the elbow's fault.
Nineteen months ago, the question was whether Cole would ever look like an ace again. Now the question is whether anybody's going to score for him.
| Injury Outing | March 6, 2025 vs. Twins (spring): 2 2/3 IP, 6 ER |
| Diagnosis | Torn UCL, right elbow |
| Surgery | March 11, 2025, Los Angeles (Dr. Neal ElAttrache) |
| Procedure | Tommy John reconstruction with internal brace |
| 2025 Season | Missed entire season |
| Rehab Starts | 6 (touched 99.6 mph) |
| 2026 Debut (May 22 vs. Rays) | 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K |
| 2026 Regular Season | 22 GS, 10-9, 3.61 ERA, 127 IP, 131 K |
| 2026 ALDS Game 1 (Oct. 3 at Rays) | 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K, L (Rays 1-0) |
| Fried, 2025 | 19-5, 2.86 ERA, 32 GS |
| Rodon, 2025 | 18-9, 3.09 ERA, 203 K |
| 2025 Yankees | 94-68 |
The Twins Start
Cole allows six earned runs in 2 2/3 innings in a spring game against Minnesota and can't lift his arm afterward.
The Diagnosis
After an exam by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles, the Yankees confirm Cole needs Tommy John surgery and will miss the season.
Surgery
ElAttrache reconstructs Cole's right UCL and adds an internal brace.
First Throws
Cole makes 20 throws on flat ground at 60 feet in the Yankee Stadium outfield.
The Return
Six scoreless innings against the Rays in his first big league start since the 2024 World Series. Rays win 4-2.
Win No. 10
Cole gets the win as the Yankees beat the Rays 9-2 in his final regular-season start to finish 10-9 with a 3.61 ERA.
ALDS Game 1
Cole allows one run in five innings at Tropicana Field, a Jonathan Aranda homer, and loses 1-0.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Gerrit Cole have Tommy John surgery?
On March 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. He felt elbow soreness after a March 6 spring training start against the Minnesota Twins, an MRI followed, and the Yankees announced on March 10 that he'd need surgery to repair a torn UCL in his right elbow.
Who performed Gerrit Cole's Tommy John surgery?
Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the Los Angeles Dodgers' head team physician, performed it after examining Cole at the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute. The procedure included an internal brace.
When did Gerrit Cole return from Tommy John surgery?
Cole made his first big league start after the surgery on May 22, 2026, against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium. He threw six scoreless innings, allowing two hits, but the Rays won 4-2.
How did Gerrit Cole pitch in 2026?
He went 10-9 with a 3.61 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 127 innings over 22 starts. He then started Game 1 of the ALDS against the Rays on October 3, allowing one run in five innings in a 1-0 loss.
How did the Yankees' rotation do in 2025 without Gerrit Cole?
It held up. Max Fried went 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA, Carlos Rodon went 18-9 with a 3.09 ERA, rookie Will Warren made 33 starts, and Cam Schlittler posted a 2.96 ERA in 14 starts after his July call-up. The Yankees went 94-68.